About four hours west of Havana, the village of Viñales seems a world away from the Cuban capital’s bustling streets and all-expenses-paid resorts.
Carts drawn by horses or oxen seem more abundant than classic 1950s American cars. Tall limestone hills rise from the red-earth valley and its green tobacco fields.
Viñales is the most popular tourist destination in Cuba’s western Pinar del Río province, but it seems more laid back than crowded. There are only a few hotels, all outside the village, and many visitors are independent travelers who rent rooms in casas particulares (private homes).
Visitors come to Viñales for its natural setting. The area around the village is a national park, although with farms throughout, it differs from national parks elsewhere in the world. Networks of trails lead through fields of tobacco, yuca and other crops and into the limestone hills, called mogotes, that rise as rounded domes from the valley floor.
Staying in Private Homes
I spent my first night at Hotel Los Jazmines, 4 km into the hills, before moving to a private home in the village. Although Los Jazmines is busy with tour groups, it offers some of the best views of the valley from its swimming pool terrace. Sunrise and sunset over the mogotes are spectacular.
Visitors arriving by bus can expect to be besieged by people holding out business cards offering accommodation in private homes. It’s a good idea to have a few recommended places in mind if you don’t have a reservation, and to be skeptical of people offering to take you there. An older woman tried to lure me with the business card of a highly recommended home, only for me to realize she was leading me to her own home in another location.
The house I ultimately stayed in was run by a doctor and his wife and son. They were friendly and hospitable, and served outstanding home-cooked meals that ended with fresh tropical fruit.
For those without their own transportation, a hop-on, hop-off bus at $5 CUC a day provides an excellent way to visit the different hills, caves and other attractions spread throughout the valley. But the best way to really discover Viñales is on foot or bicycle.
Several travel agencies in the center of the village offer guided hikes into the park. I took one such hike of several hours led by an English-speaking guide with about 10 other hikers who were all Europeans.
The guide took us to a tobacco farm where we visited the thatched curing barns, watched the pickers working in the fields, and saw a woman demonstrate how she rolls puros (cigars) on her kitchen table. The farmers must provide a quota of their crop to the government, but they may sell any surplus privately. This woman offered a dozen hand-rolled cigars for about $20, roughly the price of a single Cohiba Esplendido in the capital.
After following trails through rolling farmland, the guide led us up the steep side of a limestone mogote, which required use of both hands to climb. Before the top, he led us through a short network of caves and we emerged on the other side, to complete the loop back to the village.
Lush Tropical Garden
Back in the village, it’s not hard to miss the entrance to the Jardín Botánico de Caridad if you’re in a vehicle. But if you’re walking, you can’t miss the little iron gate that’s covered with hanging slices of fresh grapefruit. The lush garden of tropical plants and birds is run by two elderly sisters who gladly accept small donations from visitors, thanking them with servings of grapefruit and other fruits fresh from the trees. The little pathways among the exotic trees and shrubs provide a tranquil escape.
It doesn’t take long to visit the entire village, but you can easily spend several days there relaxing and hiking. Viñales is also a good base for excursions to some of the nearby beach locations such as Cayo Jutías and Cayo Levisa, or to the provincial capital, Pinar del Río.
For those wanting something different from the busy capital or Cuba’s resorts, Viñales makes a great destination for an overnight trip or a visit of several days.
Cuba travel tips:
- It is still illegal for most Americans to visit Cuba, but many do visit by going through Canada, Mexico or other Caribbean countries. Cuban officials do not stamp your passport, but give you a tourist card that you hand in when you leave. To visit legally, Americans need a license from the Treasury Department.
- Cuba now uses two currency systems simultaneously: CUC, a convertible peso currency pegged to the U.S. dollar that is used by tourists and those Cubans wishing to make hard currency purchases, and Moneda Nacional, a local currency used by most Cubans for day-to-day purchases at shops that offer very little. Be careful that you aren’t cheated by receiving Moneda Nacional as change for CUC purchases.
- While English is usually spoken to some degree in resorts and tourist locations, you’ll need to know at least some Spanish to get around elsewhere.
- The Víazul bus line offers very good service for hard-currency paying travelers between major cities. Other bus lines, such as Astro, are normally for Cubans only.
- Internet access is generally expensive and very poor. There’s typically a line-up at the hotels that offer it. You use a pre-paid card.
Resources:
- Lonely Planet Cuba
- The Rough Guide to Cuba
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