Trinidad & Escambray

Trinidad was founded in the sixteenth century on the profits of sugar, and its cobbled streets and Baroque mansions, some floored in imported Carrara marble and fronted with ornate wrought iron, have barely changed since. The nearby Valle de los Ingenios, once dense with sugar plantations, tells the harder side of that history, and the blend of African and Spanish influence it left behind still runs through the town’s music, food and daily life. The Escambray Mountains rise just behind, offering an easy contrast of forest and waterfalls.