Cuba

With beaches moulded on the tropical classics, and a city unlike anywhere else on earth, a holiday to Cuba gives you a sand and city combo like no other

Larger-than-life island

Cuba. The country is synonymous with Che Guevara, vintage rum, and cigars as chunky as grandpa’s fingers. It’s the biggest of the islands in the Caribbean Sea, and basks in year-round sun and comfortably-warm temperatures. Beach-wise, Cuba rolls out all the Caribbean stereotypes. White sand, warm seas, waxy palms – the whole shebang.

Hip Havana

Arrive in the famous capital, Havana, and you’ll feel like you’ve taken a trip back in time. Baby-blue Buicks from the Fifties are the motor of choice, while the architecture is a mishmash of Art Deco and colonial styles. Flamboyant cabaret clubs, like the well-known Club Tropicana, and El Floridita, Ernest Hemingway’s watering hole of choice, are just a couple of places to add to your to-see list.

Picture-perfect Varadero

Cuba’s most famous holiday destination, Varadero, is a two-hour drive east of Havana. The resort stretches its way along the Hicacos Peninsula, a ribbon of sand – more than a kilometre wide, by 20 long – that juts out from the island’s north coast. It basically means that, wherever you stay, you’ve got one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean as your backyard.