Cuba Guide
Northern Oriente
Playa Esmeralda
Address: Guardalavaca
A five-kilometre trip from Guardalavaca west along the Holguín road, picture-perfect Playa Esmeralda – also known as Estero Ciego – boasts clear blue water, powdery sand speckled with thatched sunshades, and two luxury hotels hidden from view by thoughtfully planted bushes and shrubs. If you want unashamed hassle-free luxury where the intrusion of local culture is kept to a bare minimum, this is the place for you. The beach is owned by the hotels but open to non-guests, who have to pay for a day-pass (around $40CUC) that covers facilities, meals and drinks.
Opposite the Sol Río de Luna y Mares complex is the Rancho Naranjo horseriding centre, with negotiable rates for treks into the countryside depending on group size and excursion length. The hotel's dive centre, Delphis, on the beach near the Luna part of the complex, offers regular dives for $35CUC, night dives for $45CUC and courses for between $350CUC and $800CUC. Local marine attractions include parrotfish and barracuda as well as black coral.