Camaguey Travel Guide by CHB

Travel Guide - Camaguey, Cuba

The panorama of Camaguey province is uniformly flat, broken up only by palm trees, whilst the soil, some of the most fertile in the land, makes it suitable for the growing of sugar cane. The area is also cattle country-home to herds of cattle, primarily Cuban Charolais, which are bred for beef, and Zebu, bred for their milk.

This province is also home to one of the most important port towns in the country, Nuevitas, which handles the transportation of the many thousand of tons of sugar produced by the 13 provincial sugar mills.
Camaguey also boasts the up and coming beach resort of Santa Lucia, some 100km north of the city.

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Camaguey City

It was one of the most important cities in the colonial period, nowdays it has a wealth of fine baroque churches and some picturesque nooks and crannies, such as the restored Plaza San Juan de Dios.

Sightseeing in the city will inevitably bring you to a closer appreciation of the life of the city's hero, Ignacio Agramonte, as there is both a park and a museum dedicated to his memory. The city itself is one of the prettiest in Cuba, full of architectural gems testifying to its colonial past.

Near the train station you can find The Museum of the Birthplace of Ignacio Agramonte. Visit the La Merced church opposite to see its peeling frescoes and the venerated objects stored in its crypt, finally the best of this city is Plaza San Juan de Dios which is an old cobblestoned square surrounded by brightly hued, single-storey buildings and a lovely yellow church alongside a restored former hospital.

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Florida

The Municipality of Florida is bordered in the north by the municipality of Cespedes and Esmeralda, the south with the municipality of Vertientes, the east with Camagüey and the west, with the Baraguá municipality of the province of Ciego de Avila and the Caribbean Sea. Located to the center-west of province, characterizes for being zone level, bathed by waters of river Caonao, and counts on elevation medium, denominated “Hill of Urabo, in whose environs the last combat got rid that took place in the province, during the war of the 1895.

Florida City was founded one year after the first train ran through Camaguey province on the new Cuban central railroad by the first sales of lots in 1903 for 100 pesos, between the streets President Go'mez (General Go'mez) and the Mountain range of Otaola. In this zone completely covered with forests, in the first years several wood sawmills settled, a bar and a store. In 1904 the first telegraphic laying between Florida was had and San Jerónimo and in 1908 the urbanization of the town to the south of the railway station began, counting on 12 streets, 24 apples and one seat in 1912.

The fundamental economic base is the Sugar Industry, although other industries also stand out like: Sports, Fisheries, Cattle; also factories of tobaccos, vermicelli, galleticas, refreshments, sorbitol, shirts, bread and candies.

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Nuevitas

Situated around 68km north east of the city, much of the area is blighted by heavy industry and the thermoelectric generating stations, which form part of the industrial complex, are the biggest in Cuba. There are some decent beaches close by where you can swim in the waters around here.

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Playa Santa Lucia

Playa Santa Lucia is fast becoming a popular holiday destination for western package tourists and is an excellent place for scuba diving as there are more than 50 different species of coral in the waters. The sunsets over this area are spectacular. It is recommend you visit the coral reef off La Boca, which is a tiny fishing village 5 miles west of the main resort. La Boca is one of the most lovely spots in Cuba. It is impossibly picturesque with a glorious crescent of sand that even knocks spots off the strip at Santa Lucia.

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