Hotel Islazul Mirador (AKA Hotel Islazul San Diego de los Banos) is located in the province of Pinar del Rio about 133km (82 miles) southwest of Havana. The hotel is a few miles from the entrance to La Guira National Park. This is an old traditional building situated on the edge of town, with a good restaurant & swimming pool. And don't forget, this is Cuba's best tobacco growing region. Among the Cuban figures who visited Hotel Islazul Mirador were Cirilo Villaverde, author of one of the most outstanding novels in national literature - "Cecilia Valdes", and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, who was elected president of the Republic in Arms during the 10-year war for independence that began in 1868. This little hotel is a surprisingly neat and well-run option in this neck of the woods. The rooms are all set in a two-story building above and behind the pool and reception. All of the rooms are clean and comfortable, with good light and well-kept rattan furnishings, though the bathrooms are a tad small and the beds a bit soft. There are well-tended gardens and grounds and a midsize pool. The main restaurant is actually pretty good for a Cuban chain hotel in the middle of nowhere. El Mirador does a mixed business of tourists and Cubans, and the pool and poolside bar are both usually lively. Here you can enjoy your self by the pool with two bars and a poolside grill. I recommend this hotel with bed and breakfast, very nice breakfast in a nice breakfast room. And the best of all from my point of view; Here is it possible to have a relaxing full body massage. After biking 56 km in 32 Celsius I could feel that my legs had been working. I loved the treatment, the therapist was very nice and (blush) a beautiful young Cuban.

Hotel La Ermita, Vinales – Pinar del Rio CUBA We arrived Vinales Valley after 45 km on bike from Palma Rubia. We had booked hotel in a beautiful building, in complete harmony with the Viñales Valley landscape, of which it gives a peculiarly panoramic view. In this hotel we were going to spend two nights. The hotel is equipped with all the comfort required for relaxation after a day out exploring the nature. There is a popular kidney-shaped pool at the centre of this compound and a poolside barbeque restaurant this tourist facility is a paradise for nature lovers. The garden was beautiful with lots of flowers and threes. I saw some Trochilidae (latin) in Norwegian Kolibri (Calibri?), I do not know the English name on the bird, drinking nectar from flowers. This is the smallest bird in the world, I tried to photo the bird, but it was to fast for me. The hotel is well equipped with air condition, phone, satellite TV and every room has a private balcony or terrace. Nice swimming pool and snack bar. The first night I woke up with the sound of dripping water. I went up and went out on the balcony, but it was not raining. I went back to my bed and splashed into a big water spot. What the h…… I looked up to the sealing but I could not see a water leakage. I finally found out where the water come from; the air condition system. I did not want to turn of the AC, because the temperature was 30 Celsius, but I had to, to save our suitcases standing on the floor. The staff was very helpful, the breakfast superb. We had our dinner in the hotel restaurant with a fabulous view. If you are visiting Vinales Valley I really recommend you to stay at this hotel.

if u have the chance to go there in cuba cayo levisa is a real dream place u take the boat on the marina and u make maybe 30 minute by boat and u arrive on the island of the paradise!!!!!!!!!! cayo levisa is a place where u take it easy on the beach and u meet a thousand of tourism there !!!!!!!!!u have one restaurant and at the samepalce u have the bar where the party is at night!!!!!!!!!! well the habitation is a little house very very beautifull and u have on it 2 bed air conditionner a very nice bathroom !!!!!!!u are at 10 second of the beach u have a wonderfull views on the sea is very amazing and very romantic!!!!!!!!!!!all was very clean sure when u go to the beach u can but a little bit of sand inside ur home but im sure u can understand the little problem ahahaah is not a big one just try top do ur best to keep it clean!!!!!!!!!all the service there was so nice!!!!!!!!!maybe only at the restaurant something they dont have all the stuff on the menu but is only a little problem but for me i really love this place!!!!!!!!! all the store is on the island behind the little house so u can by many things of the place is very very beautifull a real paradise

When i went i cuba we choose this hotel for many reason for sure the first reason is it a green hotel so all the place respect the nature so the cuban buil this hotel and dont destruct the the place so in the hotel u have a big tree on the hall and is a real one and u have inside the hotel a water fall its was very beautifull !!!!!!! The room of this place was very confortable and very simple at the same time u have a great views of ur room on the place of the laz terrassas it was so nice to spend time inside the place cause is very peacefull and relax at the same time !!!!!!!!! u have great restaurant not hight class but very practical but if u can find at this place very good meal u can go on the city very very very close of the hotel!!!!!!! U have for activity a pool to swim a tennis playgroud ,a bar very good alcool on it. U have a very good service of all the staff on the htoel when u recieve a message for anybody or of ur agency is sure u will recieve it with no matter its very a very nice place and very beautifull!!!!!!!!!

This was one of the cleanest and more modern of all the Casas Particulares we stayed in in Cuba and the owner, Deborah, is truly a gracious hostess! The only small 'down' is the location, it is not situated along the main street of Vinales like many Casas are (although Vinales is so tiny, nothing is really far away). But because there are not many street lights, it can feel a bit 'iffy' to walk there at night. The room is a modern addition to Deborah's own house, made in their back yard. Everything is new, there is aircon, a fridge and ample warm water. Deborah will prepare you a delicious breakfast, one of the best we had in Cuba, with fresh juice, fruit, coffee and omelette, served in the garden surrounded by flowers and hummingbirds. Like most Casas in Vinales (prices are set by the state so don't expect much variation in prices), cost of the room was 20 CUC, with breakfast 5 CUC extra.

We'd decided to rent a car to get around Cuba so after spending a couple of days in Havana, we picked up our car and we were off to our next destination: the small town of Vinales in the famour Pinar del Rio province. Famous mostly because this is where the tobacco for those legendary Cuban cigars comes from.

Cayo Levisa is a small paradise island off the north coast of Pinar del Rio Province. Individual bungalows are built in two rows parallel to the shore and staggered so they all get an ocean view. An ideal location for water sports, with 23 diving sites on the beautiful coral reef, just 100 meters away from the shore. Access to the island is by boat transfer from Palma Rubia sea port, leaving daily at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. (out of Cayo Levisa at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.). Boat transfer to be paid locally - CUC 10 per person. It is a nice boat transfer for 30 minutes, just the time it takes to enjoy a Mojito. The hotel is rated as a 3 star hotel in the guide book, I mean it is a 4 star inspite the absent of water. As freshwater has to bee shipped to the island you may discover, standing in the shower that you’re out of water. Don’t let that scare you, bee sure you have a couple of bottles of drinking water in your bungalow and use the water to wash your hair and “shower” in. You need surprisingly just a few litres of water if you use it carefully. The bungalows is very nice with your own veranda were you can enjoy a Havana Club in the sunset.

There were some suprises at night ... the pigs! We woke up because of their noises and the smell! It felt like we were sleeping in a pig farm! They were so loud! We realized that behind our window, there were pigs and looking out of that window, there was obviously a yard for them, but we could not see them, cause our window was blocked with the boards. We tried to sleep for some more, but it was not easy and we finally gave up.

After shower we packed our things, because we thought that the girl from our casa, will come to pick us up. We ate the breakfast and saw only the parents, the girl was not at home. We left our bags packed into the room and went to see the village.

Vinales is really cute little village. We walked around, took some pictures of the wonderful view to the valley and looked around in the plaza. We took our first mojitos (a 2 CUC) of the day and sat on tha plaza to drink it. Canadian tourists took a picture of us drinking mojitos on the plazaJ. We bought some souvenirs as well. Then we saw the sign of the hop on-hop off bus and decided to view the valley with it. We had 1 hour before the next bus, so we went to our casa. On our way we saw the woman of the casa waiting for the bus (to get our passports!).

We went to the bus stop and sat there waiting for our bus stop and Katrin started to take the photos of the cars and people passing time. We stayed there for a long timeJ. Then a taxi driver came and asked if we need a taxi, we didn´t want a taxi tour in the valley, so we said no. He of course spoke only spanish, but i understood that he said that the bus is not coming, but i didn´t believe him. Finally, after we had enough photos of the cars and people, we decided to go to the tourist office to ask about the possibilities of seeing the valley.

Firstly we booked a collective taxi for the next day to go to Trinidad. The system of the collective taxi is really good and from now on we did not travel by bus. You just go to the tourism office, tell them where and when you want to go and they will put your name down. The only negative thing is that there has to be enough people (min 4), otherwise the taxi will not make the trip. The prize was about the same as the bus ticket and there was no direct bus from Vinales to Trinidad (we should have taken a bus to Havana and from there to Trinidad). As we were the first ones to put our name for a taxi to Trinidad, we had to go back in the evening to the office to get to know if there was enough persons.

In Havanatur the guy offered us a 3 hour walking tour in the valley, we paid each 8 CUC and he said we have to wait a little for our guide. We went to buy some water to take with us and when we came back the guy from the Havanatur introduced to us 2 guides. They started immediately to flirt with us, but they were nice. Then the guy who had sold us the tour, started to flirt as wellJ. Of course everything tooka bit time and the guys had enough time to flirt with us. They told us that we cannot leave Vinales already tomorrow, cause there is more to see in Vinales and on Thursday the carneval will start. And that also we should go out in the evening with them. Finally it was decided that Alexis was going to be our guide and the tour started.

Vinales is a small place, so our guide knew everybody and they all said hallo to us, which was nice. Also, he was really popular guy because he was walking with 2 beautiful blondesJ. He asked us if the guys in Estonia do the „psst-psst“ as well to the girls. We had not even noticed that they do that in Cuba!!! From now on of course we heard it all the time! The answer to his question was of course no, that the guys in Estonia do not do that. (I was thinking to myself, that if they try, firstly everybody would think they are crazy and secondly, the girls would kick their ass for that, cause it is disturbingJ).

Firstly, we went to the tobacco farm. It was very nice and interesting. Alexis told us about the growing of the tobacco, that everything is done by hand, showed us the drying of the leaves and then a woman rolled us a sigar. We bought 12 sigars for 10 CUC from her. They must sell the tobacco to the state and state fixes the prize, but a very small amount over the quota the farmer can keep and from these leaves they make sigars to sell to the tourists. I told Alexis that my father was also a farmer in Estonia (of course not tobacco farmerJ), he said that his father was as well and that he grew up in that valley, but now lives in the village of Vinales.

The valley was very very pretty, it is not possible to describe it. The photos speak for themselves. The mogotes are special mountains, I read before the trip that only China they have similar mountains. In every corner there was a possibility to buy drinks and fruit. We saw an old guy working with oxes, Alexis told us that this was one of his uncles. There we met some Canadian tourists as well and they were discussing among themselves, that they dont have money to give to the old guy with oxes for taking photos of him!!! And then people tell that Cuban people ask for the money all the time and that Cuba is expensive! The guy did not ask for money and of course the trip is expensive when you think you have to give money to everybody!

The weather was really nice and sunny. We went through the cave (it was totally dark, but for a very short time. I had to hold Alexis hand to get throughJ, Katrin was holding mine) and saw some Swedish people climbing the mogote. We climbed down the mogote from stairs thoughJ. Then it started to rain, we stayed for the cover in a little house and bought some little bananas (a 25 cents). There was a little cat, who became my friend, after I gave it Estonian cheeseJ. There were also little pigs and chickens etc. We met French tourists who were on a walking tour as well. Alexis told them that we are his first Estonian friends and that we are going to Trinidad on Saturday (and not tomorrowJ). The rain was getting less and I guess the 3 hours was getting up, so we left our cover and head back to Vinales.

Alexis showed us a place where to go in the evening, but didn`t talk about going there with us anymoreJ. We were a little bit disappointed because we would have loved to go with him and his friend, cause going just the 2 of us meant too much attention from the guys. We forgot to offer him tip, but we hope he was not upset with that. We are really not used to offering tip! And we did improve on our trip!J

We went to the tourism office to ask about the taxi. We were told that there are 2 more tourists, but one of them has not confirmed his participation, so she took our address and gave us her phone number, so we would call and ask if the taxi goes or not.

We went back to our pink casa and the lady of the casa gave us our passports! It was obvious that the girl from „our“ casa had showed no interest in us and that it was assumed that we will stay in this casa. The English speaking girl was still not home, so there was nobody to ask about it. But we did manage to make the lady of the casa understand that we need her to call about the taxi (my little spanish and hands and legs languageJ), the boy of the house also helped a little. Also they arranged for us a casa in Trinidad! That was really great, because we had no booking in Trinidad.

We did not order dinner, but ate our sausages and cheese we had brought with us to Cuba. Then we went out, but we did not like the place Alexsis recommended and instead we drank in the place we had bought mojitos at the day. Of course we drank mojitos again. Then we went back home (there is no point to mention that wherever we went we had lots of attention).

This night we slept a little bit better. I don´t know if the pigs were quieter or we were starting to get used to itJ.

The first day on bike with  56 km in front of us.

We had a nice breakfast at our hotel before leaving Havana at 09.00.  We had a short transfer by bus to Soroa. 

Soroa is located west of Havana in the Pinar del Rio, western region of the Sierra del Rosario.

Natural reserve park covers area of 25 000 hectares.  Skirting the banks of several rivers, the most important rivers of Soroa region are: Rio Bayate and Rio Manatiales. 

This rivers are endowed with a crystal clear water, at the sunrays beautiful rainbow disperse over them, always when rains.

The region is home of Semi deciduous forest as well as Shrubs and Herdaceous palms.  In the outskirts of Soroa mere than 100 species of ornamental trees have been identified.

Another 60 spices of vines, lots of edible plants, palm trees and bamboo.  Lichens and moss are abundant as well.  The fauna of the region is plentiful and rich in its diversity, within bird family more than 50 species.  We were happy to observe the Tocororo, Cuban National Bird (priotelus temnurus).

Birdwatchers will find Soroa most rewording area.  In terms of the regions historical and cultural landmarks, ruins of several mansions, that use to be French coffee plantations.  Some of them have been restored. 

French colonialist establish themselves in this region in the first decade of the nigh teen century.

Arriving Soroa a beautiful palm valley, we were presented to our bicycles which were going to be our best friend for the next 14 days, for good and for bad.  

We were also presented to Carlos and Luisito the crew in our small following bus.  They helped us to pick the best bike for individual needs and adjusted them to fit us.  Carlos was by the way a biker of class.  And Luisito was a brilliant bike mechanic.

As you will see on my photos we Norwegian is very much for safety, we all wear helmets.  By the way, Castro means helmet :)

Before moving our bottoms up on the bikes for the 56 km tour to San Diego de los Banos we visited the Soroa Orchidarium.  You can read about the visit in my review about it.

About 12.00 we were ready to go for the 56 km bike ride. 

On our bike we passed small villages on the beautiful countryside of Cuba. 

The form of the landscape is characterised by steep sided limestone hills and flat, fertile valleys. 

We had stops for short rest and drinks during the ride, and when we had been cycling for about 35 km Carlos and Luisito had arranged for a picnic.

The first day of cycling went rather well, my bottom didn`t ace, but I cold feel that my legs had been working more than usual.  

Arriving at Hotel San Diego I were pleased to see the swimming pool, and even more pleased when I were offered massage by a therapist working at the hotel.  

After a shower, massage and a short swim I was ready for dinner.

Going to bed that evening I was humming “Hasta Siempre” feeling rather content with my self.

Not too big on the city life, Dim and I took a bus to Vinales the day before yesterday.  It is about a 3 and a half hour trip through some beautiful countryside of farms and small farm houses.  Very lush and tropical.  Our lovely casa particulares houselady in Havana had tee´ed up some accommodation in another casa particulares here in Vinales.  Our lady here is just as nice.  We have stayed two days with her now.  Our room is clean and comfortable (the shower is somewhat tempramental but...) and we have a nice little patio that overlooks the countryside.  There are two old fashioned big comfy chairs there where we sit at night and reflect the day.  Such tranquility!!  She insisted that we have dinner at her casa last night.  We dined on lobster (first time for me) with serviettes of toilet paper.  The extremes here are bizarre to say the least.

On the day we arrived, we had a look around the plaza which has a very colonial spanish old church ... complete with the old bell on top.  It is like something out of an old Mexican movie or something...so picture that.  A really nice atmosphere in the plaza too with many people just loungin around.  We walked about 1 km out of town to a really nice restaurant which did awesome pizzas.  The scenery on the way was really similar to something like Vietnam or Thailand, big green and sheer mountains that jut out of nowhere.  But beneath them, there were fields of maize, tobacco, pinas (pineapple) and banana.  Everywhere, chickens roam the streets and the fields are filled with ox and duck and stray pero (dogs). 

It rains a bit here but it is an absolute downpour and then 5 minutes later it stops.  It really just makes the heat more sticky and the humidity that little bit worse.  There have many a hair dilemna about this humidity but we are soldiering on! 

The espanol is improving but there are still things that we have to act out.  My favourite was Dim explaining that she doesn´t eat any meat (she got that point across ok) but that she did eat eggs.  I knew the word for egg (huevo) but it was still hilarious to watch Dim act like a chicken laying an egg.  Don´t even get me started on her miming routine for wanting to ride a horse and have a cigar...tooo funny!!

At the local bar on the first night, there was a show with salsa dancing and standing on tequila bottles.  It was fantastic.  The local people have such a natural talent and rhythym.  Amazing.  Yesterday we did a horse ride out through the farm areas and countryside.  Having never riden a horse before, I was little apprehensive but I have to say it was fantastic.  Our guide, Roberto spoke not a word of english and insisted on giving us a complete running commentary, even though he knew we spoke hardly any spanish.  We could pick up words occasionally but it was really a miming act again.  We had no idea where he was taking us, how long we would be or what we would see.  We really just jumped on the back of these horses and set off.  The views were magnificent and Marguerita and Franchero (our horses which we affectionately called, Marg and Frank) were great.  Dim got the frisky Franchero who sometimes had other ideas about where were going but Roberto kept him in line. 

We were taken to an old farmhouse where we got to see cigars being made...no factory tour, this one...it was authentic farmer rolling it with his bare hands on his wooden table outside.  It only took a few minutes and then it was time for us to have a puff.  We had had a little training earlier that day when we bought two cigars in a shop.  We were shown how to take the end off, role it while lighting and, most importantly, not to inhale.  So we didn´t disgrace ourselves with the farmer.  After that, it was time for coffee the thickness of mud (what a kick!!) and some more pina.  I am looking like a pina ...eating it 3 times a day now.  After 4 hours of this tour our arses where starting to feel it and made Dim promise that if I ever came up with some City Slickers type holiday, she should beat me.  We tried to explain to our guide that we were a little cansada (tired)...rather than try to act out that our arses were sore.  I used the word rapido to say that we wanted to get home the quickest route.  This was a dangerous thing to say though, Roberto thinking that we wanted our horses to go faster.  Dim quickly sorted this one out with another mime routine.  Between the two of us, we spent a lot of time laughing, either at the fact that we had no idea what was going on or at each other trying to act out something that we needed to explain.  I´m sure that Roberto will remember the two funny and odd girls from Australia but we took a photo for him anyway.

We head out of Vinales today by bus again.  Into Habana where we will catch a taxi to a beach called Playa Del Estes.  It supposed to be a lot less tourtisty than Veradero which is full of Canadians.  Nothing against Canadians but Playa Del Estes is where the locals go to beach it up so we thought we´d hit the beach but still keep a little Cuban flare about it and not head down the tourist path again...after Playa Del Carmen we had our fill.  We will have three nights there then fly home.   Habana to Cancun to Mex City to L.A to Auckland to Melbourne.  Yay!!!  Another 33 hours....not looking forward to that.

Sorry....no photos.  Internet here needs to be hunted down and when you find them, there are about 5 in a row but only 2 work.  They are on dail up.  Massive big white screens that have faded yellow with time and a mouse that sticks.  The keyboards have a lot of spanish keys that you have to avoid and Dim and I have a race to find the @ key.....it is never shift and 2.  I will try to download some pics from Mexico city airport where the internet was fast and cheap....hey, got a spare four hours to kill there anyway.

Rafael, our very friendly and helpful casa owner had organised a taxi to Vinales for us with Cubataxi. In the best case you find 4 people in which case it is still expensive enough at 40 CUC a person. However the best they were able to do was give us lift to Havana and there they couldn't find another 2 people to share with us so they put us on the bus. The bus ride was more comfortable than the taxi but the main reason we had taken the taxi was because it was only supposed to be 6 hours and we didn't want to waste the whole day. With this stopover we only arrived in Vinales by evening so we might as well as well have taken two buses which would have been more comfortable and probably cheaper as well. At least there still was a bus from Havana to Vinales by the time we got there or we would have had to spend a night in Havana and lost more time.

sure in cuba u can find many things beach city monument and land !!!!!!!!!!!!!

when i went to cuba my objectif it was to visit all the place of cuba but one of this place touch me in my heart and its vinales !!!!!!!!!!!!vinales its a place to go to see many kind of culture and panorama !!!!!!!!!!!!at this place u can see the little mountain u can find this kind of mountain only in three other place in the world and is : vietnam ,cambodia and loas...People there dont know why u can find this kind of mogote but u have there maybe cause the temparature that was i suppose but it not the thrut ahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!

vinales its maybe 4 hours by car of havana but seriously rent a car and go there its  a place to see!!!!!!!!!!!!there u have some plantation of caffe,tabac,and sugar cane sure cuba its a place to find many sugar cane but there in vinales u find the best cafe and best tabac of cuba !!!!!!!!!!!its the bigger one plantation of the island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i was very impress to see the hug plantation and sure u can buy some stuff of the owner and beleive me u find the best of the country there cause thinking about that the stuff of the guy keep for himself is not the worst one but the best one and beleive me the guy build all my 6 cigar infront of me with the best kind of tabac of cuba and i only buy 3 pesos for that so very good deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and after the visit maybe 4 hours of walk and talk with my friend we stop in a house to take a lunch of the tradition food of cuba in christmas time so i tell u its very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i really apprecita this place and sure if u goingt o cuba go to see vinales!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://annewashere.blogspot.com/2005/05/no-es-fcil-2-cuba.html

:)

i will write in french cause my english was a little bit poor for a long reviews but sorry for all boddy dont understand french but if i can i will be translate later ok!!!!! Ce que je vais parler maintenant et ce que beaucoup de gens non jamais vue a cuba cest la nature!!!!!evidemment cuba cest pas juste des cente ville mais aussi une diversiter de nature qui vaut la peine d etre vue!!!!Cette hiver nous avons paser environ 4 jours dans le conter de vinales qui est beaucoup plus a l ouest de l ile de cuba!!!! Vinales est un endroit ou on retrouve des montagne des champs de culture comme le cafe et le tabac!!!!tous le monde le sais que cuba est renommer pour son bon tabac de cigar, mais ce que j ai visiter etais justement le plus gros etendu de terre de tabac de tous cuba!!!!! Nous avons fais cette tourner des terres avec un natif de la place et son nom cest ishmael !!!!un chic tip qui savais de quoi il parlais !!!!bien sur son arriere grand pere et son grand pere et son pere son pratiquer a cette culture qui est le tabac et le cafe!!!!!Nous avons visiter les champs les sechoire a tabac qui sont veraiment impressionnant il nous a tous decris comment c etais long et compliquer a faire du bon tabac. Apres cette merveilleuse tourner il nous a ammener chez des gens qui nous a fais a manger selon les bonne tradion cubaine et il nous a fais deguster un tres bon cigar cubain !!!!nous avons vue aussi comment il les fabriquais cest bon cigar devant nous le gars nous a rouler un gros cigar du meilleur tabac de la region quelle belle expereince alors je recommende a tous les gens qui vont a cuba de pas juste aller sur les plage et ni dans les centre ville mais de visiter cest gens charmant qui espere qu un jours que les gens vois plus que les centre ville mais belle et bien leur merveilleuse nature!!!!!!!!!!!!