Discover Cuba

42,426 square miles Highest point: Pico Turquino, 6,476 feet

Nearly a quarter of the Caribbean’s largest island is protected in preserves and sanctuaries, including ten national parks — it would take months to properly explore them all, from the bird-filled wetlands of Cienaga de Zapata (with a million protected acres) to the sea turtle nesting sites of Guanahacabibes at Cuba’s western end. Hoping to spot the extremely rare and secretive Cuban solenodon, a nocturnal mammal that hasn’t been seen in the wild since 2003? Sierra Cristal, the country’s oldest national park, is the place to try your luck. Rock climbers head to Viñales National Park, to tackle its sheer limestone cliffs. For scuba divers, the number one spot is Jardines de La Reina National Park, an archipelago of reef-fringed islands off the south coast. But the loudest call of the wild may come from the Cuchillas del Toa at Cuba’s easternmost tip. This biosphere reserve protects dense rainforest, the table mountain known as El Yunque, and the three-hundred-foot waterfall Salto Fino — tallest in the Caribbean archipelago.

Cuba’s Viñales Valley is famous for its distinctive mogotes, sheer-sided limestone hills rising from a lush plain

Photo courtesy Go Cuba

Vegas Grande Waterfall is a jewel of Topes de Collantes National Park near Trinidad de Cuba.

Photo courtesy Go Cuba