Baracoa is the oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba, founded in 1511 and cut off from the rest of the island by mountains for centuries. That isolation is part of its appeal — reaching Baracoa means crossing the spectacular La Farola highway, a winding road carved through the Sierra del Purial that is one of the great drives in the Caribbean.
The town itself is small, laid-back, and set between a dramatic flat-topped mountain called El Yunque and a curving bay. The streets are quiet, the architecture colonial but crumbling — the cathedral on the Plaza Independencia holds the Cruz de la Parra, plausibly the only surviving cross planted by Columbus in 1492. Three Spanish fortifications guard the town: Matachín and La Punta along the seafront, and Seboruco on the hill above. The food is different from the rest of Cuba — coconut-based dishes and cucurucho, a sweet coconut confection wrapped in palm leaves.
The surrounding area has some of Cuba's best hiking, river swimming, and untouched beaches, particularly Playa Maguana to the northwest, the Yumurí canyon to the east, and the UNESCO-listed Alejandro de Humboldt National Park west of town.