Are you thinking about a holiday to Cuba? Well, out of all the Caribbean Islands, Cuba is definitely one with more to offer than just a beach holiday. The people are extremely friendly and welcoming. The heritage of Cuba is as rich as are the monuments and palaces throughout the country. A holiday to Cuba is something you should really consider in your agenda.

These are just some of the facts to consider and places and things you should not miss in your holidays to Cuba.

The country has evolved with a strong personality from its experience from Spanish colonization, slavery, civil war, invasion, revolution and relentless economic embargo. Havana the islands proud capital is energetically restoring the buildings of its elegant historic quarters and the grand old cities of Santiago de Cuba and Trinidad still recall their 16th century beginnings.

The island extends some 1,300 km (over 800 miles) in length. At its widest point, it measures about 200 km (124 miles), and at its narrowest, just 5 km (22 miles) across. Cuba comprises an archipelago of around 1 ,600 isles and cayos (cays), the largest being the Isla de Ia Juventud (Isle of Youth) south of Bataban Bay. Sheltered by long coral reefs, the coastal beaches face the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean to the northeast, Jamaica and the Caribbean Sea to the south.

Cuba’s heartland stretches from the sugar and coffee plantations around the Guamuhaya (or Escambray) mountains of Cienfuegos to the cattle pastures of the Camaguey plains. As the region that has traditionally separated the poor peasants of the Oriente from the wealthy land-owners around Havana in the west, it has played a significant role in Cuban history. It has witnessed the early Spanish settlers’ fleeting dreams of gold in Trinidad, the first serious campaigns for independence led by the sugar-planters and Camaguey cattle barons, and, in modern times, Che Guevara’s decisive defeat of Batista’s troops at Santa Clara in 1958, followed three years later by the debacle of the Cuban exiles’ Bay of Pigs invasion. And the Ancn peninsula offers the best beaches on Cuba’s south coast.

The Pinar del Rio region is of course most famous for producing the tobacco that goes into the best Havana cigars. The main plantations are concentrated in the triangle formed by the towns of Pinar del RIo itself, San Luis and San Juan y Martinez and, fur ther west, in the fabled Vuelta Abajo area along the Cuyaguateje river. But tobacco accounts only for a small fraction of the region’s farmland. Fields of sugar cane blanket the eastern plains until rice paddies take over to fill the marshlands south of Los Palacios. Cattle herds graze the Guaniguanico foothills and citrus or chards, grapefruit and oranges, occupy the western area around Sandino.

The list of places to visit and things to do goes on and on. Hundreds of beautiful beach and city locations can not be put in just one article. Stay tune to this article directory as there will be more useful information about Cuba coming soon.