Cuba - Lonely Planet [246]
CAR & TAXI
The rental agencies at the Playa Ancón hotels rent mopeds (CUC$27 per day); or you can try the Las Ruinas del Teatro Brunet (Antonio Maceo No 461 btwn Simón Bolívar & Zerquera).
Cubacar (Trinidad/Cubatur office 99-62-57; cnr Antonio Maceo & Zerquera; Hotel Ancón 99-65-57) rents cars for approximately CUC$70 per day.
The Servi-Cupet gas station ( 24hr), 500m south of town on the road to Casilda, has an El Rápido snack bar attached. The Oro Negro gas station is at the entrance to Trinidad from Sancti Spíritus, 1km east of Plaza Santa Ana.
Guarded parking is available in certain areas around the casco histórico. Ask at your hotel or casa particular and they can arrange it.
Trinidad has Havana-style coco-taxis; they cost approximately CUC$5 to Playa Ancón. A car costs from CUC$6 to CUC$8 both ways. State-owned taxis tend to congregate outside the Cubatur office in Antonio Maceo. A cab to Sancti Spíritus will cost approximately CUC$35.
HORSE CARTS
Horse carts (costing two pesos) leave for Casilda from Paseo Agramonte at the southern end of town.
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PLAYA ANCÓN & AROUND
Playa Ancón, a precious ribbon of white beach on Sancti Spíritus’ iridescent Caribbean shoreline, is usually touted – with good merit – to be the finest arc of sand on Cuba’s south coast.
While not comparable in all-round quality to the north-coast giants of Varadero, Cayo Coco and Guardalavaca, Ancón has one important trump card: Trinidad, Latin America’s sparkling colonial diamond shimmering just 12km to the north. You can get here in less than 15 minutes in a car or a leisurely 40 on a bike. Alternatively, Ancón has three all-inclusive hotels and a well-equipped marina that runs catamaran trips to a couple of nearby coral keys.
Beach bums who want to be near the water, but don’t have the money or inclination to stay at one of the resorts, might consider a private home in the seaside village of La Boca. What Ancón’s gushing tourist brochures fail to mention are the sand fleas: they’re famously ferocious at sunrise and sunset. Be warned.
The old fishing port of Casilda, 6km due south of Trinidad, is a friendly village with one paved road that was devastated during the 2005 hurricane season. On August 17 the Fiesta de Santa Elena engulfs little Casilda, with feasting, competitions, horse races and loads of rum. The road from Ancón to Casilda crosses a tidal flat, meaning abundant birdlife is visible in the early morning.
Activities
From Hotel Ancón, it’s 18km to Trinidad via Casilda, or 16km on the much nicer coastal road via La Boca. The Hotel Ancón pool is also open to nonguests and you can usually nab the ping-pong table undetected.
FISHING
The Marina Trinidad ( 99-62-05) is a few hundred meters north of Hotel Ancón. Four hours of deep-sea fishing, including transport, gear and guide, costs CUC$400 per boat (minimum six people), or a cheaper CUC$180 for bottom-fishing (from a moored boat off Cayo Blanco). Fly-fishing is also possible around the rich mangrove forests of Península de Ancón (CUC$400 for four hours, maximum six people).
SNORKELING & SCUBA DIVING
Cayo Blanco, a reef islet 25km southeast of Playa Ancón, has 22 marked scuba sites where you’ll see black coral and bountiful marine life. Diving with the Cayo Blanco International Dive Center ( 99-62-05), located at Marina Trinidad, costs CUC$30 a dive and CUC$299 for an open-water course. The Marina also runs a seven-hour snorkeling-and-beach tour to Cayo Blanco for CUC$40 per person with lunch. There are similar trips to the equally pristine Cayo Macho.
Romantic types might want to check out the sunset catamaran cruise (cruise with/without dinner CUC$28/15), which has been enthusiastically recommended. There is a minimum of eight passengers. Inquire at the marina or ask at the Cubatur office in Trinidad.
SAILING
The Windward