Las Terrazas and Soroa

Cuba'S First Biosphere Reserve, The Sierra Del Rosario, Containing A Community Founded In 1968 As A Reforestation Project And The Soroa Orchid Garden · Candelaria, Artemisa

In 1968 the Cuban government began cutting the eroded hillsides of the Sierra del Rosario into terraces and replanting them, and built a village for the workers doing it. The terraces are still visible under the forest that grew back, the village is still there beside its lake, and the whole range became Cuba's first Biosphere Reserve in 1985 - which makes Las Terrazas an unusual thing: an environmental restoration project that turned into a functioning community and then into a destination. It is also only an hour from Havana on the motorway, which makes it the easiest day in nature the country offers. There are trails through the forest, river pools at the Baños del San Juan, the ruins of a French coffee plantation of 1801, and a zipline strung over the lake. Twenty minutes further on, Soroa has an orchid garden of some seven hundred species, many of them Cuban endemics, and a waterfall with a pool beneath it.

Comunidad Las Terrazas, Sierra del Rosario, Artemisa, Candelaria, Artemisa, Cuba

The reserve and the community are entered through a toll gate on the road with a small charge, open through the day. The Soroa orchid garden, the Cafetal Buenavista and the Baños del San Juan keep daylight hours. The zipline and guided trails run on demand and depend on staffing. The Hotel Moka operates year round. Power cuts affect the community as everywhere.

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