Biking in Central Cuba

Central Cuba Overview

Central Cuba has everything that lures visitors to the island: antique towns and vibrant cities, museums and sites of dramatic historical events, gently rolling countryside, mountains, bays, and sugary white beaches.

Five of the routes in this section, taken together, comprise a great loop around the Sierra del Escambray, Cuba's second highest chain of mountains. The loop takes in the most important cities and towns in the region: Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Remedios, Sancti Spiritus, and Trinidad. The entire loop is relatively easy. Any reasonably fit cyclist can do it.

Batidos taste good when biking Cuba.

If you want to enjoy mountains by climbing them rather than merely viewing them from a distance, and if you are content to skip Sancti Spiritus, we describe a more difficult ride between Santa Clara and Trinidad over the Sierra del Escambray. This is one of the most challenging fully-paved routes in Cuba, comparable to La Farola in Guantánamo province. Even if you are a strong cyclist, it will give you a good workout. The rewards are commensurate with the difficulty.

We also describe shorter loops that take a day or two at most, starting from Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and Trinidad, and we give directions for cycling from Cienfuegos to Playa Girón on the Bahía de Cochinos, the infamous "Bay of Pigs."

The pages below contain comments and pictures from some of the areas that you can see by riding the routes in Central Cuba.