Exploring Baracoa Cuba

[El Presidente]

 

 

Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was visited by Admiral Christopher Columbus on November 27, 1492, and then founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar on August 15, 1511. It is the oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba and was its first capital (the basis for its nickname Ciudad Primada, "First City").

 

 

 

[JohnnyO]

Was there about 20 years ago. The drive from Guantanamo to Baracoa is beautiful. Virgen beaches for miles. No houses or buildings. The last part of the drive you must go up this corkscrew road called "La loma de la farola". Never got the car out of 1st gear. At the midway point there was some little kids selling fruit. Great view of the countryside and a pic op. You could hear Armed Forces radio from the Guantanamo US base and once you got further up radio stations from Haiti. I felt like I was in three countries at the same time. Baracoa is small, hardly any cars moving around. There is a fort there that overlooks the bay. This is where Columbus 1st landed. Nickel mines nearby as well as a chocolate factory. Maguana beach had maybe 5 people there. It was about a 20-30 minute drive. We parked the car right on the beach. A local sold us some coconuts to drink (4 for a dollar!). Seafood dishes under $5. The lifeguard let us use his dinghy for $2 to see a reef about 100 feet from the beach. Pretty nice day. John

[Nino]

If and when you go, try to stay here - Hotel La Rusa.

The Russian Magdalena Rovenskaya, of nobility and with a dance career in Paris, came in the twenties to Cuba and settled in 1930 in Baracoa. In 1953 she build the Hotel La Rusa ***, then called Miramar, on the Malecon in Baracoa.
She was known as a benefactor and supported the Cuban Revolution.
Fidel Castro and Che Guevara spent several times the night in hotel La Rusa. The hotel has retained its simplicity, and you can book room 203 if you want to see where Che Guevara slept. We drank delicious coffee on the terrace, overlooking the Malecon and the sea.
Traffic on the Malecon mainly consisted of cyclists, horse carriages and pedestrians.