Cuba - Lonely Planet [163]
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VIÑALES
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Ah…tranquil Viñales where rocking chairs creak on well-swept porches and sombrero-wearing guajiros saunter home on horseback after a tough day in the tobacco fields. Despite a double pummeling by hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, this most unhurried and friendly of Cuban towns has lost none of its picturesque charm. Well established on the standard tourist circuit, travelers come here to relax, ruminate and hit the great outdoors in a settlement that has so far managed to avoid the annoying jinetero-fest so common elsewhere.
Information
INTERNET ACCESS & TELEPHONE
Etecsa Telepunto (Ceferino Fernández No 3; internet per hr CUC$6; 8:30am-4:30pm) One of Cuba’s tiniest Telepuntos offices where two computers are squeezed into an office that accommodates three Etecsa clerks.
MEDICAL SERVICES
Farmacia Internacional ( 79-63-89) In Hotel Los Jazmines.
MONEY
Banco de Crédito y Comercio ( 79-31-30; Salvador Cisneros No 58; 8am-noon & 1:30-3pm Mon-Fri, 8-11am Sat)
Cadeca ( 93-63-34; cnr Salvador Cisneros & Adela Azcuy; 8:30am-5:30pm Mon-Sat)
POST
Post office (cnr Salvador Cisneros & Ceferino Fernández; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Relocated to a small booth near the park post Hurricane Gustav.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Cubanacán ( 79-63-93; Salvador Cisneros No 63C; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat) Arranges tours, excursions and transfer buses.
Havanatur ( 79-62-62; Salvador Cisneros No 65; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat) Similar to Cubanacán next door but with a few different offers. Browse both before you choose.
Sights
Founded in 1875, Viñales is more about setting than sights with most of its activities of a lung-stretching outdoor nature. Nevertheless the town has some engaging architecture and a lively main square backed by the sturdy colonial Casa de la Cultura, one of the oldest structures in the valley. Next door is a tiny art gallery while to the right is an equally diminutive (and dilapidated) church. Positioned halfway down Cisneros, Viñales’ pine-lined main street, the Museo Municipal ( 79-33-95; Salvador Cisneros No 115; 8am-5pm) occupies the former home of independence heroine Adela Azcuy (1861–1914) and tracks the local history. Four different hikes leave from here daily.
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ASK A LOCAL
There are many good walks from Viñales town though none of them are signposted. For a good initiation, head down Adela Azcuy past the baseball stadium and a small lake on your left. At the first main junction turn right and follow the track around. Imagine you’re going to encircle the large mogotes in front of you (which you are). The tracks will take you through the beautiful Valle de Palmarito and you’ll eventually come out by Campismo Dos Hermanas.
Alberto, Viñales
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Just left opposite the Servi-Cupet gas station as the road swings north out of town, you’ll spot an outlandish, vine-choked gate beckoning you in. This is the entrance to El Jardín de Caridad (donations accepted; 8am-5pm), a sprawling garden almost a century in the making. Cascades of orchids bloom alongside plastic doll heads, thickets of orange lilies grow in soft groves and turkeys run amok. Knock on the door of the Little Red Riding Hood cottage and one of the elderly owners will probably show you around.
To learn about the local tobacco-growing process, stop by at La Casa del Veguero ( 97-60-80; 10am-5pm) just outside Viñales on the road to Los Jazmines where you can see a fully operating secadero (drying house) in which tobacco leaves are cured from February to May. The staff gives brief explanations and you can buy loose cigars here at discount prices.
Activities
While most of the activities in Viñales are located outside town, there’s a handful – including some climbing routes – within easy walking