What to see in Baracoa

Hard to reach but totally worth it. Baracoa is a gorgeous area in Cuba. We only had very few time we could spend there but nonetheless we completely enjoyed our stay. 

How long to stay and where to sleep?

I guess as always is best to stay 2 nights. If you come by car it is impossible to arrive during the day anyway unless you sleep over somewhere closer to Baracoa. We came from Camagüey so we arrived somewhere around 8 PM. You can check where to sleep on my blog post. 

Local culinary specialties 

Cucurucho
it is a mix of coconut, sugar and other ingredients such as orange, guava and pineapple which is "served" in a cone made out of palm leafs. It is famous all over Cuba but you can only buy it locally. Our taxi driver bought like 20 for his family to bring back. 

Canchanchara
It's a cocktail that you can find also in other places in Cuba. We drank it out of a fresh coconut and on top of the coconut juice you ad some rum, honey and lime.  

Lechita de coco
most of the dishes in Baracoa come with coconut milk souce which gives a very nice flavor to the food

what to see around 

I would have loved to be able to recommend places to see in the city itself, but  as I was saying we only arrived late in the evening so we went out for dinner at Restaurante Calalu and we were happy with the food and after went for some drinks at El Patio where we had very good Mojitos & live salsa music. 

Playa Managua

on the way to Baracoa coming from Holguin we wanted to stop for a quick swim in the sea and a bit of relaxing moments from the long road. Although we managed to get there it was only right before sunset so we only stayed for a bit. On the positive side we were all by ourselves :)

Yumuri Canyon 

The Yumurí valley is claimed to be one of the island's most scenic, noted for the biodiversity of its flora and fauna, as well as a variety of archaeological sites. (Wikipedia). 

We went there before leaving towards Guantanamo and it is indeed an amazing place and totally worth it to add it to your itinerary in Cuba. I will write a separate post on this as I was quite impressed of the place and I feel it deserves a bit more than a few lines. 

We paid 30 CUC for the trip to the Canyon (6 people) and it was 5 CUC per person the guide. you could get a fresh made Canchanchara for 2 CUC and buy cacao cream as gift to take home for 3 CUC (but you could negotiate)