Where is Varadero ?
(Où est-ce Varadero?)

Varadero is located on the Hicacos peninsula (22 km north-east) in the Atlantic Ocean (140 kms south of Florida). Located north of the province of Matanzas, the tourist attraction is the most important in Cuba and one of the largest of the Antilles.

Punta Hicacos is the northernmost point of the island of Cuba. At the northern tip of the peninsula is a nature reserve with virgin forests and beaches. Hicacos Park is an ecological reserve (3.12 km2), established in 1974. There are the caves of Ambrosio Mangon Lake (home to 31 species of birds and 24 reptiles) and the ruins of La Calavera (skull). They are saline (one of the first to be exploited by Spaniards).

In 2007, Varadero had a population of about 20,000 people between the peninsula and Hicacos the two localities of Santa Marta and Boca de Camarioca. Varadero receives over 500,000 visitors yearly.

Click  HERE to see the location of Varadero (Cuba) Hicacos Peninsula, with the excellent positioning Google Earth software. If you do not have the software installed on your computer, click  HERE to download a free copy of Google. You will not be disappointed!

Airport
(aéroport)

Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport, located west of the peninsula, is the airport of Varadero. It is the second largest airport of the island after José Martí in Havana. This is a domestic and international airport.

Click  HERE to see some photos of the airport (from our site cuba.destilino.com website)

History
(histoire)

The first mention of Varadero was in 1555. The place was first used as a dry dock (Spanish: Varadero) and the salt mines of the peninsula (closed in 1961) provided the Spanish fleet in Latin America since 1587. Varadero was founded December 5, 1887, when ten families from the city of Cárdenas received permission to build their holiday houses between 42nd and 48th Street today.

The first tourists visited Varadero date from the 1870s. The first hotel was built in 1915, the name was Varadero and near the Nautical Club. In the early 1930s, Irenaeus DuPont de Nemours, an American millionaire, built a residence on the peninsula. Many famous people have stayed in Varadero, like Al Capone. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, there was a massive expropriation of properties on the peninsula.

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