In the center, north of the island of Cuba, you may find the province of Villa Clara with a geographic extension of 7920 square km. Its capital is the city of Santa Clara, considered an important junction through which passes the central highway, the national highway and the central railway line.

Inside the historic center of the city of Santa Clara, the Vidal Park stands out. Around this park is located buildings which transcend as exponents of diverse architectural codes, dating from colonial, neoclassic, eclectic up to postmodernism.

Las Brujas and Santa Maria Cayos
Las Brujas and Santa Maria Cayos-together with Fragoso, Cobos, Ensenachos and Frances Cayos-just off the northern coast of Villa Clara Province, constitute an island paradise with over ten and a half miles (17 km) of beaches and virgin nature that are gradually being opened to tourism.

Called "the white rose of the Jardines del Rey Archipelago" , Santa maria is the last and largest of the cayos. Together with Las Brujas and Ensenachos Cayos, it is linked to terra firma by an impressive stone causeway. Santa Maria is 5 square miles (13 square km) in size. It has over six and a half miles (11 km) of beaches of excellent quality, plus a wealth of flora and fauna which can be seen during excursions inlands

There is a scuba-diving center with 24 well-chosen diving sites, so you can outfit yourself and see agreat variety of coral and fish in its clear water and virgin seabed.

Las Brujas is a tiny islet whose fine white sand, dazzling sea and untouched nature make its visitors feel like Robinson Crusoe. It has over a mile of virgin beaches. Its singlestory cabanas built of a cliff are linked with one another and with the social areas by wooden bridges, so the local animals-which are entirely harmless-can be move around freely. On both Cayos are large numbers of endemic plants and animals.

Location and How to Get There
The Cayos are just off the northern coast of Villa Clara Province, in Central Cuba. Santa Clara, the capital of the province, which is around 62 miles (255 km) east of Havana. They are linked to terra firma by one of the main engineering works in Cuba of the 20th century: an ecological stone causeway built 30 miles (48 km) into the sea, with 45 bridges so as not to adversely affect the ecosystems and sea currents in the area. In addition to this means of access, both Las Brujas Cayo and Santa Clara have airports that can handle small and medium-sized planes.

What to Do
Activities include sunbathing; swimming, scuba diving and other water sports; hikes along the shore and on the inland portions of the Cayos; and excursions to other tourist resorts in Cuba and to points of interest in Villa Clara Province.

Accomodations and Facilities
On Las Brujas Cayo-which has the airport-there is a villa of 24 frame cabanas that blend with their surroundings. Near the Cayo is a ship, the San Pascual, which may well be the only one of its kind in the world. It was built in Califronia, but its line was discotinued because of its excessive weight. The San Pascual ran aground near Las Brujas in 1933 and has been there ever since, at one time serving as a storehouse for sugarcane molasses. Now a unique hotel where Ernest Hemingway and other VIP's have stayed, it has ten rooms, a lobby bar and a seafood restaurant.

Cayo Santa maria has facilities for scuba diving and the Tryp Santa Maria Hotel, an All Inclusive installation with 300 rooms, buffet and speciality restaurants, a beach shack, a patio bar, a pool bar, two club houses with jacuzzis, swimming pools for children and adults, a party room, an amphitheater, a baby club, a games room, sports areas, a gym, a scuba diving school and a water-sports equipment rental center.

Villa Clara has great historic, architectural, cultural and natural attractions. Its capital, Santa Clara, is an industrial and educational center with a solid artistic and cultural movement.

It contains the memorial which contains the remains of Ernesto Che Guevara and his comrades in the guerilla struggle in Bolivia; the La Caridad Theater (built in 1885); several museums, including one of decorative arts; two hotels (the Santa Clara Libre and Los Caneyes, this last with honeymoon facilities); several restaurants; and other service installations.

Other places of interest in the province include the town of Remedios, which was founded nearly 500 years ago and has some very well-preserved colonial architecture, including the Great Parish church (built in the 16th century); traditional annual festivities, such as the Remedios revels (one of the most colorful and oldest popular festivities in the country); and a large service instructure.

The Elgua Spa, with its medical mineral water, is a popular destination in health tourism and quality-of-life tourism programs. It, too, is in Villa Clara Province-as is Lake Hanabanilla (the only mountain lake in the archipelago), up in the Escambray Mountains, which has a hotel and ideal conditions for fishing for such freshwater fish as Largemouth Bass (tag and release). Activities include excursions around the lake, hiking, bird watching and nature walks.

We recommend driving through the Escambray Mountains area, both to see its beautiful scenery and to and to learn about the farmers traditional way of life. To get there from the Cayos, start from the port of the Caibarien.

Santa Clara

Sagua la Grande