Sancti Spíritus
Sancti Spiritus is a city in central Cuba.
Understand
Escambray, is the local periodical.
Get in
Viazul provides several buses a day from Camagüey, Havana, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba. There is also service to Trinidad and Varadero.
There is an overnight train to/from Havana on alternate days, and there may be a (very) early morning train to Santa Clara and Cienfuegos that returns in the afternoon. Sancti Spiritus is not on the main line. Check that the trains are running in advance.
Get around
There are very few taxis in Sancti Spiritus, but horse carts and bicycle-taxis are all over. Horse carts wait outside the bus terminal and leave when full to the Parque Serafin Sanchez in the historical centre of the city.
See
Sights in Sancti Spiritus include:
- The bridge over the Rio Yayabo, built by the Spanish in 1815
- Museo de Arte Colonial, just north of the bridge, which displays 19th Century furniture in a huge house that once belonged to the Valle-Iznaga family
- Street market along Calle Llano, which is paved with cobblestones (just east of the museo de Arte Colonial)
- Fundacion de la Naturaleza y El Hombre, located off the Parque Maceo in the northern part of the city centre, which documents the 17,422-km canoe trip from Equador to Barbados led by Cuban writer Antonio Nunez Jimenez in 1987.
Do
Take a walk through the historical centre of the city, starting from the train station in the south and ending at the Parque Maceo in the north.
Buy
Eat
Drink
Sleep
There are two hotels in Sancti Spiritus -- the Hostal del Rijo off the Plaza Honorato and the Hotel Plaza off the Parque Serafin Sanchez. Both are in historical colonial buildings.
There are about two dozen casa particulares to choose from. Touts will meet all incoming buses and happily escort you to a casa.