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– a domed rooftop cupola equipped with a wrought-iron staircase. For a tip of CUC$1 you can climb up for unparalleled city views. On the opposite side of the park is the singular Catedral de la Purísima Concepción (Map; 52-52-97; Av 56 No 2902; donations accepted; 7am-noon), dating from 1869 and distinguished by its French stained-glass windows. Surprise – it’s nearly always open. The southern side of Parque Martí is dominated by the silvery grey walls and red dome of the Palacio de Gobierno, where the provincial government (Poder Popular Provincial) holds forth. It doesn’t allow visitors, but you can steal a look at the palatial main staircase through the front door. The Museo Provincial (Map; 51-97-22; cnr Av 54 & Calle 27; admission CUC$2; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat, 10am-noon Sun) next door offers a microcosm of Cienfuegos’ history and displays the frilly furnishings of refined 19th-century French-Cuban society, as well as other assorted knickknacks.

On the park’s southeastern corner stands the city’s oldest building, the Casa del Fundador (Map; cnr Calle 29 & Av 54), once the residence of city founder Louis D’Clouet, later a bank and now a souvenir shop. El Bulevar (Calle 54), Cienfuegos’ quintessential shopping street, heads east from here to link up with the Paseo del Prado.

PASEO DEL PRADO & THE MALECóN

The stately Paseo del Prado (Calle 37), stretching from the Río El Inglés in the north to Punta Gorda in the south, is the longest street of its kind in Cuba and a great place to see Cienfuegueños going about their daily business. The boulevard is a veritable smorgasbord of fine neoclassical buildings and pastel-painted columns, and at the intersection of Av 54 you can pay your respects to a life-sized statue of Benny Moré (Map).

Next to the Polivalente sports center at the intersection of Prado and Av 48, there’s a small sports museum (Map; cnr Calle 37 & Av 48; admission free) containing hockey, fencing and baseball paraphernalia as well as the boots and T-shirt of local boxing hero, Julio González Valladores, who brought back a gold medal from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Heading south on the Prado, the street becomes the Malecón as it cuts alongside the bay offering exquisite vistas of what is considered to be one of the world’s finest natural bays. Like all sea drives (Havana’s being the archetype), this area comes alive in the evening when poets come to muse and couples to canoodle.

PUNTA GORDA

When the Malecón sea wall runs out, you will know you have landed in Punta Gorda, Cienfuegos’ old upper-class neighborhood characterized by its bright clapboard homes and turreted palaces. Highlighting a 1920s penchant for grandiosity are the cupola-topped Palacio Azul (now the Hostal Palacio Azul) and the Club Cienfuegos, once an exclusive yacht club. Nearby an inventive Parque de Esculturas throws some interesting modern sculpture into the already eclectic surroundings.

The ultimate in kitsch is yet to come. Continue south on Calle 37 and, with a sharp intake of breath, you’ll stumble upon the Arabian Nights–like Palacio de Valle (Map; 51-12-26; cnr Calle 37 & Av 2; 9:30am-11pm). Built in 1917 by Alcisclo Valle Blanco, a Spaniard from Asturias, the structure resembles an outrageously ornate Moroccan Kasbah. Batista planned to convert this colorful riot of tiles, turrets and stucco into a casino, but today it’s an (aspiring) upscale restaurant, with an inviting terrace bar Click here.

The Centro Recreativo La Punta (Map; 10am-10pm) has a gazebo on the point’s extreme southern tip and this is where lovers go to watch the sunset. You can also grab a beer or mojito at the bar. Live music sometimes breaks the tranquility.

CEMETERIES

Cienfuegos has a rather morbid fascination with burial grounds, with two of its cemeteries listed as national monuments. The older of the two is Cementerio La Reina (Map; cnr Av 50 & Calle 7; 8am-6pm), founded in 1837 and lined with the graves of Spanish soldiers who died in the Wars of Independence. La Reina is the only cemetery in Cuba where bodies are interred above ground (in the walls) due