Guantanamo Mango

This Cuba bicycle tour is called Guantánamo Mango. Ride through the coastal lowlands and scenic mountains of eastern Cuba in the historic old province of Oriente, the birthplace of Cuba’s revolution and earlier wars of independence and where Fidel Castro was born and raised.

Beginning in Holguin, a city of leafy parks and plazas, the ride will head east into the world-renowned biosphere around Baracoa, Cuba’s oldest city, famous for its chocolate, unique cuisine and large, beautiful bay. The tour will linger at a wonderful beach, take in the city and enjoy a short boat ride up the unspoiled Toa river to a riverside restaurant for lunch.

Following a climb into the majestic mountains, the tour will follow up the coastal road to the Eastern most part of Cuba and a small settlement called Punta Maisí. The Faro (lamp) Maisí consists of the lighthouse and the small hotel beside it. The scenic coast highway to the city of Guantánamo and will include a stay in. Going on to Santiago, Cuba’s liveliest and most Caribbean city, the tour will linger for three days to explore the sights and absorb the rhythms of the city known as the Cradle of the Cuban Revolution. From Santiago the tour will head past El Cobre, the home of Cuba’s patron saint, la Virgen de la Caridad, before heading into the picturesque hill country making up Cuba’s back of beyond.

After visiting Birán, the homestead of the Castro family and Fidel’s birthplace, two days will be spent even farther from civilization at a charming rustic hotel in a cool pine forest in the Cristal Mountains, with the second day dedicated to riding to Cuba’s highest waterfall. From this high mountain retreat the tour will descend to the beautiful rolling green hills that lead to Guardalavaca and its white sand beaches for two days of relaxation before heading home.

Mostly paved rolling or flat roads, some easy ridding dirt roads, some rough roads.