Purpose-built for the packaged tour group trade, this all-inclusive resort at Playa Ancón opened in 2004. Designed in a quasi-colonial fashion (architectural elements imitate the nearby city of Trinidad´s famous landmarks), it is far superior to the lackluster Hotel Ancón next door, despite its garish color schemes. It makes a big play for families with its kid´s club, children´s swimming pool, and special programs for children.

This is one of our favorite provincial hotels. The lovely neo-classical building dating from 1818 sits on tiny Plazoleta Honorato del Castillo and looks out directly toward the 17th-century Parroquia Mayor del Espíritu Santo church—a great setting. However, traffic noise echoing through the streets can be a problem for late sleepers.

Part of the Complejo de Turismo Topes de Collantes (Topes de Collantes Tourist Complex), on the east side of the Sierra del Escambray, this group of 29 self-contained villas set amid sloping lawns surrounded by forest is a good bet for travelers into hiking and nature activities.

A delightful option a few kilometers west of Trinidad, on the banks of the Río Guaurabo, Villa Finca Ma. Dolores is contrived as a traditional rural farmstead, complete with milking demonstrations, an aviary, and even traditional cockfights. It draws in the tour groups for horseback riding and lunch with folkloric shows, but overnighting guests are surprised to find that the accommodations are modern and the amenities up-to-date.

This could well be Cuba´s finest provincial hotel. Offering a much-needed deluxe option for visitors to this most popular of Cuban colonial cities, the Iberostar opened in 2006 and has justifiably earned plaudits as a true five-star hotel. The hotel is a conversion of an unassuming, two-story, mint-green 19th-century mansion on the north side of Parque Céspedes. Beyond the front doors, however, and…

This Islazul hotel serving both Cubans and tourists lies in the countryside a few miles southeast of Sancti Spíritus. The post-revolutionary four-story hotel is of Soviet-era Bauhaus design familiar throughout Cuba. It bills itself as an eco-tour facility due to its position overlooking Embalse Zaza—a vast man-made lake surrounded by wetlands and drowned forest that are a habitat for thousands of migratory waterfowl.

For long the least appealing of the three hotels on Playa Ancón, the Costa Sur reopened in early 2008 after being closed for three years for a much-needed overhaul. It´s clearly still focused on the budget traveler, and most guests arrive from Canada and Germany on low-end package vacations. This low-rise property with 131 rooms isn´t actually on Playa Ancón.

Launched as a hotel for the Cuban masses three decades ago, this austere concrete Bauhaus structure is of a joyless Soviet design seen throughout Cuba. It rises three stories over the east end of Playa Ancón, a lovely white sand beach that it shares with the neighboring and more appealing Hotel Brisas Trinidad del Mar.

This bungalow compound on the northern outskirts of the city, on the Carretera Central close to the Autopista, is operated by Islazul and is therefore a good place to mingle with Cubans. Formerly a drab hotel serving Cubans, it got a total make-over for the tourist trade in 2002. This hotel has more amenities than most Isazul properties, including a gift store/pharmacy, games rooms, and swimming pool.

Recently transferred from the Cubanacán hotel group to the Islazul chain, this pleasant countrified complex now takes in both Cubans and tourists. It´s on the northern outskirts of the city, on the Carretera Central close to the Autopista. Thus you´ll need wheels for exploring. Otherwise, we like its hilltop location, surrounded by palm-studded lawns, with a lake and fine views.

Overlooking the main square in Sancti Spíritus, this mid-19th-century hotel was recently added to Cubanacán´s Encanto brand, for small city hotel with exceptional character. However, the Hotel E Plaza falls far short of being such a boutique hotel.

The yin to the Kurhotel´s yang, this hotel lies literally in the latter´s shadow and offers a much smaller, intimate and—at first sight—more appealing alternative. Surrounded by woodland at Topes de Collantes, in the heart of the Sierra del Escambray, it´s a perfect base for exploring the mountains. Several hiking trails begin within a stone´s throw of the hotel.

Run by Cuba´s Gaviota hotel chain, this monstrosity is totally at odds with its surrounds. The forested mountain setting at 800 meters elevation, deep in the Sierra del Escambray, is lovely. And therein lies the problem: this great concrete hulk rising seven-stories above the treetops is a carbuncle on the landscape. To call this Soviet-scale ziggurat austere is an understatement.

This small hotel opens onto Parque Cé spedes and offers a value-priced budget alternative to the deluxe Iberostar a stone´s throw away, while having the advantage of a heart-of-affairs location compared to the similarly priced Hotel Horizontes Las Cuevas up the hill.

For many years this motel-style complex on the hill overlooking Trinidad was the only hotel in town. It has undergone several transformations in recent years but is one place where the more things change, the more they stay the same. The location offers the advantage of receiving refreshing breezes, and the views over town towards the Caribbean Sea are no less refreshing.

The central north coast of Cuba between Varadero and Cayo Coco is a bit of a no-man´s-land when it comes to accommodations. Options are thin on the ground, which makes an arrival at Villa Islazul San José del Lago all the more pleasurable while exploring along the Circuito Norte—the north coast road.