Cienfuegos

Cruise ships berth close to the town centre.

Cienfuegos City is known as "The Pearl of the South" for the striking beauty of its bay, the appeal of its city and the innate nobility associated with people born in Cienfuegos.

Cienfuegos is an engaging city whose history differs greatly from that of the rest of the country. Its domestic and international importance as a port gives it a more cosmopolitan character than much of the south. Streets are broad and straight, and the Paseo del Prado is the principal thoroughfare, cutting across the city to the peninsula's tip. It runs south through Punta Gorda and north along the bay, where the views are especially fine at sunset as the bay becomes quiet…

On the eastern side of Parque Jose Marti stands the impressive Cathedral de la Purisima Concepcion, built in 1870. The Provincial Government Palace, with its grand columns and marble floors, also faces the park, while the Casa de la Cultura lies directly to its west.

Taxis are easy to find around Cienfuegos, with most journeys costing between CUC$1 and CUC$3.

Cienfuegos options include a ferry to jaguar castle (take a taxi to hotel Pascaballo), a dolphin show at 2:00pm (taxi CUC $10), and a stroll through Parque Jose Marti, which has plenty to see and do.

The Castle of Our Lady of the Angels of Jagua is 22km from Cienfuegos city. The Spanish first used it as a small fort against smugglers entering Jagua Bay for local fresh water and food. It was later enlarged when the Spaniards decided to defend the city against the stronger threat of the English navy during the war between Spain and England.

Much of the available merchandise is aimed at tourists taking purchases home. Cuba's principal tourist exports are rum, cigars and coffee, sold in government-owned stores and on the streets; for genuine goods, pay the official price at legal stores.

Take care with the following:

As restaurants are government-owned and staffed by underpaid employees, food in Cuba is often considered notoriously bland. Within Cuba, the best meals are generally found in a casa particular or at paladares, locally owned restaurants in private homes.

• Street touts may offer real-looking discount cigars whose authenticity is doubtful.
• "Friendly" locals may invite tourists for a drink, normally a Mojito, or to a restaurant; the tourist can be charged two to three times the normal price, with the establishment and the "friend" sharing the proceeds.
• Be alert to short-changing in bars or taxis, or receiving national pesos (CUP) as change for convertible pesos (CUC).

Most tourists in Cuba use CUC. It pays for hotels, official taxis, museum admission, restaurant meals, cigars, rum and more. You can exchange into CUC at casa de cambio, or cadeca, exchange houses found in many hotels and elsewhere in the cities. The Euro is widely accepted, but the US$ is not.

ATMs are scarce in Cuba, and credit cards are not widely accepted.

Spanish is Cuba's official language.

Cuba's emergency number is 116.

In many cities, tourists can access the internet only through government communications centres ( ETECSA ). It is not cheap, and there is a good chance that someone is "watching" what you do on the PC.