Part of the CubaAtlas network
Cayo Santa María & the Villa Clara cays
A 48 km causeway to white-sand resort islands off the north coast.
North of Santa Clara and Remedios, a long causeway crosses open sea to Cayo Santa María and its neighbours — resort cays of white sand and shallow turquoise water. This is all-inclusive territory; here's how it works, with the real mainland towns behind it.
How it works
The cays
Cayo Santa María, Las Brujas and Ensenachos are lined with large resorts reached by a 48 km causeway (pedraplén). The beaches are the point; there is little beyond the hotels and a purpose-built retail strip.
Remedios & Caibarién
The real towns are on the mainland — Remedios, a tiny colonial gem famous for its Christmas-Eve Parrandas fireworks festival, and the fishing port of Caibarién, both with casas particulares.
Santa Clara behind
The provincial capital, Santa Clara, is the gateway to the cays, about an hour south of the causeway, with a lively student culture and its own casas particulares.
The full picture
A road across the sea
The Villa Clara cays are reached by one of Cuba's engineering set-pieces: a 48-kilometre causeway, the pedraplén, running dead straight across the open shallows to Cayo Santa María and its neighbours Las Brujas and Ensenachos. The drive itself is the arrival — sea on both sides the whole way — and it deposits you on low, white-sand cays whose entire purpose is the beach: long strands of powder sand over turquoise water, lined with large all-inclusive resorts.
What's on the cays, and what isn't
The resorts are the cays. Beyond them there is a purpose-built retail-and-entertainment strip and very little else — no towns, no casas particulares, no local life. This is beach-and-buffet Cuba, comfortable and self-contained, ideal for a pure sun-and-sand stay and less so for travellers who want the country around them. The reef offshore is good for snorkelling and the water is calm and shallow, safe for families.
The real towns behind
The reward of this coast is on the mainland. Remedios is a tiny, perfect colonial town built around one of the loveliest church squares in Cuba, and famous for the Parrandas — a riotous Christmas-Eve festival of fireworks and rival neighbourhood floats that is one of the oldest in the country. Next door, the faded fishing port of Caibarién sits at the foot of the causeway. Both have casas particulares and give the cays a genuine Cuban anchor.
Santa Clara, the student city
An hour south, the provincial capital Santa Clara is a lively university city, central to Cuba's road and rail network and a natural gateway to the cays. It has an energetic cultural scene and its own casas particulares, and makes an inexpensive, authentically Cuban base for travellers who want to combine the beaches with a real city rather than staying only behind the resort wall.
Fireworks at Remedios
The Villa Clara cays hide one of Cuba's great spectacles on the mainland behind them: the Parrandas of Remedios, held each Christmas Eve, when the town splits into two neighbourhoods that compete through the night with towering illuminated floats and a deafening fireworks war over the church square. It is among the oldest festivals in Cuba, riotous and utterly local, and it turns a quiet colonial town into the loudest place on the island for one night. Even outside December, the Parrandas museum tells the story — a reason to look past the causeway to the real towns that anchor these resort cays.
Santa Clara, the student hub
The gateway city to the Villa Clara cays is worth a stop in its own right. Santa Clara sits at the crossroads of Cuba's road and rail network, a young, energetic university city with the most open, alternative cultural scene on the island — El Mejunje, a legendary courtyard venue, is its heart. It is also the city most associated with Che Guevara, whose monument and museum draw visitors, and its casas particulares make an inexpensive, authentically Cuban base an hour south of the causeway. Pairing a few resort nights on the cays with a night in Santa Clara gives a beach trip a real-city counterweight.
Beach here, then the island
The stays below are real and link to their details. With the cays or their mainland towns as a base, the free CubaAtlas atlas maps the rest — the road to Trinidad and the centre, and the way across the island.
Where to stay
Cayo Santa María
Remedios
Santa Clara
What's around Cayo Santa María
Plan the whole stay on CubaAtlas
Where the trip begins.
Information only
A non-profit information site, not a booking agent. Listings come from open data (Wikivoyage, OpenStreetMap); confirm details directly with each place.
Guides & common questions
In-depth answers, one question at a time.
property on Cayo Santa Maria Cuba
The honest reality of property on Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba: a state-run all-inclusive resort cay, not an open real-estate market.
can you buy property on a Cuban resort cay
Can foreigners buy on Cuba's resort cays like Cayo Santa Maria? The honest legal reality and what visitors actually do instead.
where to stay near the Villa Clara cays
Where to stay near Cayo Santa Maria: resorts on the cay or casas particulares in Remedios and Caibarian on the mainland.
causeway to Cayo Santa Maria pedraplen
How the pedraplen causeway connects the mainland to Cayo Santa Maria, Ensenachos and Las Brujas across the sea.
Villa Clara cays vs mainland
Resort cays or mainland towns? How Cayo Santa Maria differs from Remedios and Caibarian, and which suits your trip.
what are the Villa Clara resort cays like
An honest overview of Cayo Santa Maria, Ensenachos and Las Brujas: geography, beaches and the all-inclusive resort model.
casas particulares in Remedios Cuba
How casas particulares work in colonial Remedios, the mainland base for visiting the Villa Clara cays.
best season to visit Cayo Santa Maria
Dry season, wet season and hurricane risk on Cayo Santa Maria and the Villa Clara cays, and what each means for a trip.
how to get to Cayo Santa Maria
How to reach Cayo Santa Maria and the Villa Clara cays: airports, the Remedios-Caibarian gateway and the causeway.
living in a Cuban resort zone reality
Can you live on Cuba's resort cays? The honest reality of Cayo Santa Maria and the legal pathways that actually exist.
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