La Habana

Artemisa - Other Cities and Attractions

Basic Information
Area: 5,731 sq. km
Capital: Artemisa
Population: 680,700

In 1975, Cuba went from 7 provinces to 14. As a result Havana province was born. Havana Province now acts as sort of a safe rearguard for the capital city, the nation's main tourist destination. The city of Havana is a separate province, surrounded by the province of Havana. The largest city and capital is the city of Artemisa and the second largest city is Guines.
La Habana province has borders with the city of Havana, Pinar del Rio, and Matanzas. It has coasts in the south and north and has dozens of towns and a few small cities which rank between the 20 and 40 largest of the island.

The southern coast of the province is characterised by swamps and wetlands. Much of the La Habana province's agriculture is geared towards the production of food, primarily cattle, potatoes and fruit. Unlike much of Cuba, sugar and tobacco play only a small role in the province's economy. There is also much industrialisation in the province, with numerous electricity plants and sugar mills.

La Habana province has, in its white sand beaches and the quiet environment of its fields, 2 highly significant elements for the development of tourism. Jibacoa, a tourism resort located to the northeast of Havana, has always attracted locals and foreigners because of the excellent quality of its beaches of warm and quiet waters, surrounded by mountains up to 100 meters high all along the coast that give to this place and incomparable feeling of privacy.

Steep sectors, a rich and a very well preserved sea bottom and the existence of enjoyable views are some of the other of the attributes which, with the exuberant vegetation surrounding its environment, enhance the tourism values of the area, virtually located half way between the Cuban capital and Varadero.

Very close to this place, Puerto Escondido and el Peñón del Fraile provide visitors with the opportunity of enjoying a wonderful marine landscape and, at the same time, experience the presence of several oil wells for the extraction of oil and gas, an increasingly important activity for the economy of Havana.

On the way to the city of Havana, in the town of Santa Cruz del Norte, you will see the largest plant in Latin América for the production of Rum, whose warehouses assist the birth of the famous Havana Club Rum. Traveling further east and leaving behind the capital of Cuba, you will enter another highly important beach resort for the province of Havana: El Salado, located little more than 30 km away from the José Martí International Airport and with a very private beach protected by a Coral Reef, which enables the existence of excellent conditions for the practice Scuba Diving.

It is very easy to go from there to Artemisa, where an area of managed resources under the name Rancho Azucarero and the ruins of the famous Coffee Plantation La Angerona deserve the attention of visitors.

Inland, Havana has many other attractions, among which are: the only Museum of Humor of the Island, traditional venue of all the International Biennials of Humor; Escaleras de Jaruco, with a particular landscape resulting from the typography of the area. The existence of several cliffs and caves turned it into a good scenario for the practice adventure tourism and speleotourism.

On the south coast, the anchorage of Batabanó (Port that controls maritime communication with the Isle of Youth) offers the opportunity of getting acquainted with one of the most important sea sponges reserves of the Cuban archipelago, and an important center for the capture of chelonian and crustaceous species.