Cuba - Lonely Planet [350]
Sleeping & Eating
Hospedaría El Cobre ( 3-6246) This large two-story building behind the basilica has 15 basic rooms with one, two or three beds, all with bath, at eight pesos per person, plus two 40-bed dormitories at five pesos per person. Meals are served punctually at 7am, 11am and 6pm, and there’s a pleasant large sitting room with comfortable chairs. The nuns here are very hospitable. House rules include no drinking and no unmarried couples. A Convertible donation to the sanctuary equivalent to what you pay to stay in pesos is the classy thing to do. Foreigners must reserve at least 15 days in advance.
There are several peso stalls in town where you can get batidos (fruit shakes), pizza and smoked-pork sandwiches.
Getting There & Away
Bus 2 goes to El Cobre twice a day from the Intermunicipal Bus Station (cnr Av de los Libertadores & Calle 4), in Santiago de Cuba. Trucks are more frequent on this route.
A Cubataxi from Santiago de Cuba costs around CUC$20 for a round-trip.
If you’re driving toward Santiago de Cuba from the west, you can join the Autopista Nacional near Palma Soriano, but unless you’re in a big hurry, it’s better to continue on the Carretera Central via El Cobre, which winds through picturesque hilly countryside.
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EL SALTÓN
Basking in its well-earned eco-credentials, Hotel Carrusel El Saltón (Cubanacán; 56-63-23; Carretera Puerto Rico a File; s/d with breakfast CUC$45/65; ) is a tranquil mountain escape in the Tercer Frente municipality, where hills that once echoed with the sound of crackling rifle fire now reverberate to the twitter of tropical birds. Secluded and hard to reach (that’s the whole point), the 22-room lodge is spread over three separate blocks that nestle like hidden tree houses amid the thick foliage. Spirit-lifting extras include a sauna, hot tub, massage facilities, a hilltop mirador and the hotel’s defining feature, a 30m cascading waterfall with an adjacent natural pool ideal for swimming. Eco-guides can offer horseback riding or hiking into the nearby cocoa plantations at Delicias del Saltón. Alternatively, you can just wander off on your own through myriad mountain villages with alluring names like Filé and Cruce de los Baños. The hotel has an OK restaurant and bar with a popular pool table, both of which reside just meters from a gushing mountain river.
To get to El Saltón, continue west from El Cobre to Cruce de los Baños, 4km east of Filé village. El Saltón is 3km south of Filé. With some tough negotiating in Santiago de Cuba, a sturdy taxi will take you here for CUC$40. Money well spent.
You may hear about a road over the Sierra Maestra from Cruce de los Baños to Río Seco on the south coast. Southbound from Cruce de los Baños, the first 10km are OK, passing through hamlets in coffee-growing country. Then the road goes south, becoming a very rough jeep track with extremely slippery, steep sections that can only be covered by a 4WD vehicle in dry weather. In a regular car or in rainy weather, the last 20km to Río Seco would be impossible, although eco-tour jeeps regularly use this road. Good luck.
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WEST OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA
Existing as a vital transport artery between the escarpment and the sea, the rutted road west out of Santiago toward Marea de Portillo, 181km away, is a roller coaster of crinkled mountains, hidden bays and crashing surf. This is, without doubt, one of the most breathtaking routes in Cuba, if not the Caribbean. There are countless remote beaches where you can stop along the way, all of them spectacular, and most without a soul within loud-hailing distance. The main problem in this region is that public transport barely exists; a headache for convenience freaks but a blessing in disguise for DIY adventurers.
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CHIVIRICO & AROUND
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Chivirico, 75km southwest of Santiago de Cuba and 106km east of Marea del Portillo, is the only town of any significance on the south-coast highway. Transport links are