Isla De La Juventud (Special Municipality) % 46 (45 on CAYO LARGO DEL SUR) / POP 86,420

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Isla de la Juventud (Special Municipality) % 46 (45 ON CAYO LARGO DEL SUR) / POP 86,420

Includes  Why Go? Isla de la A historic refuge from the law for everyone from 16th- Juventud...... 160 century pirates to 20th-century gangsters, La Isla is Nueva Gerona...... 160 perhaps the quirkiest castaway destination you ever East of Nueva will see. Dumped like a crumpled apostrophe 100km off Gerona...... 166 mainland Cuba, this pine-tree-clad island is the Caribbe- South of Nueva an’s sixth-largest. But the Cayman Islands this isn’t. Other Gerona...... 167 tourists? Uh-uh. And if you thought mainland Cuba’s towns The Southern were time-warped, try blowing the dust off island capital Military Zone...... 168 Nueva Gerona, where the main street doubles as a baseball Cayo Largo diamond, and the food ‘scene’ is stuck in the Special Peri- del Sur...... 168 od. Yet, if you make it here, you’re in for a true adventure. The main lure is diving some of the Caribbean’s most pris- tine reefs, but otherwise get used to being becalmed with the coral, the odd crocodile and a colorful history that reads Best Places to Eat like an excerpt from Treasure Island. Further east, Cayo Largo del Sur is La Isla’s polar oppo- ¨¨Restaurante Tu Isla (p163) site, a manufactured tourist enclave renowned for its wide, ¨¨Restaurante Toti (p163) white-sand beaches. ¨¨Ranchón Playa Sirena (p171) ¨¨Restaurante El Abra (p164) When to Go ¨¨The beach life, diving and snorkeling are highlights of La Isla, Cayo Largo or any of the other mini-paradises in the Best Places to Archipiélago de los Canarreos. The hottest times are the best: July to August along with the cooler-but-balmy high Sleep season in December to April. ¨¨Tu Isla (p163) ¨¨Always-spirited Nueva Gerona ups the ante for its biggest ¨¨Sol Cayo Largo (p170) party, Carnaval, in March. ¨¨Villa Choli (p163) ¨¨The best time for diving in the waters off the Isla de la ¨¨Hotel Pelícano (p171) Juventud is January to May when water clarity is good and the seas are generally calm.

. Sur del Largo iving amid wrecks, walls, walls, wrecks, amid iving D above Nueva Gerona to see see to Gerona Nueva above

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the moonlit beaches of Cayo Cayo of beaches moonlit the

Punta Francés Punta ) ) 167 (p ) Climbing the steep hills hills steep the Climbing ) 161 (p

Isla de l5 a Juventud (Sp ecial Municipality) Highlights 159 Islade la deJuventud la Juventud( SpecialMun (Specicipaliality) Mun icipality) once was Castro Fidel where Sierra de las Casas las de Sierra . sand of stretch

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Playa Tortuga Playa ) ) 169 (p Exploring the ominous prison prison ominous the Exploring . capital to Cayo Largo del Sur’s finest finest Sur’s del Largo Cayo to 6 militarized zone on the Isla de de Isla the on zone militarized

Presidio Modelo Presidio

) ) 166 (p . Cuba in 3 life in the petite, sleepy island island sleepy petite, the in life (sometimes nudist) beaches beaches nudist) (sometimes paintings in the rarely visited visited rarely the in paintings

arguably, the best dive sites sites dive best the arguably, . below out Getting the lowdown on local local on lowdown the Getting Trekking along the wide, white white wide, the along Trekking cave ancient Seeing ) 168 (p

Nueva Gerona Nueva Playa Sirena Playa Este del Punta de Cueva coral gardens and caves at, at, caves and gardens coral ) ) 160 (p ) ) 169 (p the city (and island) splayed splayed island) (and city the 1 7 4

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