Viñales Valley
Viñales Valley is a living cultural landscape where traditional agriculture is practiced.
The karst landscape holds fertile soil and a favourable climate, and farming started here in the 17th century. It got a boost in the 1860s because of the rise in tobacco cultivation, which still is the main crop. Tobacco production still is done via traditional, non-mechanical methods.
Community Perspective: it’s a rural area in a visually interesting setting. There are tobacco farms open to tourists where you can watch the process of growing this product.
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Triath
Visited in January 2023.
The Viñales Valley is located 200 km from Havana, in the province of Pinar del Rio. I booked a tour through the owners of an airbnb apartment in Havana.
Europeans came to this valley among the Sierra de los Organos mountain range only at the beginning of the 19th century, three hundred years after the beginning of the colonization of the island. It turned out that the local climate is ideal for agriculture, especially for the cultivation of tobacco.
Since then, the technology of this process has not changed much. Large-scale production with its mechanization is considered to have a negative impact on the quality of the product, so the villagers here still do everything by handwork. Each tour takes you to a tobacco farm, where you can watch how tobacco is processed and cigars are made. In principle, the service is unobtrusive, and it is really interesting to get acquainted with the process of making cigars. The continuity of tobacco traditions and the folk architecture of villages and individual farms have been considered World Heritage. The second factor in recognizing the UNESCO status is the karst formations, primarily mogote, isolated limestone mountains resembling domes. As usual in karst formations there are many caves, one of which, the Cueva del Indio, can be entered for a symbolic fee. The cave is not the most impressive of those I have been to, but part of the route has to be overcome by boat. It is also nice to get out of the boat at the exit of the cave and take a fresh and cool piña colada.
Els Slots
In hindsight, this was the area of Cuba that I liked best. Especially its natural surroundings. Surely I had seen a karst landscape or two before, and the size of this is no match for China's Yangshuo/Guilin, but "diving" into this valley by road is a spectacular sight. Its little hills, tobacco plants and colourful flowers do add an extra touch to the standard Cuban landscape of banana plants and royal palms.
Another thing that sets Vinales apart is that it is such a small town, just pottering around a bit far from the rest of the action of Cuba. It's a totally relaxed place. The town's inhabitants seem to have completely surrendered themselves to tourism. About 80% of the houses are in use as Casas Particulares. The rest sell drinks, food, or souvenirs. Large touring cars travel on and off through the town's main street, delivering more tourists (including day-trippers from Havana or even the beach resorts).
To see the valley's main sights, I joined a bike tour. Although the valley is only 12km long, I found it quite a tough ride. Cuban-made mountain bikes aren't the most comfortable in the world. And those nasty mogotes! Annoying little hills always involve a steep climb. On the way back we also had the wind against us. So I am not ashamed to say that I walked a fair bit of the last 5 km.
Part of the tour was the obligatory visit to a tobacco farm. I had not seen tobacco fields before and found it interesting to hear about the delicate and time-consuming process that involves tobacco growing. The other sights in the valley aren't much, though from a distance the quite tacky Mural de la Prehistoria is not bad at all.
Kieran Donoghue
Accorfding to UNESCO, Vinales is on the list because "traditional methods of agriculture (notably tobacco growing) have survived unchanged there for several centuries. The region also preserves a rich vernacular tradition in its architecture, its crafts, and its music." Unfortunately these are the kinds of qualities that are not always easily discernible to the passing tourist as I was in 2001 when I visited. It is set in a Karst landscape that was visually intersting - but that was before I visited Halong bay and the Gulin/Yangshuo area of China. My friends and I had a pleasant stop there at a local homestay, where we had the best food we ate in Cuba (not much competition though I'm afraid). If you have a particular interest in
Cuban culture, tobacco growing, or are passing that way anyway, Vinales town is worth a stopover, but I wouldn't plan a holiday around it.
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Site Info
- Full Name
- Viñales Valley
- Unesco ID
- 840
- Country
- Cuba
- Inscribed
- 1999
- Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
-
4
- Categories
- Cultural Landscape - Continuing Human activity - Agriculture
- Link
- By ID
Site History
1999 Inscribed
1997 Rejected
Bureau -Doesn't meet Natural criteria, lacks boundaries + protection. (But consider a "Cultural Landscape"?)
Site Links
Unesco Website
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Art and Architecture
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World Heritage Process
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198 Community Members have visited.
The Plaque