Cayo Jutías — Attraction in Minas de Matahambre

Expect a bumpy ride from Vinales to Cayo Juitas, considering the roads are unbearably rugged and rough. The town's road traffic into a red clay road seems like something out of Jurassic Park as you head into a jungle path that opens to the ocean on both sides while bypassing incredible mangroves and a vast ocean. The virgin beach, as locals call it, is because this area is not commercialized and supports the locals. The beach is full of little shells and large shells, conch, mussels, starfish, coral and other morsels of the sea. The color is turquoise to a sky blue. Not crystal clear as the sand is drawn up from the light current. The water temperature was COLD - not what I was anticipating from the Mexican and Caribbean waters nearby this time of year.

The beach had a restaurant that hosted some yummy coconuts they macheted right in front of you to eat, drink out of, or be full of some fish ceviche. The drinks were the usual Cuban style: pina coladas, mojitos, anything rum-infused, plus beers.

There were beach lounge chairs you could rent for comfort. But beware of the mosquitos. They were aimed towards your skin! The location also had some activities you could do, such as snorkeling and boat rides... we didn't do this as it was a fun day to just soak up the sun. Highly recommend it if you don't mind the road...

To get to this place driving on ruins is really tough and doesn’t worth it. From Vignales it takes twice the time than Google maps shows because your average speed will be 20-30km. And after that they will ask you to pay for the parking, toilet sun bed. The manu at the restaurant is poor and if you ask for a lobster , it will be over salted anyway. And since there is no place to stay for a night you need to drive back either to Vignales, or to Pinar-del-Rio more than 2 hours again. Strictly not recommended. Varadero beach and Santa-Maria are...

Disappointing. The road from San Cayetano is appalling - one of the worst roads we came across in 2,100km of driving around Cuba. If you are visiting from Vinales go back to the Pinar del Rey road and from there go to Santa Lucia. The beach was super crowded when we went and there is only a thin strip of sand. The restaurant food was amongst the worst we had in Cuba and everything is powered by a noisy generator which you can smell all along the beach. Overrated although the water is lovely and you can still take some...