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Cienfuegos is the 'French heart of Cuba, rising in the shadow of the Sierra del Escambray like a piece of Paris transported to the wild southern coast of Cuba. Here the first pioneers were not the Spanish colonizers but the French, who arrived in the region in 1819 bringing with them the ideals of the European Enlightenment, which they industriously incorporated into their nascent neoclassical settlement: the result is an extraordinary and sumptuous nineteenth-century architectural masterpiece.

Outside the city, the coast is surprisingly undeveloped: a small rainbow of emerald greens and iridescent blues, dotted with bays, caves and coral reefs. The pearl of the province, the El Nicho waterfall, is located a short distance from the sea and is probably the most magical place in the Sierra del Escambray.

Although Cienfuegos is ostensibly Francophile and white, its 'African' soul, long silent, finally expressed itself in the 1940s thanks to the king of mambo, Benny Moré, while nearby Palmira is known for its santerías, brotherhoods of Catholics and Yoruba that keep alive the deep traditions of the slavery era.

Developed around the most spectacular bay in the country, Cienfuegos is a maritime city with an enviable position and is one of the most recently founded urban centers in Cuba but also one of the most architecturally interesting, to the point of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Absolutely worth visiting is the Tomas Terry theater between Calle 27 and Calle 29, which features French and Italian influences, located on the north side of Parque José Martí and has a sumptuous appearance (note the gold-leaf mosaics on the facade), especially inside. Built between 1887 and 1889 in honor of the Venezuelan industrialist Tomás Terry, it has 950 seats and is adorned with Carrara marble, sculptures in fine Cuban wood and whimsical frescoed ceilings. In 1895 it was inaugurated with Verdi's Aida and later hosted numerous protagonists of Cuban music and artists of the caliber of Enrico Caruso and Anna Pavlova.

At the end of Calle 37, concentrated in a truly breathtaking building, the Palacio de Valle, in Arabian Nights style. Built in 1917 by Acisclo del Valle Blanco, a Spaniard, it resembles a particularly sumptuous Moroccan casbah. This colorful riot of tiles, turrets and stucco that Batista intended to turn into a casino now houses a restaurant.

Party-goers will prefer to visit in August and September, when the Cienfuegos Carnival and the biennial festival dedicated to musician Benny Moré take place respectively.

During our tours we always recommend a stop in this unmissable colonial city.