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• 06 / 11 / 2009

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Excellent beaches are everywhere in Cuba, which also boasts exuberant nature and architectural treasures from the Spanish colonial period.

Havana's historic heart holds most of the city's museums, churches, cultural centers and buildings from the Spanish colonial period, including 33,000 buildings, most of which were built from the 18th to the 19th centuries.

Many buildings that are Havana's landmarks, like the hotels Riviera and Nacional, are on the Malecón.

The Riviera, which is close to the Meliá Cohíba Hotel, provides entertainment options such as the legendary Copa Room Cabaret, where tourists can enjoy good Cuban music.

Those who prefer to enjoy a good meal by the sea can visit the 1830 Restaurant, which is on the westernmost tip of the Malecón and which might become a flag restaurant in Havana in a short term.

A sort of sentinel of the city is the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, owned by the group Gran Caribe and the flag hotel in Cuba's tourism industry. The hotel was declared a National Monument.

The establishment is also among the world's top ten Palace Hotels and was the only five-star establishment in the Caribbean region from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Those who like to venture into the winding streets and alleys of Old Havana can stay in a network of small hotels where time seems to have stopped centuries ago and where they can enjoy all amenities of modern tourism.

In central Cuba, Sancti Spiritus, the fourth of seven villages founded by the Spaniards in the 16th century, treasures architectural, historic, traditional, cultural and natural values, which create an attractive and singular combination.

The province also holds the former village of Trinidad, the third town founded by the Spaniards – also in 1514. The so-called City Museum of Cuba boasts the best-preserved Spanish-colonial architectural complex in the continent.

Also in the region is San Juan de los Remedios, the eighth village founded by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century.

In central Cuba, Cienfuegos offers a score of libraries, 11 museums, more than 30 movie halls and five theaters, in addition to houses of culture, art galleries and monuments, are visited by both national and foreign tourists every year.

Among the city's many attractions is the José Martí Park, built on the site where the village of Fernandina de Sagua was founded in April 1819. In the park, there are bronze and stone busts of the most relevant personalities of the city.

Surrounding the park are the only Arc of Triumph in Cuba, built in 1902, and the Tomás Terry Theater, one of Cuba's three major theaters in the 19th century, where prominent artists such as Enrico Caruso performed.

(DTCuba)