If you are spending a few days in Cuba, you cannot miss the one-day route in Viñales. There is a lot to see and discover, so you should make the most of the day from the very first hour.
How to arrive?
From Havana, it is very easy to get there. You will have to book a bus, you can also go by train, but I recommend you book the first option. It costs between €10-15 and takes about 3 and a half hours. The road is beautiful and you can see how the landscape of the city changes and the tropical green forest begins. There are options to rent a car if you prefer to go for free. In this post, we tell you everything you cannot miss.
You can also go on an organized excursion that has a price between €50 and €60. In these excursions, they tell you everything that surrounds the town of Viñales, the tobacco plantations, and the mogotes.
What to see?
We visited it with a guide (and everything was included) in order to better understand what the Viñales Valley meant. But you can also go on your own, here we tell you everything you need to know to leave Viñales without having missed anything.
Arriving at the valley you have the feeling of entering another world, a green world full of life, color, plantations, and mogotes.
The town of Vinales
The first stop when you arrive in Viñales is its town. The town of Viñales is very picturesque, worthy of a postcard. Walking through its streets is a must when touring the valley. Being a small town, it won't take long, but I recommend you stop at every possible corner. There are chickens walking through its streets, vintage cars, the flora that floods the place...
The town of Viñales was inhabited by the Taínos who were colonized by the Spanish and dedicated themselves to planting tobacco in the area. The town was established in 1878.
Once again on the road, we can see all the low houses, with gardens and animals and all the plantations there. We can perfectly see the lifestyle of people who live outside the capital.
The Vinales Valley
The next stop is at one of the viewpoints to appreciate the valley from above. The most famous is the Los Jazmines viewpoint, which has a 360-degree view. It is incredible to be able to see everything from these views, which although they belong to a hotel are free.
Following our route, we arrive at the Viñales Valley: one of our main destinations for the day.
In the valley, you can see the mogotes up close (the typical mountains with a rounder shape). It is one of the only places in the world where they can be observed. We can also see the Mural of Prehistory, painted in 1959 at 120 meters high on the rock of the mountain (which had to be washed and drained). It is an impressionable mural representing the region's past and evolution.
Inside the Valley, there is a restaurant where we ate abundantly and quite well.
Tobacco plantation
Continuing our day, we go to the famous tobacco plantations, according to them, the best in the world. From there we got on a horse cart to get there since the road was quite steep.
As soon as we arrived at the plantation, we were able to drink rum with natural sugar cane and see a whole tutorial on how to make a cigar. We saw the plantations, the harvest, and the way they were put together.
Valley caves
The last stop of the day is the cave system of the valley (the second largest in the Americas). You can visit the caves and ride a boat to better enjoy them. Some are 300 m long and are crossed by an underground river.
We visit the Cueva del Indio. It is very easy to get around and they have a boat to cross the river. Many stalagmites and stalactites can be observed.
Here we would end our day in Viñales, after seeing the caves we got on the bus and returned to the capital quite tired and with a lot to process: it is an impressive landscape!
In summary, for me, Viñales is one of my favorite parts of the island since you can observe another lifestyle and unimaginable nature. If you like hiking and you have already visited Havana enough, you can stay one night in the valley to enjoy more of its landscape and its routes.
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