Exploring the province

Holguin is the third largest province of Cuba, with an extension that represents 8.6 % of the total surface of the island, counting with 14 municipalities in which 1112 population settlements are located, of them 43 urban.

Although Holguin was traditionally an agricultural region, it is currently one of the main industrial zones of Cuba. Called the land of nickel, its production provides 20% of the country’s economic income from exports.

Tourism has reached a remarkable development in recent years. It is considered the third most important tourist pole in the country. It has many natural attractions and par excellence an incomparable beauty in its fields and beaches.

History of Holguin

The foundation of the city of San Isidoro de Holguin is due to the fact that Don Francisco García Holguin was awarded as a prize for his actions in the conquest of Mexico a royal grant through which the territories located to the south of the fence, between the rivers he called Fernando and Isabel today Jigüe y Marañon, which was the name given by the aborigines, passed to his property. In 1545 García Holguin, his wife Doña Isabel Fernández de Sandoval and some followers founded the first hamlet, for which they used the natives of the area.

Historians claim that García Holguin returned to Mexico where he owned extensive properties and died on these lands. From this first halo, the Managuaco, Los Guazumas (Guasimas), Las Cuevas, Cayo Llano, etc. were formed around him. On April 3, 1720, vespers of San Isidoro, the church of this name was inaugurated, placing it also under the invocation of Our Lady of the Rosary, to which the chapel was dedicated to the right of the new temple.

Main Sights

• Banes
• Historic Center of Gibara
• Maita Jet
• Bariay Key
• Farallones of Seboruco
• Jagüeyes
• Lucrecia Lighthouse
• Mayari
• Moa and Urbano Noris
• Guardalavaca
• Loma de la Cruz
• Holguin Parks
• Estero Ciego Playa Esmeralda
• Pesquero
• Don Lino
• Puerto Rico in Banes
• Morales and Corinthia
• Places of archaeological interest (El Chorro de Maita de Banes and Nipe Bay)
• Historic Site of Biran. Birthplace of Fidel Castro Ruz, Raul Castro Ruz and their brothers in Birán, Cueto, Holguin Cuba.
• Bitirí Natural Bridge located in Cueto.
• Parque Nacional Pico Cristal

Holguin

This municipality is the head of the province of the same name, with a territorial extension of 655.9 square kilometers and a population of approximately 344,428 inhabitants, which includes urban and rural areas.

– Guardalavaca

Guardalavaca was one of the first places visited by Christopher Columbus upon his arrival on the island. During the XVI and XVII centuries it was a refuge for the corsairs and pirates of the region. This area was also the seat of the so-called rescue trade, which was the name given by the locals to the smuggling with buccaneers made the skins of cattle in exchange for European goods. With the opening of the country in the 1990s, due to the collapse of the USSR, this region saw an accelerated economic growth, began to build numerous luxury hotels and all the necessary tourist infrastructure such as restaurants, shops, SPA’s, among others. Today Guardalavaca has become the third tourist hub of Cuba, only behind Havana and Varadero, with hundreds of hotel and extrahotel capacities, a transport system of last generation, and relatively high standards of living of the population due to increased employment in the service sector.

– Gibara

On January 16, 1817, by means of a solemn ceremony, the first stone of the Fort of San Fernando was placed on the tip of Yarey next to the Bay of Gibara, now known as the Battery of Fernando VII, which gave origin to the town, protected by the security that this defensive work began to inspire in its inhabitants. That date has always been considered as the founding date of the town, which later evolved to become a town and currently head city of the municipality.

Holguin City

– Plaza de Ia Revolución

Located east of the town centre, behind the Pernik Hotel, this square features a memorial to Cuban independence heroes, Calixto Garcia’s mausoleum and a small memorial to his wife. The plaza is the largest festival venue.

– Catedral de San Isidoro

Ordained as a cathedral in 1979, it was built in 1720 on the place of first mass held to honor the foundation of the town: the Peralta Park. It is also known as the Parque de Flores, as there used to be a flower market here.

The church features a replica of the famous Madonna of Caridad whose authentic is in the Basilica del Cobre near Santiago de Cuba. A festival in honor of the Virgin takes place on 4 April.

– Museo Provincial de Holguin Cuba: La Periquera

This big neo-classical structure with a garden overlooks the fascinating Garcia center of Parque Calixto. It was made of birds in 1860 and the Spanish merchant Francisco Roldán y Rodríguez’s personal house. The house was taken by the Spanish military at the start of the Ten Years ‘ War in 1868 and transformed into quarters.

Also the name of the building, La Periquera, translating as “parrot cage,” a reference to the Spanish army’s colorful uniforms.

The construction nowadays is home to the Holguin Provincial Museum, where five rooms illustrate the historical city’s main phases. Archeological artifacts of the Taino Indians, who stayed here between the 8th and 15th centuries, are also on display.

The Hacha de Holguin Cuba, a stone axis head carved as a human figure, is the most famous item in the compilation. It was found in Holguin’s mountains and has become the town’s emblem.

– Loma de Ia Cruz

From the peak of the Loma de Ia Cruz (Cross Hill) there are beautiful, much-reaching views. Holguin’s founding engineers used location to plan the city’s design, but it was only much later (through 1927-50) that the 458-step staircase was constructed right to the top. Pope Francis graced the town from here during his 2015 visit.

– Environs

The Mirador de Mayabe on the Cerro de Maya be, 10 km (6 miles) southeast of the town center, is also a very detached viewing point across the city.

A perspective of the hills with Holguin in the distance from the mirador. This place is also the house of an aldea campesina (country settlement), with modest rooms and a restaurant, and an open-air museum that depicts the lives of villagers living in a small town. Reconstructions also provide examples of a real bohio, a traditional rural house with a palm-leaf ceiling, a hen-house, and a patio with water buckets.

– Museo de Historia Natural Carlos de La Torre

Holguin’s Cuba history museum is placed in a brightly painted building with a beautiful portico and Spanish flooring. An fascinating middle set of birds and fossils, including Baracoa Polymita crayfish, and a 50 million-year-old fossil fish discovered in Sierra Maestra are on show.

– Bazar de Artesanía

2 blocks north of Parque Calixto Garcia is Bazar de Artesania, a cozy indoor marketplace that sells a variety of homemade products, crafted wooden ornamentation and jewelry for seeds and resins.