Celia Sánchez Cuba Bike Tour
Beth and I have done this tour twice before - first in 2010 and again in 2015. The route covers my favourite part of Cuba with its quiet rural roads and spectacular scenery and vistas as we circle the Sierra Maestra mountain range. Cleverly, we cycle around the mountains along the edge, so there are no really big climbs. We take advantage of the tour bus and jeeps to explore the highest mountain range in Cuba. We are returning in February 2024 to lead another tour group - see the link at the bottom of the blog for details on how to join us. Starting in the City of Holguin, we make a clockwise loop around the mountains ending 15 days later in Guardalavaca.
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| Celia Sánchez Bike Tour Route |
This tour is named after Celia Sánchez, the heroine of the Cuban revolution. Celia grew up in the Sierra Maestra and worked alongside her father at his medical practice in Pilon. She became involved in planning the revolution working alongside a well-organized underground 26th of July movement. She met coup leaders in Santiago de Cuba and developed a network of farmers to support the revolutionaries when they landed at Las Coloradas. She went on to fight alongside the revolutionary forces from their base camp high in the mountains. After the revolution, she remained a close confidant of Fidel and Che and became a cabinet minister. Her post-revolution works paved the way for the “new women”, demonstrating women’s strengths in leadership, caretaking, and physical labour. She was a significant figure in promoting Cuba’s arts and culture, which continue to thrive. This tour explores the area where she lived and where the Cuban revolution began from its planning stages through to its final push north and west resulting in Batista.
Our tour begins in Holguin. Upon arrival, via Holguin's International Airport, we will be transferred to the Hotel Mirador de Mayabe where we set up our bikes and get ready for the tour. I like to bring my bike, but many will rent a bike. Rental options include hybrids, touring bikes, and mountain bikes. This is no "roughing it" adventure it is fully supported. The tour company Bicycle Breeze - formerly known as Canbicuba before it branched out into bicycle tours beyond its home country of Cuba, makes sure you are comfortable and safe.
The tour includes all accommodations, most meals, an air-conditioned tour bus, a tour leader such as myself, a Cuban cultural tour guide, and a bike mechanic. A tour bus follows us along the route, ready to supply us with water or provide sag support if you want to take a rest, grab a snack, or shorten the daily distance. On the road, the tour leader, guide, and mechanic spread themselves out within the group ready to assist. Before each ride, the tour leader will provide a full briefing of the daily route and discuss options for lunch or snacks.
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| Tour rider briefing at the tour bus |
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| Setting-up bikes we brought |
Our first night on the road during the Celia Tour is spent in Bayamo, the capital of Granma Province. Our ride this day is straight down a quiet highway, crossing over the Río Cauto the longest river in Cuba, as well as the longest in the Caribbean. Bayamo is an under-recognized world leader in sustainable transportation. A United Nations study found only about 15% of commuters rely on motorized transport and almost three times as many (39%) rely on about 500 licensed horse-drawn carriages generally following fixed routes. The rest of the non-pedestrian traffic is bicycle and bicycle taxis.
Our next stop is an amazing mountain sanctuary called El Salton, far off the usual string of tourist hotels. It is deep within the Sierra Maestra, and the perfect place to explore coffee and fruit trees high in the mountains and drink some dark Cuban-style coffee. A local guide led us through farm fields, and mountain streams pointing out birds along the way, such as the Tocoroco the national bird of Cuba with plumage the colours of the Cuban flag (blue, red, and white).
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| Our Cuban guide explaining the countryside |
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| A typical rural Cuban farmstead |
We then head toward the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, reaching Cuba’s second-largest city Santiago de Cuba. Only Havana surpasses this city for numerous historical sites including Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca del Morro (a Spanish fortress at the entrance of the bay); the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption; Santa Ifigenia Cemetery the location of the graves of Cuba’s most famous figures including the ashes of Fidel Castro; and, the Moncada Barracks the site of Fidel’s first attempted coup.
Given the rich opportunities to explore this city, we stay a day, and tour the city both on foot and by the tour bus. I think I must have taken over a hundred photos during my last visit in 2020 leading another tour called the Guantanamo Mango which explores an area slightly farther east. |
| Panorama of Santiago de Cuba - from the rooftop bar of the Hotel Casa Grande |
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| Moncada Barracks site of a failed revolution seen during a concert |
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| Antonio Maceo Monument in Santiago de Cuba |
From Santiago, we head west along the South Coast Road, known as one of the most beautiful bike rides in the world. For about 160 kilometres, over two days of cycling, we will have the Caribbean on our left and the mountains on our right.
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| Beginning the South Coast Road |
This road has almost no motor-vehicle traffic. The reason for the quiet road is that storms have damaged several bridges along the highway preventing large buses/trucks from traversing the weakened structures. Bikes and carts pulled by all manner of animals rule here!
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| Passing through Chivirico |
One of the first towns we pass through is Chivirico. Quaint streets with some manure here and there. A well-used baseball park is worth stopping at if there is a game on. There is also a movie theatre.
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A bridge damaged by storms
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There are some wobbly bridges along the way, but bikes don't have any worries. I like to think they add character to the ride.
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| For 500 metres the road is rough |
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| Happy about the experience |
One of my favourite hotels is at the westerly end of the South Coast Road. It's called Hotel Marea del Portillo, in the town of Marea del Portillo. It's on a large bay where many sailing boats stop to spend some time off the open water or to weather a storm. The hotel is surrounded on the north by the Serra Maestra, and on the south by the Caribbean. We know several families in the area and will stop at their homes to visit with them.
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| Hotel Marea del Portillo with a view from the Farallon Hotel Section |
From Marea, we head farther west through Pilon the town where Celia Sánchez worked alongside her father at his medical practice. The building is now a museum with artifacts from the medical practice, and from Celia's life before and during the revolution.
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| Celia Tour group on steps of the home of Dr. Sánchez |
We will also visit the landing spot at Playa Las Coloradas, where the Granma boat deposited 82 fighters from Mexico including Fidel and Che. Few of the fighters survived the landing and avoided capture. Those that did, made their way into the mountains to an area we will next visit.
While at the playa, we will see the nice beach and eat lunch at a paladar restaurant.
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| Granma landing site near Playa Las Coloradas |
We will ride our bikes north and spend a day in the City of Manzanillo, before heading back into the mountains by jeep (the roads are 30% grade or more in places so we don’t cycle this part but instead use jeeps to travel up to over 1,000 metres above sea level. We will explore Fidel’s mountaintop camp where he spent years initiating the revolution, without ever being found by Batista’s troops. Along the way, we can look out to Pico Turquino which at 1,974 m asl (6,476 ft), is the Sierra Maestra's - and the country's - highest point. We will hike from the trailhead a few kilometres into the forest to Fidel's rebel camp.
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| Trail head to Comandancia La Plata |
Along the way, we will see many birds and stop at a farmhouse and the site of Radio Rebelde which transmitted reports on the battles against the Batista Army and carried statements by rebel leaders and other messages to the general population.
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| Casa de Fidel |
Fidel lived in this small house. Apart from a refrigerator carried up into the mountain camp, the residence is extremely basic. The entire camp was designed to be hidden from view, both from the air and the ground.
Next, we will cycle up to the City of Las Tunas, where we will ride alongside Cuban youth cyclists before joining them for a barbecue with the youth team coach at his house. This will also be an opportunity to donate any cycling equipment you may wish to provide to the club to support their endeavour to maintain Cuba’s strong bike racing culture.
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| Joining the Las Tunas Youth cycling club on the road |
Finally, we ended the tour by staying at an all-inclusive hotel on the beaches of Guardalavaca. After 2-weeks of cycling around the Sierra Maestra, we will enjoy a short bike ride to explore local beaches. There will also be lots of time to relax on the beach and sip a cold drink.
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| Beth arriving at our Guardalavaca All-Inclusive |
If you can find the time, please join us on the tour or one of our other relaxing and invigorating adventure tours. We make sure everyone has a good time and stays in their comfort zone.
You can get in touch with me at lee@bicyclebreeze.net if you have any questions. Comments are most welcome, and sharing is encouraged.
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