Cigars
Calle Maceo 181
Santa Clara
Tel: 42/20-2211

Santa Clara has an excellent Fábrica de Tabacos. The factory occupies a full city block and produces high-quality Montecristo, Partagas, Romeo & Julieta, Punch, and Robaina cigars. It's open Monday through Friday from 7am to noon and 1 to 4pm. A 45-minute guided tour costs $3 per person.

Across the street, there's a well-stocked shop, La Casa del Tabaco, Ron y Café La Veguita, Maceo 176-A (tel. 42/20-8952). The cigar sommelier here, Marilín Morales Bauta, is quite charming and one of the premier experts in the field.

Monumento a la Toma y Acción del Tren Blindado
Ave. Liberación
Santa Clara

Another very interesting place is site of the last battle of the Cuban revolution. The capture of the train was the decisive factor in the triumph of the revolution and it is now a major tourist attraction. Batista was on the point of sending an armored train with military supplies and soldiers to Santiago de Cuba to counter attack revolutionaries.

Che Guevara use American bulldogger to stop the train, now part of museum exposition.
The soldiers on the train surrendered quickly and the fighting for the train was soon over. There is a museum inside the wagons, shows weapons carried on train.

Museo Memorial “Ernesto Che Guevara”  
Ave. de los Desfiles
Santa Clara

The Ernesto Che Guevara monument complex was declared a national monument yesterday, the 45th anniversary of Che being granted the status of a Cuban citizen. Nilson Acosta, executive secretary of the National Monuments Commission, read the resolution approving that just initiative, which took into account the extraordinary merits of the heroic guerrilla, whose name has been given to the monument complex of a plaza, a bronze sculpture and its base and other facilities. This singular work was built in 1988 with the participation of the people.

From October 1997 to the present day, more than 1,060,000 people have visited the memorial-museum, which houses Che’s remains as well as those of his comrades who fell in Bolivia. One third of those visitors have come from the four corners of the Earth to express their admiration and pay tribute.

Ernesto Che Guevara was a revolutionary of universal stature, who became a symbol of humanism, solidarity and internationalism for the world. He was a central leader in Cuba’s war of national liberation and led the victory of the Battle of Santa Clara. Roberto López Hernández, first secretary of the Communist Party in Villa Clara, and Mercedes Piñon, the monument’s director, unveiled the plaque with the inscription of National Monument. It is located at the entrance to the museum that houses the documents, photos and other objets of historical value recounting the life and work of the legendary guerrilla.

Che Guevara Memorial
Che Guevara

Museo de Artes Decorativas
Marta Abreu
Santa Clara

It is located in the very core of the city, across from the beautiful Parque Vidal. It treasures excellent furniture or highly valuable artistic pieces dating back to the 18 th century. Moving along its halls allows the visitor to appreciate the development of furniture design through time.

Museo Provincial de Historia 
Ciudad Escolar Abel Santamaría,
Santa Clara

The visitor will be able to know all the details about the facts that took place in the final battle of the Rebel Army during the takeover of the city of Santa Clara in 1959. In its halls, we find a harmonious collection of artwork, varied documents, furniture, and other utensils from the 19 th and 20 th centuries

Parque Leoncio Vidal
Marta Abreu
Santa Clara

The heart of the city is the central Parque Vidal. The double-wide streets ringing the park are pedestrian-only and often crowded with locals and lovers strolling in leisurely circles.
Its history dates back to the founding of the Villa, when a square of 1 600 metres was marked out in order to build the Plaza de Armas. In the area of the present day park, bull fights, equitation competitions, plays and all kinds of games, such as cards and dice, are held. Every 15th of July, on the anniversary of the Villa’s founding, the people of Santa Clara celebrate with huge parties in this place, where there were four pine trees and almond trees marking the four cardinal points. From being the Plaza de Armas, it later became the Plaza Mayor and afterwards, Plaza Constitucional, until it was remodelled in 187l by order of the Chapter House and renamed Recreation Plaza (Plaza de Recreo). Its current name, dates back to the XIX century in honour of the deceased independent Colonel Leoncio Vidal.

Santa Iglesia Catedral Santa Clara de Asís
Marta Abreu #113
Santa Clara

Teatro “La Caridad”
Parque Vidal
Santa Clara
Tel: 42/20-5548

A unique architectural building located in the heart of the city of Santa Clara (276 kilometres east of Havana) which opened on September 8th of 1885 and was declared a National Monument of Cuba in 1981. The building was constructed thanks to the generosity of Marta Abreu de Estévez, a member of an illustrious and wealthy family of the area, who financed it’s building and later on donated it to the city so that part of its income would be destined to the poor. For years famous actors and actresses have performed on its stage, such as Enrico Caruso, Libertad Lamarque, Jorge Negrete, Rosita Fornés, Lola Flores, Chucho Valdés, Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet. Today it is still open to the public as a theatre that offers the visitor the possibility of being transported back in time.
You'll find a series of shops and restaurants aimed at travelers and dollar-spending Cubans. The active and ornate 19th-century theater, modeled after the Paris Opera, often features concerts and shows, and is worth a quick tour ($1) during the day.