Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba

Named after the patron saint of Spain, the city of Santiago de Cuba nestles between a natural harbour and the impressive Sierra Maestra mountain range. It was confirmed as Cuba's second city in 1553 when the Spanish Governor moved his office to Havana.

Nowadays, Santiago is a friendly, tropical city of about 500,000 inhabitants and is generally considered to be the cradle of the revolution as it was in this city and the surrounding mountains and countryside that popular support grew for Fidel and his men in the fifties.

Santiago is also undoubtedly the home of traditional Cuban music, particularly son and danzon, Much of Cuba's distinctive Afro-Haitian style of music and dance developed here and Santiago is the ideal place to listen to live music and learn how to celebrate life the Cuban way.

Getting There

Santiago has an international airport with direct scheduled and charter flights from Europe, Canada and other parts of the Caribbean each week. The airport is just a 20 minute taxi journey into the city centre.

Holguin airport also has regular scheduled and charter flights and lies 2 hours from Santiago by taxi or 3 hours by the Viazul bus service. Finally, there are four daily flights from Havana to Santiago with Cubana or Aero Caribbean airways with a flight time of approximately 2 hours.

Airport Transfers

You can take a taxi from Santiago airport to the city center. However, we recommend that you take advantage of our airport meeting and transfer service.

One way transfers from 08.00 to 22.00 (arrival time at the airport) cost €20. There is a 25% supplement before 8.00 or after 22.00.

Please note that we need the arrival information at least 2 working days before arrival.

Weather

In July and August Santiago has average temperatures of 28°-32°c, with 75% humidity. Students should expect some afternoon rainfall but once the rain stops it quickly dries up.

Carnival and the Festival del Fuego

Santiago is the place to be in July with two major annual cultural festivals taking place in this month. The Festival del Fuego celebrates Caribbean and Latin American culture and has a different country focus each year.

Concerts and street performances take place over a week in early July and the city is alive with music and dance. The annual carnival has famous Cuban bands playing live in several areas of the city during the day and evenings, often until the small hours of the morning.

Stalls and temporary bars made of bamboo and palm fronds line the main avenues of the city and the people of Santiago come out to party every night. There are also lively processions with dancers and musicians and colourfully decorated floats every evening. Carnival takes place over 8 days in the third week of July each year.

In August a wide range of live music venues is open every night, each with a live band and plenty of dancing.