City Pinar del Rio was founded in 1774, the architecture of its historical centre is essentially eclectic. Its low prop houses with their soft colours, whose doorways seem to form one continuous veranda, have their own individual charm. The modern buildings on the periphery break up the horizontal impression of the metropolis. Well worth a visit are the Palacio de Guarche, headquarters of the Science Museum the Teatro Milanes, a theatre built in 1883, the Rumayor cabaret club and the factory producing Guayabita del Pinar, an old spirit which is 40º proof and is still made by hand according to the old tradition

Nature of Pinar del Rio it is not merely for reason of favouritism that Pinar del Rio is know as the Natural Cathedral of Cuba. No other province in the country has warranted as many acknowledgements by UNESCO, which declared the Peninsula de Guanahacabibes and the Sierra del Rosario, both of boast flora and fauna that are know to be greatly varied and endemic, as Biosphere Reserves, and the Valle de Vinales as a Cultural Heritage Landscape. In this nigh-on perfect landscape, 11% of all of the species are indigenous and examples can be such as the Palma corcho (living fossil), the ceibon, the Caiman oak tree and the palmita de la cierra sturdy plants. But in the animal kingdom, especially in the world of birds, 50% species are endemic. Since the 19th century the natural beauty of the region has attracted the inhabitants of Havana, who would pay a visit to La Cueva de los Portales, to reap the benefits of the thermal, mineral and medicinal water of San Diego de los Banos and to take loos at the Valle de Vinales.

The best Black Tobacco in the world is grow on the fertile plains of Pinar del Rio, which contribute around 70% of the raw material with which Havana cigars are made. - Sierra del Rosario was the first Biosphere Reserve recognised in Cuba. It occupies the eastern half of the Guaniquanico mountain range its most attractive landscapes are Soroa and Las Terrazas.

Soroa

About 70 km to the west of Havana, is rich in flora and has a wide variety of trees, shrubs, wild orchids and ferns. Its fauna includes one of the smallest frogs in the world and around 70 different types of birds have been reported, some of them indigenous. Its orchid farm is famous for its 750 species of orchids, 100 of them are Cuban. At the waterfall along the river manantiales visitors can take a refreshing swim.

Pinar del Rio

Capital of the province of the same name, has museums of natural sciences and history, the library which once belonged to the poet Dulce Maria Loynaz del Castillo (winner of the Cervantes Prize in 1992), a distillery that makes Guayabita del Pinar ( a local drink), a cigar factory with a House of Habanos, a House of Rum, the Provincial Visual Arts Center and a Troubadours' House.

Las Terrazas

(pop. 1200), though not significant in terms of size, it is certainly one the area's most interesting towns. The area's history of poverty began in the late 18th century when coffee crops planted by French exiles from Haiti began to fail. After that, the locals relied on sales of charcoal to feed and clothe their families. Not only did they become appallingly poor, but much of the area had been clear-cut, and was ecologically dead. This area became one of the poorest in the province of Pinar del Rio. Even for years after the Revolution, the area was still impoverished and fully reliant on charcoal exports. The people of this area were still isolated from the health care and education that would be necessary to escape the cruel cycle of poverty. In 1967, noting the area's horrid conditions, the government established programs of rural development and ecological restoration in an attempt to renew the community. Similar to the Agrarian Reform laws, and other projects around the country, the people were provided with housing and employment. In return, they were given the responsibility of working to replant the area's forests. The area's export of charcoal can now be considered a renewable resource, as only those trees which are sick, dying, or overcrowded are used for charcoal, and much replanting is done. The town of Las Terrazas was founded in the early 1970's to provide housing for the area's families. The town was designed with good taste in mind, certainly a welcome change from the functional but ugly Eastern bloc architecture (example) found in many recent housing projects. Besides acting as a model community for progressive land uses and ecological study, Las Terrazas has recently adapted itself to host tourists. The type of tourism that this community hopes to attract is different from that of other parts of the country, however. The goal is to provide tourists with an enjoyable stay at the park but not to surround them with luxury. Thus, the biosphere provides many ways for tourists staying at hotels near the town to enjoy the area's natural beauty, such as hiking through the extensive network of trails, and swimming in los Baños de San Juan. The model of tourism for Las Terrazas also encourages interaction between tourists and the people of the area. The overall effect is to create an enjoyable tourist experience that is not loud, nor obnoxious, and does not leave the Cubans feeling like second-class citizens.

Maria La Gorda

International Diving Centre, on the westernmost point of the providence, is one of the pleasant and private corners of Pinar del Rio owing to the fine quality of its seabed , where 50 different diving point have been identified. Situated near the migratory routes that connect the northern and southern hemispheres.

Vinales

The province has several world-renowned natural attractions: Vinales Valley, a part of world natural heritage, with impressive pincushion hills with rounded tops. It also has one of the most important cave systems in Latin America and several underground rivers (one of which is navigable). The valley is an excellent place for hiking, spelunking, bird-watching and other forms of ecotourism, and the hotels blend in with their surroundings. See the Mural of Prehistory and try the medical mineral water. The Sierra del Rosario world preserve of the biophere includes Las Terrazas Tourist Complex, a rural community boasting scores of craftsmen and artists the ruins of many old French coffee plantations, rivers which are excellent for swimming, an ecological hotel, well-conserved forests of notable biodeversity which conyain many endemic species of trees, the Soroa orchid gardens, with over 700 species of orchides from all over the world and 100 from Cuba, in addition to around 6000 species of other ornamental plants, and a beautiful waterfall 72 feet (22 m) high. The Guanahacabibes Peninsula world preserve of the biosphere is a sparsely-populated area at the western tip of Cuba. It has large forests, dozens of lakes, caves, abundant fauna, white sandy plains and a beautiful strip of cliffs along its southern coast. Here, you can see evergreen forests, mangrove thickets and wetlands vegetation typical of sandy areas; several archaeological sites at places which used to be aboriginal settlements; and long, solitary beaches with fine white sand. At or near all of these places, you will find dependable hotel services.