On Sunday, October 28, 1492, Admiral Christopher Columbus docked in the coasts of Bariay, in today’s Holguin province, on his first trip to the Americas, and in his diary he said about the landscape ""this is the most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen".
He was welcomed by indigenous people who had arrived in this territory thousands of years before, establishing their communities and crops, their culture and beliefs, which have come to light from different studies and important discoveries in parts of the current municipality of Banes, known in the country as the archaeological capital of Cuba.
The area gained importance, when, after the conquest, García Holguín, owner of a ranch established where the main city is currently located, gave his surname to the place. It was not until 1720 that the future city of Holguín was founded.
The province, including the keys, expands over 9,215 km2, the fourth largest in the country. Located in eastern Cuba, it has borders to the north and east with the Atlantic Ocean, to the south with Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo and to the west with Las Tunas, and with coasts to the Atlantic Ocean.
With a privileged geographic situation, Holguín has 350 km of coast, providing tourism opportunities in diverse subregions "La Nipe" towards the east and the "Atlantic Littoral" towards the northwest, made up of Guardalavaca, Estero Ciego-Caleticas (Esmeralda), Bahía de Naranjo - Yuraguanal, Pesquero Nuevo and Cayo Bariay.
The latest destination Ramón de Antillas, with more than 7,500 rooms and potential to reach an estimated 19,000, is another of the tourist products under development under the tutelage of major international hotel chains such as Meliá Hotels, Blue Diamond, Muthu, Aston, as well as national chains Gaviota, Cubanacán and Islazul, where 80% of the accommodation is of 4 and 5-star categories.
Another place of interest is Gibara, whose historic center -declared National Monument in 2014- has unique cultural, patrimonial and natural attractions, while the subregion "Atlantic Coast" sees the greatest concentration of tourism development in the province.
Holguin's beaches, over 76 of them, and some 21.5 km long, are among the most picturesque in the Caribbean. With turquoise waters, warm and calm due to the natural protection offered by the coral reefs that surround them, they are surrounded by dense vegetation, whose intense green color creates a fabulous contrast with the golden white of the sand and the clear blue of the sea.
The nature is another of the region’s attributes. It has 12 protected areas and its attractions include the Alejandro de Humboldt and Sierra de Cristal national parks, the Mayarí pine forests, the Bahía de Naranjo and Cayo Saetía natural parks, and the mountainous enclave Cuchillas del Toa, one of the six Biosphere Reserves declared by UNESCO in the Cuban archipelago.
In addition, many cultural events are organized every year in the region, with massive popular participation. These include Culture Week (in January), the Romerías de Mayo (May Pilgrimages), in early May, which have become a festival of young artists and intellectuals, as well as the Gibara International Film Festival (August) and the Ibero-American Culture Festival (October).
Finally, landmarks full of history such as La Loma de la Cruz and the historical complex of Biran, among others, complete the wide choice awaiting tourists visiting Holguin, also known as the city of parks.
With this rich substratum, it is not surprising that Holguín has flourished as one of Cuba's main tourist centers and whose progress and development continues.