Cuba: 5 Best Hidden Gems to Visit in the Caribbean Country

Cuba is a strange place for politics and has been a thorn in the side of 12 U.S. presidents. However, it is a hidden gem in many aspects.

According to The Travel Pocket Guide, travel to the island was prohibited for 4.4% of the world's population up until a few years ago. Cuba is now a place filled with adventure and wonder despite its many flaws.

Best Hidden Gems to Visit in Cuba

Havana and mojitos on the beach are a must if you travel to Cuba. But what about the rest of the island? Below are some of the hidden Cuba tourist spots you need to discover on your next visit.

Palenque De Los Cimarrones

Tourists can travel back in time to reach the 18th-century Cuba and come into close contact with the rich cultural heritage handed down by the so-called "black continent," through traversing the 150 meters of the Cave of Jose Miguel in the Valley of Viñales,

The Palenque de los Cimarrones is a kind of living museum that opened at the beginning of the 1990s, according to Taxin Havana. It tells the history of the journey of people of African descent through western Cuba.

Baracoa

Renting a car is worthwhile if you stay on the island's eastern tip to visit this beautiful spot. When Christopher Columbus initially arrived on the island in 1492, it was the first Spanish settlement on the island.

Due to the surrounding high mountain range, only one route leads to it. It is as far from the tourist path as you can in Cuba. The region is the center of Cuba's chocolate industry and is renowned for its cocoa production.

Playa Jibacoa

Playa Jibacoa must be one of the island's most isolated and undeveloped beaches, yet it is only a few hours from Havana, one of the popular tourist spots in Cuba.

There are pure white beaches and clear waters; if you arrive at the right moment, you can even have the area to yourself. Bring some rum, pretend you are shipwrecked for the day, or put on your snorkel and explore the nearby shallows.

Santiago De Cuba

From Baracoa, go south until you reach Santiago de Cuba, a fortified seaside town with a fascinating past. If you visit this hidden gem in the summer, be prepared for oppressive heat and high humidity, but you will also be rewarded with a carnival unlike anything you have ever seen. With the locals, you will have the opportunity to drink and dance till the wee hours of the morning.

Cayo Granma

This small fishing village called Cayo Granma sits on a beautiful island in the bay of Santiago de Cuba. Red-roofed wooden homes, many of which are perched above the water on stilts, give the island's historic fishing town the appearance of a fantasy island.

You may walk around the entire island in 15 minutes, or you can go up to the tiny, whitewashed chapel known as Iglesia de San Rafael at the highest point of the key. However, the finest feature of this location is that you can hang around and experience authentic Cuba, according to Lonely Planet.

You can eat at Restaurante El Cayo, a seafood restaurant, or Palmares, a restaurant on the Cayo's far side that sticks out above the water.

Every time you go to Cuba, you will find a new spot you want to return to and learn more about it. But you can start with these hidden gems to have a complete picture of Cuba and memories to last a lifetime.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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