Cienfuegos , the Pearl of the South, is a small city in the Central Cuban province of Cienfuegos. The historic center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Parque Jose Marti, centre of Cienfuegos

Understand

Cienfuegos is the only city in Cuba that was founded by the French. As a result, it feels a little different than other Cuban cities, with wider streets. There are two main areas of interest to tourists; Pueblo Nuevo, the city centre; and Punta Gorda, a peninsula with lots of 1950's homes. It's a nice place to visit for a day or two, but after that, you might run out of things to do.

5 Septiembre, [1] is the local periodical.

Get in

By car

• From Trinidad - about an hour, just stay by the coast most of the way. Not all turns are signposted.

By bus

The two daily Viazul [2] buses between Havana and Trinidad stop at Cienfuegos, as does the daily bus between Varadero, Santa Clara, and Trinidad. This last bus arrives from Varadero heading for Trinidad at noon, and arrives from Trinidad heading for Varadero at 4:00pm (it is missing from the Viazul website). Travellers heading east and wishing to catch the 8:00am Viazul bus from Trinidad to Santiago de Cuba can sometimes arrange for an early morning minivan through Viazul. Ask at the bus station.

By train

There are two trains that run from Havana: a very slow daytime train (every second day) that returns the following day, and a somewhat faster late-evening train (every second day) that operates via Matanzas and returns overnight. Trains may also leave for Santa Clara (very) early in the morning and return in the evening, and leave for Santa Clara and Sancti Spiritus in the afternoon, returning the following morning. Check that the trains are running in advance.

By plane

Jaime González Airport has three flights a week: leaving Miami at 8am Mondays and Fridays, returning 10:45am; and leaving Miami 5:30pm Wednesdays and returning later in the evening (8pm?). A roundtrip ticket is $509. The airline is a charter. The telephone number is (800) 493 8426, the website is http://www.destinationcuba.com/.

Get around

Palacio Ferrer, Parque Marti

Both the centre and Punta Gorda are easy of walk around, but are about 3km apart. They are joined by Calle 37 (del Prado), which runs by the sea. If you don't fancy walking, the principle public transportation is coches or horse-drawn carts that seat 6 or 8 people. They go up and down Calle 37. The price is 1 CUP for Cubans or 1 CUC for tourists.

See

Pueblo Nuevo

• Tomas Terry Theatre, Parque Jose Martí (North of Parque José Martí). Victorian theatre, built in 1890. Lots of original features, and very pretty. Also has a nice cafe. 2 CUC. 

Tomas Terry Theatre

• Museo Histórico, Av 54 e/ calles 27 y 29 (south side of Parque José Martí). A historical museum, with exhibits ranging from archeology of the original Indians, to the colonial eras. 

Punta Gorda

• Palacio de Valle. 
• 1950's Houses. 

Do

• Freshwater fishing. Drive to the nearby secluded mountain lakes to fish for the plentiful bass.
• Harbour boat trip. Take a boat trip round the harbour, stopping off at an island and chatting to the locals and enjoying a mojito.
• Malecon. Walk along and hang out at the malecon (sea front) in the evenings.
• Laguna Guanaroca. A lake full of flamingos in the southeast of Cienfuegos. The entrance fee includes a guided walk to the lake explaining the flora and fauna (1h) and aswell includes a boat trip on the lake to get closer to the flamingos (1h). Lake is surrounded by mangroves and ashore hummingbirds can be spotted. Go there early as it can get very hot and you will be esposed entirely to the sun when sitting in the boat. Cubanacan sells you the ticket but you have to find your own transport. A taxi is CUC 20 both ways. Wait in the office for other tourists to share the taxi with. CUC 10. (updated Apr 2015)

Buy

• Tienda Artex, Av 54 (the Boulevar, the pedestrian street) e/ calles 33 y 35 (two blocks west of Parque Marti). Good shopping for gifts, such as shower curtains printed with paintings from the Museo Bellas Artes. 

Eat

• Yacht Club. Quite touristy but pleasant to eat in the formal restaurant upstairs or the informal snack bar in the basement.
• Palatino, Av 54 e/ calles 25 y 27 (south side of Parque Marti). Nice, quiet restaurant for lunch. The grilled tuna salad sandwiches are delicious! 
• Mi Ringcón, Av. 37, btw. 50 and 52, #5020. A small cafeteria catering for Cubans where you can have breakfast. Offers a variety of sandwichs, some juice and coffee. Try the Café Bonbón, a coffee made with condensed milk and choclate. Pay in National Pesos. CUC 0.04-0.50. (updated Apr 2015)
• Restaurante, Calle 31, btw. 56 and 58 (on the right-hand side of # 5606, mint-colored door). Cuban restaurant that offers a variety of creol food as well as a vegetarian option on request. Pay in National Pesos. CUC 1-2. (updated Apr 2015)
• Food stalls, Paseo del Prado (Cl 37) btw. Av 48 and 58. On the Paseo del Prado you will find a good number of Pizza stalls, icecream shops and juice vendors. All payed in National Pesos. CUC 0.10-0.50. (updated Apr 2015)

Drink

• Benny More. A nightclub which features Salsa Music and dancing.

• Palacio. Adjacent to the Hotel Jagua south of the Malecon, this is an amazing building, lavishly decorated in Moorish style. There is a fairly standard fare restaurant, but it is worth climbing to the rooftop bar for a drink sitting under an arched gazebo looking over the city and the harbour.

Sleep

• Hotel Faro Luna. Staying at the Faro Luna is like being at your own villa, only 25-30 rooms a beautiful pool overlooking the Caribbean and attentive staff.
• Hotel Jagua. This is a large hotel to the south of the city, around 2km from the city centre. The building itself is a square concrete block and fairly unattractive. However, the rooms and facilities are pretty good by Cuban standards. For cheap water and drinks, visit the shop outside the hotel, opposite the entrance, rather than the hotel shop itself and pay half the price.
• Hotel Pascacaballo. This is a big, modern resort-hotel at Rancho Luna, on the coast, opposite Castillo de Jagua. Lunch was awful, unless you like jello and canned vegetables. The hotel looked like it was maybe a quarter full.

Casa Particulares:

• Teresita y Yhanes, ☏ +53 43 517646. Ave 52 Nr. 4323 e/43 y 45, Very nice central place with very helpful owners. Depending on season from 15 CUC per room. 

• Sr. Jose Luis Alvarez Leon y Sra. Beatriz Ortega Turiño, ☏ +53 43 528535. Ave. 60 No. 3301 e/ 33 y 35, independent apartment with kitchen and all commodies. The owner of the housemakes really good food as well. 

• Casa de Nadia Hernández Garcia. Ave 16 #4307 Altos (upstairs) e/ (between) calles 43 y 45 (streets). Nice location in Punta Gorda, big room with a refrigerator, air conditioner, and bathroom. Very nice family. Good food and laundry. 25 CUC, plus 4 CUC for breakfast and 10 CUC for dinner. Plus Nadia is a lawyer if you need legal advice!
• Casa Colonial (Milagros & Gerardo), Av. 52 #2524 btw. 25 and 27. A friendly casa particular in a colonial house with high ceilings and just a block from the Jose Martí park. CUC 20-25. (updated Apr 2015)
• Inés María, Calle 41 #5601, between 56 and 58., ☏ +53 43 513788, inesmarialeon@yahoo.es. This two-room casa is conveniently located, close to both the center and the Viazul bus station. It is beautifully furnished and it has a very nice terrace on the top floor from which one can see the city. But its best feature are the nice people that live there. Do not miss the opportunity to try the delicious food that they cook there at request. Has aircon and hot water. (updated May 2015)

Stay safe

Before 2003 Cienfuegos had a reputation for teenage prostitutes. Girls would skip school to go to the airport three times a week for the flights from Canada and meet Canadian men. Beginning in 2003 the police cracked down on prostitution and now Cienfuegos has a reputation for the most vigorous anti-prostitution police patrolling in Cuba (and there are no longer flights from Canada). After dark be careful at nightclubs, restaurants, or on the streets; simply asking an innocent young woman for directions could get her arrested. Don't bring a Cuban guest into your casa unless she signs the guest book; several home owners lost their homes because tourists brought "girlfriends" home for the night. If a woman is arrested twice in a year for being with a tourist she is fined. If she's arrested three times she goes to prison for four years. (Tourists are usually not arrested or punished.)

Go next

• Santa Clara. Take a day trip to Santa Clara, approx 1 hour away, to visit the museum and resting place of Che Guevara.
• Delfinario. There is an dolphin show at Rancho Luna, south of Cienfuegos, near Castillo de Jagua. Shows are daily 10am and 2pm, tickets are 10 CUC. The show has audience participation, for example, a dance contest for kids where the winners get kisses from the dolphins. You can also swim with the dolphins for about 50 CUC.
• Castillo de Jagua. This is an 18th-century fortress built to protect Cienfuegos against (English) pirates. There's an abandoned nuclear power plant behind the castle, built by the Soviets but never finished.