The sleepily seductive town of Viñales could surprise you as being a quiet spot on the Cuba trail if you happened to be anywhere other than the main street. While the calle principal, main street, is jam packed full of tourist restaurants, fancy casa particulares and live music venues, the rest of the town is comparatively low key. One only needs to turn down a backstreet, or wanderer off the track, to realize just how natural this popular tourist location is.
Carrying a backpack? Look like a tourist? Yes? Then you will get bombarded with taxi offers, tour proposals and eager restaurants, but compared to big city Havana it’s like a drop in the ocean. The best thing about Viñales is that because all the businesses are highly condensed along the main street, it’s only a small section you’ll need to tolerate before you get some peace again.
For us the best thing about Viñales was the stunning landscape views of luscious green fields and scenic mountains. There are a number of walking, horseback, cave and tobacco tours on offer, with tobacco plantations being the main draw card depending on the season. In case you’re unaware, Cuba produces some of the world’s best quality cigars, with over 100 different brands and sizes. And it’s at Viñales that a lot of the premium tobacco grows to produce one of Cuba’s finest exports.
Unfortunately when we visited the tobacco growing was out of season, but that didn’t stop us from mixing it with the local farmers and finding out all about this famous tobacco region. We ditched the town tours and took ourselves out to all the tourist attractions. Stopping by at random houses, getting invited in by locals and chatting away.
Viñales is a fun town packed with adventure, history, fine food and lovely people. It’s got a cooler temperament than the capital, not just in the weather, but in the people too. Laid back country folk rock on wicker chairs on their front porch, selling guava smoothies or egg sandwiches to passing by locals and tourists alike. Here’s just a few of the awesome things to do in Viñales.
Adventure in Viñales
Explore the Santo Tomas caves (Cuevos de Santo Tomás) in the town of El Moncado. This impressive cave structure is the largest in all of Cuba, with 46kms of caves running through 8 different levels. You’ll only get to see a small section of it, and it may not be the most thrilling cave exploration (sorry extreme cavers), but it offers a little fun for all ages . Ditch the $20+ tour price from Viñales and make your own way out there by hitchhiking or local bus. Admission to the cave costs $10 with a bilingual guide, 90min tour and headlamp.
Take a nice half hour walk to the ‘prehistoric wall painting’ at dos hermanas. While the painting itself is a little over-rated the sheer size of it is pretty incredible. Skip the $1 entry fee to get up close, you can take all the pictures you need from a far. While you’re out that way follow the signs to the el mirador, the lookout, which is another 20mins into the countryside. It’s got a cracking view from the top of the surrounding scenery.
Jump on a horse! Horseback tours are a very popular way to get around the Viñales countryside, but we decided to give them a miss. If it’s something you’re interested in doing please do it the right thing and check out the conditions of the horses and how they’re treated. Some tours keep naturally roaming horses on call, while others have less regard for the horse and more for the money.
Tobacco tours are what it’s all about. Almost year round (apart from when we were there) there are genuine tours running that take tourists to see where it all begins. See how they grow and tend to the crops, before they store and dry them. Even in the off season you’ll see thatched roof huts along the countryside that are designed to dry out the leaves before they get carted off to tobacco factories all around Cuba. We were unlucky to miss the season, but we did make a local friend who invited us on a tour of his farm to check out how he makes his living.
Was the cave beautiful? I heard it’s majestic.
It was absolutely gorgeous! We have a new love of caves after traveling through Central America 🙂
A tobacco farm tour would be very interesting! I don’t smoke or have any interest in that but just seeing how they grow and cultivate the plant would be something different. Is the cave exploring hard? I did it in Costa Rica at a national park close to where I live and it was way harder than I thought it would be!
Yeah we wish we could have gone on a proper tour, but the locales we ran into gave us some really interesting stories. We’ve done a couple of caves, but this one was super easy! But we have had some difficult ones in Guatemala and Belize.
Loved Vinales! We visited it nearly 10 years ago now on our first overseas trip ever, such a great destination!
Wow that would have been incredible to see it 10 years ago. I bet it’s all very different now. Glad you got to experience it!
Guys, how long did you stay in Vinales for? Would 3 nights cover everything? Also, I have read that there is some good rock climbing spots, if you have any recommendations or contacts that would be great!
Hey Ciaran thanks for the comment. I think we actually stayed in Viñales for 3 nights, and that was perfect. There is some great caving around that area. I’m pretty sure they have one of the longest caves in the Caribbean. We only did the easy caving because we left it to the end. Enjoy and let us know how it goes 🙂
Hello, I got some questions:
Which casa did you stay at? How did you go to the caves from Vinales & back? Any recommendations on restaurants in Vinales?
Hey Parind. You know it was so long ago we can’t seem to recall the exact casa, but there is no shortage of options once you arrive in town. To get to the caves we caught a local bus into the town that the cave is in and hopped onto a tour once in town. Getting back we hitched a ride, but you can also ask about a bus. As for restaurants, we just ate at our casa all the time, or street food. Enjoy!
Hey! If you only had 1 day in Vinales, would it be possible to do a tobacco tour, see the mural, and a cave tour? If not, which would you strike (thinking the cave?). Thanks!!
Yeah you’d have time, it’s all pretty close and small 🙂
Would you recommend getting a day tour from Havana or pick up a tour once you arrive in Vinales? Im really only interested in the tobacco farm. Is there one that is recommended?
Hi Chip, we recommend staying in Vinales if you have the time. It’s really beautiful and relaxed. From there, you can ask around for a tour. We ended up just speaking to a local farmer who showed us around his plantation, but we were able to do that because we spoke Spanish.
I know it was a long time ago, but what month did you go in? Just wondering because you said it wasn’t tabaco season.
Thank you!
We were in Cuba in November when it was the drying season, so our best tip is to check the specifics for when you know you’ll be there. Have a blast!