Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is a major port city (Cuba's 2nd largest - after Havana) with population over 0,5 million. The seaport is located on island's southeastern coast, approx 870 km (540 ml) southeast of the capital city Havana.

IMPORTANT: On June 4, 2019, the US Government announced new regulations (economic sanctions) that ended group travel to Cuba, including via US-homeported cruise liners, effective immediately. The ban relates to "private and corporate aircraft, cruise ships, sailboats, fishing boats, and other similar aircraft and vessels". The US travel restrictions impacted hundreds of pre-scheduled cruise itineraries, which were adjusted to no longer stop in Cuban seaports.

Santiago de Cuba was the home town of poet Jose Maria Heredia. Today it houses a museum displaying the extensive art collection of Bacardi family. The city is famous for its cultural life. Some of the most famous Cuban musicians, including Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa and Compay Segundo (all of whom participated in Buena Vista Social Club) as well as trova composer Nico Saquito (Benito Antonio Fernandez Ortiz) were born in Santiago de Cuba or in one of the villages that surround it. They have contributed to city's country-like music.

The city is also famous for its traditional dances - most notably son (from which salsa derived) and guaguanco (accompanied only by percussion music). The city's annual Carnival (in July) is celebrates the date July 26 when Castro's soldiers entered undetected and assault the Moncada Barracks. Traditional conga music is played during the July Carnival in the streets on pentatonic trumpet, named trompeta china.

There are multiple architectural styles in Santiago de Cuba, from Baroque to neoclassical. The wooded parks, steep streets and colonial buildings with large windows and crowded balconies are of special interest. The local citadel San Pedro de la Roca is on the UNESCO World Heritage List described as "the most complete, best-preserved example of Spanish-American military architecture, based on Italian and Renaissance design principles".

In 1987, Baconao Park was inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage Biosphere Reserve List.