Traveller’s Guide to Fly Drive Cuba - Part 4

Cayo las Brujas to Havana

Back on dry land, take the Circuito Norte - the northern circuit - meandering through the countryside. One of my favourite Cuban towns is Cardenas. Around the start of the 20th century, wealthy citizens from Cardenas built themselves summer houses on a narrow peninsula jutting into the Atlantic just north from here. Since then, it’s changed a bit.

Varadero is Cuba’s leading beach destination - a 12-mile sliver of sand dunes lined with hotels and all-inclusive resorts. Holidaymakers come here for fun in the sun, with the added benefit of nourishment in abundance, pools, sports facilities and organised activities.

While the beach is washed by the Atlantic, Cuba is of course a Caribbean island. And since yachtsmen and women enjoy sailing in the Caribbean, a marina has just been opened at the very end of the peninsula. Key West in Florida is 100 miles north.

A French millionaire named Irenee Du Pont decided to buy a patch of land to build a little seaside cottage. Today it’s the Mansion Xanadu. The top floor is a bar with a view of the Atlantic on one side and an 18-hole golf course on the other. It’s very popular with magazines for fashion shoots. Monsieur Dupont donated it to the Cuban government in 1963.

The refrain in Cuba used to be: All you need is Che. But now Ringo, John, George and Paul have joined the party, so to speak, at the Beatles Bar. There’s live music from 10pm to 1am, eight days a week.

Heading west, the Cuevas de Bellamar claims to be Cuba’s oldest tourist attraction, discovered by a farmer in 1861. The caves extend for over two miles, reaching a depth of 105 feet and including some extraordinary natural sculptures.

The most spectacular stretch of the Via Blanca is the Bridge of Bacunayaguey - the longest and highest in Cuba. The span is over 1,000 feet, and it’s 300ft above the valley. It was officially opened by Fidel Castro, shortly after he came to power in 1959.

Make Cojimar a last detour reaching Havana - for an encounter with one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Ernest Hemingway was seduced by Cuba in the 1930s. He moved to the island and lived on the outskirts of Havana for more than 20 years. The American writer loved deep-sea fishing, and kept a boat - El Pilar - in the fishing village of Cojimar. The location and the locals inspired Hemingway to write “The Old Man and the Sea,” which won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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