Experience Central Cuba – West

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This is a beautiful park, populated by elegant trees, tropical flowers and plants. It also has plenty of facilities including three restaurants and a small lake where birds gather and tourists hire rowing boats and pedalos. The park was established in 1942 by José Iturrioz, the owner of the Arrechabala Ronera, the rum factory just outside Cárdenas. He named the park Josone because it was a combination of the first syllable of his Christian name and that of his wife, Onelia.

The park is a hit with children, who will particularly love the boat rides on the lake.

During the years from 1920 to 1950 an American millionaire, chemical engineer Alfred Irénée Dupont de Nemours, gambled a great deal of money by purchasing most of the beautiful Hicacos peninsula from the heirs of the Spanish landowners who first colonized it. At that time there were only a few villas and one hotel on the peninsula. Dupont then parcelled the land out to Cubans and Americans who, within a few years, transformed Varadero into a centre for gambling and prostitution. Dupont made a healthy profit and the area became a haven for vice.

At the height of his vast property dealings, Dupont asked the two Cuban architects called Govantes and Cabarrocas, who had designed the Capitolio in Havana, to design a salubrious villa for him on the rocky promontory of San Bernardino, the highest point in Varadero. Dupont’s sumptuous four-storey building, completed in 1929 and named Mansión Xanadú, was dressed with Italian marble and precious wood. Constructed using the latest building innovations, the villa’s roof was covered with green ceramic tiles with thermal insulation. The same attention was paid to the grounds as to the house itself and it was surrounded by a huge garden planted with rare plants. In the grounds, you’ll also find an iguana farm and a golf course. All in all, Dupont’s extravagant construction cost $338,000, an enormous sum at the time.

In 1959, after the revolution, Dupont escaped from Cuba, leaving the villa to the Cuban government, which, in 1963, turned it into “Las Américas”, the most elegant restaurant in Varadero. It specializes in French cuisine, but the building can be visited without any obligation to eat there if you’re just curious to see Dupont’s mansion. The dining room still has its original furniture and the top-floor bar, with its wide selection of drinks and cigars, is a favourite spot in the resort for sundowners.

Apart from the house and restaurant, the golf course offers 18 manicured holes and breathtaking views. Upon request, golf players can book accommodation in the few luxury bedrooms in the villa.

t Varadero's many resort hotels, surrounded by towering palm trees

Experience Central Cuba – West

watersports

Most hotels in Varadero have watersport facilities and beach outlets rent out sea-kayaks, Hobie Cats, sailboards and kitesurfing equipment. Scuba diving is a popular option and can be arranged at hotels or at Barracuda Scuba Cuba (Avenida 1ra & 2; (45) 613 481). Sportfishing is also available from any of the peninsula's three marinas.

For those interested in wildlife, the most fascinating part of Varadero is the area near Punta Hicacos, at the end of the peninsula, which has become a protected nature reserve. Here you can visit some quiet, secluded beaches, as well as several caves, including the Cueva de Ambrosio, with fossils, Pre-Columbian rock paintings.

The peninsula is also an attraction for scuba divers, who can choose from 23 dive sites, offering both deep and shallow dives.

Experience Central Cuba – West