Cuba Guide
Cienfuegos and Villa Clara
Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos
Address: About 15km east of Cienfuegos 
43/54-5115
Opening time: Daily 9am–5pm
Price: $2CUC
The Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos has one of the most complete collections of tropical plant species in the country. The one-square-kilometre site is home to over two thousand different species, divided up into various different groups, most of them merging seamlessly into one another so that in places this feels more like a natural forest than an artificially created garden. A road runs around the outside of the park and cuts into it in places, but the best way to explore is on foot. Guides are available, at no extra cost, and are invaluable if you want to know what you're looking at; ask at the lodge at the end of the main road along the northern border of the enclosure. There's a definite appeal to just wandering around on your own, though, following the roughly marked tracks through the varied terrain and past a series of pools and waterways. The most defined sections of the park include the cactus and fern houses, and the palm collection, which is the most popular amongst visitors with some 325 different species of palm from five continents. If you don't have your own transport the only way to get to the gardens, other than on an organized excursion, is by taxi from the centre of Cienfuegos (about $20CUC round-trip).