Set between the Sierra Maestra Mountains and the coast, Santiago de Cuba is Cuba’s second biggest city and has a more Afro-Cuban feel than Havana. Here there is a great passion for salsa and carnival and residents are proud that the area is known as the ‘Cradle of the Revolution’. It was here that the revolution began and this was also where Fidel Castro first announced to the people of Cuba that the revolution had been a success.

Easily accessible from Santiago, the beach resort of Guardalavaca offers fine sands, a tranquil sea and fewer visitors than some of Cuba’s other coastal resorts.