Guantánamo,
A lang between rivers

Cuba's eastern coast is home to one of the country's most vibrant provinces for its contrasting climate and exuberant nature. Baracoa is usually the first stop for the province's more than 40,000 annual tourists. This first Spanish settlement in Cuba, established in 1512, is also an excellent ecotourism site as well as offering such cultural incentives as rumba Francesa (traditional music and dance fusing West Africa and France), the Changui (Cuban music) and the original Stone Zoo of Yateras.

Especially attractive are the Toa, iguanf and Cupeyal del Norte hills, the densest of the Antilles and included in the biodiversity heritage of Alexander von Humboldt National Park, classified by UNESCO as a World Nature Heritage. Military fortresses erected between 1739 and 1742, like La Punta, Matachín and Seboruco, built for protection from corsairs and pirates are today hotels, restaurants or museums, frequently capturing vacationers. In Baracoa, Seboruco is the Castillo Hotel, among other lodgings and La Rusa, Porto Santo and Villa Maguana hotels.

Ecotourism came naturally to this area, adorned as it is with coconut and palm trees and where conservation dates back to the late 15th Century when Christopher Columbus first arrived. The transparent waters of the rivers and Baracoa's coast are suitable for fishing, swimming and rides, while the great variety of caves offers well-preserved archaeological traces and paintings.

The 2007 International Nature Tourism Event (TURNAT 2007) strengthened Guantánamo as a potential beach