Cuba - Lonely Planet [229]
Havanatur ( 35-11-71; Av 9 btwn Calles 8 & 10) can arrange accommodation on Cayo Santa María. Next door the Museo Municipal María Escobar Laredo ( 36-47-31; cnr Av 9 & Calle 10) is worth a once-over. There’s a Cadeca (Calle 10 No 907 btwn 9 & 10) nearby.
Sleeping & Eating
An economical launching pad for the resort-strewn, casa particular–free zone of the Cayerías del Norte, Caibarién has a small number of legal private houses.
Virginia’s Pension ( 36-33-03; www.virginias pension.com; Ciudad Pesquera No 73; r CUC$20-25; ) Among the handful, this is the most popular; it’s a reputable professional joint run by Virginia and Osmany Rodríguez and has received several recommendations.
Complejo Brisas del Mar ( 35-16-99; Reparto Mar Azul; s/d CUC$29/38; ) Also known as Villa Blanca, this 17-room Islazul hotel is located 4km east of the town right by Caibarién beach (seven rooms face the sea). Facilities include a bar, a restaurant, a swimming pool and satellite TV.
There are a couple of passable places to eat in Convertibles, including the venerable Restaurante La Vicaria ( 35-10-85; Calle 10 & Av 9; 10am-10:30pm), which specializes in fish, and La Ruina (cnr Avs 15 & 6), a Palmares place that also hosts a nightly cabaret. There’s an agropecuario (Calle 6) near the train station.
Entertainment
Piste de Baile (Calle 4; admission 2 pesos) Surprisingly, Caibarién has a hot, happening disco near the train station. It’s known by a generic name (piste de baile means dance floor) and it jumps with hundreds of young locals on weekends.
Getting There & Away
Four buses a day go to Remedios (CUC$1, 20 minutes), two carry on to Santa Clara (CUC$2, 90 minutes) and three go to Yaguajay (CUC$1.50, 45 minutes) from Caibarién’s old blue-and-white bus & train station (Calle 6) on the western side of town. There are two listed daily trains to Santa Clara, one leaving in the small hours and the other just after lunch. The journey, via Remedios, is scheduled to take two hours. The Servi-Cupet gas station is at the entrance to town from Remedios, behind the huge crab statue by Florencio Gelabert Pérez (1983). Cubacar ( 35-19-60; Av 11 btwn 6 & 8) rents cars at the standard rates.
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CAYERÍAS DEL NORTE
The hundreds of small keys that lie off the north coast of Villa Clara province – known communally as the Cayerías del Norte – are Cuba’s next big tourism project. There are currently five resorts splayed out here (including one of the archipelago’s newest), scattered over three of the largest keys, Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos and Cayo Santa María, but plans are on the table for as many as 20 more. The existing hotels are all linked by an impressive 48km causeway called El Pedraplén that runs across the shallow Bahía de Buenavista from the fishing port of Caibarién crossing 45 bridges en route. The bridges were incorporated in the mid-1990s to allow the exchange of tidal waters after studies on an older bridgeless pedraplén (causeway) in Cayo Coco revealed significant environmental damage.
To date, tourist development on the Cayerías del Norte has been thoughtful and carefully managed. Protecting 248 species of flora and incorporating parts of the Unesco-listed Buenavista Biosphere Reserve, the government has wisely earmarked large tracts of land as protected flora and fauna reserves. These measures have ensured that the area’s fine white beaches have (so far) retained a more pristine and detached feel noticeably absent in other resort complexes such as Cayo Coco and Varadero.
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ASK A LOCAL
If you’re going for a day trip to the Cayos, beware, as many of the beaches are flora and fauna reserves or the exclusive property of big hotels. The best two to aim for are Perla Blanca (shadeless), on the far tip of Cayo Santa María, and Playa Las Salinas,