Cuba: The Rough Guide (Rough Guide Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Some series of guidebooks give travel writing a bad name, but the Rough Guides isn't one of them. The new Cuba book exemplifies the genre and is a fantastic guide to one of the world's fastest growing tourist destinations. Like its competitors, the book is illustrated with some superb photographs and takes you through everything you need to know. The information is up-to-date--the new private bus service, only 6 months old, is comprehensively explained--and easy to assimilate.

What is most impressive about this book, however, is its scope. The authors seem equally adept at describing Havana's colonial architecture and the artefacts in its museums, the depredations of the sugar industry and the slave trade, the attractions of the sandy expanses of Varadero's beaches, and carnival time at Santiago de Cuba. There are also exhaustive sections on Cuban music--one of the best reasons to visit--Castro, Cuban literature, and the National Parks. The book has been written by people who clearly have a great deal of knowledge and empathy with their subject, rather than by a backpacker chalking up country number 87.

For some years now, visitors have been attracted to Cuba, not least by the possibility of glimpsing a culture which has not been completely subsumed under consumerism. It's hard to imagine a better guidebook for future visitors to have and, as the authors themselves make clear, the time to see this special side of Cuba is now rather than later. --Toby Green

The freshest guide on the market.

ROUGH GUIDES HAVE AN ESTABLISHED REPUTATION AS OFF-BEAT TRAVEL BOOKS

The Observer, London

This ever more accessible island will soon be the hottest Caribbean destination for North American travelers, according to the authors, who cover all sites and events to suit all budgets. of color photos. 37 maps.

Where to go

No trip to Cuba would be complete without a visit to the potent capital city, Havana. A unique and personable mini-metropolis, characterized by a small-town atmosphere, its time-warped colonial core, Habana Vieja, is crammed with architectural splendours, some laced with Moorish traces and dating as far back as the sixteenth century. Elsewhere in the city there are handsome streets unspoilt by tawdry multinational chain stores and restaurants: with relatively little development since the revolution, the city retains many of its colonial mansions and numerous 1950s hallmarks.

The provinces to the immediate east and west of Havana, together with the capital itself, are where tourist attractions are most densely concentrated. Visited frequently by day-trippers from Havana, Pinar del R'o, the centre of nature tourism in Cuba, offers more than enough to sustain a longer stay. The most accessible resorts for walking are Las Terrazas and Soroa, focused around the subtropical, smooth-topped mountain ranges of the Sierra del Rosario and Sierra de los Organos, but it's the peculiar mogote hills of prehistoric Vi-ales valley that attract most attention. Beyond, out of sight of the mountains, on a gnarled rod of land pointing out towards Mexico, there's unparalleled seclusion and outstanding scuba diving at Mar'a la Gorda.

There are beach resorts the length and breadth of the country but none is more complete than Varadero, the country's long-time premier holiday destination, two hours' drive east from Havana, in Matanzas province. Based on a highway of dazzling white sand, stretching almost the entire length of the 25-kilometre Pen'nsula de Hicacos, this is where most tourists come for the classic package-holiday experience. For the tried-and-tested combination of disco-nightlife, watersports, sunbathing and relaxing in all-inclusive hotels, there is nowhere better in Cuba. On the opposite side of the province, the Pen'nsula de Zapata, with its diversity of wildlife, organized excursions and mixture of hotels, offers a mlange of different possibilities. Across the eastern border from Matanzas into next-door Cienfuegos province, tourist attractions begin to appear less frequently. Travelling east of here, either on the autopista or the island-long Carretera Central, public transport links become weaker and worn-out yet picturesque towns take over from brochure-friendly tourist hot spots. There is, however, a concentration of tourist activity around the historically precious Trinidad, a small colonial city brimming with symbols of Cuba's past, which attracts coach parties and backpackers in equal numbers. If you're intending to spend more than a few days in the centre of the island, this is by far the best base, within short taxi rides of a small but well equipped beach resort, the Pen'nsula de Anc-n, and the Topes de Collantes hiking centre in the Sierra del Escambray. Slightly further afield are a few larger cities: sociable Santa Clara with its convivial main square and thronging crowds of students is the liveliest of the lot, whilst laid-back Cienfuegos, next to the placid waters of a sweeping bay, is sprinkled with colourful architecture, including a splendid nineteenth-century theatre. Further east, the workaday cities of Sancti Sp'ritus and Ciego de vila, both capitals of their namesake provinces, provide excellent stop-offs on a journey along the Carretera Central. Two of the most popular destinations in this part of the country are off the north coast of Ciego de vila province. With their reams of creamy white beaches and tranquil countryside, the luxurious resorts of Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, on the secluded cays of the same name, are growing month by month.

Continuing eastwards into Camagey province, the smaller, rather remote resort of Santa Luc'a is a much promoted though less well equipped option for sun-seekers, while there's an excellent alternative north of here in tiny Cayo Sabinal, with long empty beaches and romantically rustic facilities. Back on the Carretera Central, the romantic and ramshackle city of Camagey, the most populous city in the central part of the island, is a sightseer's delight, with numerous churches and intriguing buildings, as well as a lively nightlife, while the amiable city of Holgu'n is the threshold to a province containing the biggest concentration of pre-Columbian sites in the country. Guardalavaca, on the northern coast of Holgu'n province, is one of the liveliest and most attractive resorts in the country, spread along a long and shady beach with ample opportunities for watersports.

While Guantnamo province, forming the far eastern tip of the island, is best known for its infamous US naval base, it is the jaunty seaside town of Baracoa that is the region's most enchanting spot. Isolated from the rest of the country by a high rib of mountains, the quirky town freckled with colonial houses and populated by friendly and hospitable locals is an unrivalled retreat, popular with long-term travellers.

With a sparkling coastline fretted with golden-sand beaches such as Chivirico, the undulating emerald mountains of the Sierra Maestra, made for trekking, and Santiago, the country's most vibrant and energetic city after Havana, Santiago de Cuba province, on the island's southeast coast, could make a holiday in itself. Host to the country's most exuberant carnival every July, when a deluge of loud, sweet and passionate sounds surge through the streets, it is testimony to the city's musical heritage that you can hear some of the best Cuban musicians here all year round. Trekkers and revolution enthusiasts will want to follow the Sierra Maestra as it snakes west of here along the south coast into Granma province, offering various revolutionary landmarks and nature trails.

Lying off the southwest coast of Havana province, the Isla de la Juventud is often overlooked despite its immense though low-key charms. Easily explored over a weekend, the island promises leisurely walks, some of the best diving in the country and a personable capital town in Nueva Gerona. In the same archipelago is luxurious and anodyne Cayo Largo, the only sizeable beach resort off the southern coastline of Cuba.