Cuba Geography & Climate

Cuba covers about 110,000 square kilometres, making it the largest country in the Caribbean. The main island is long and thin — some 1,250 kilometres from end to end but rarely more than a hundred wide — which means nowhere is far from the sea.

Mountains

Three separate ranges. The Sierra Maestra in the south-east is the highest, reaching 1,974 metres at Pico Turquino, and was where the guerrilla campaign of the 1950s was based. The Escambray rises in the centre, and the Guaniguanico range runs through the west.

The mogotes

In the Vinales valley the limestone has eroded into steep-sided round-topped hummocks standing abruptly out of flat red soil, riddled with caves and underground rivers. It is a textbook karst landscape and it is why the tobacco there is ploughed by ox.

Plains and soil

Most of the country is low, rolling and unusually fertile, which is what made it one of the world’s great sugar producers and, in the west, the source of what is generally reckoned the best cigar tobacco anywhere.

Wetlands and cays

The Zapata peninsula is the largest wetland in the Caribbean, UNESCO-listed and full of birds including the bee hummingbird, the smallest bird in the world. Offshore, more than four thousand small islands and cays lie along both coasts behind long stretches of coral reef.

Guantanamo Bay

At the south-eastern end of the island, a deep natural harbour has been leased to the United States since 1903 under a treaty Cuba regards as invalid and cannot unilaterally end. It is the oldest overseas US base and the only one in a country with which the United States had no diplomatic relations for most of that period. The annual rent cheques have gone uncashed by the Cuban government for decades, which is a fairly exact summary of the relationship.

Isla de la Juventud

A substantial island off the south-west coast, the second largest in the country.

Cuba has a tropical climate with two clear seasons defined by rain rather than temperature, and the trade winds keep it more comfortable than the latitude suggests.

The dry season

From December to April, days run around 26 to 29°C with low humidity, cool evenings and very little rain. Cold fronts reaching down from North America can drop temperatures noticeably for a few days in January and February, and a norte can bring wind and rough seas along the north coast.

The wet season

From May to October it is hotter, around 30 to 33°C, and considerably more humid. Rain typically arrives as a heavy afternoon downpour lasting an hour rather than as continuous grey, so it rarely wrecks a day, but the mugginess is constant and the mosquitoes are worse.

Hurricanes

The Atlantic season runs June to November, peaking from August to October. Cuba lies squarely in the path and is struck regularly. The country’s civil defence and evacuation system is genuinely one of the best in the region and loss of life is usually low, but a storm means closed airports, power cuts lasting weeks and serious damage. Travel insurance and flexible plans matter in those months.

Regional variation

The east is hotter and drier than the west, and Baracoa in the far east is the wettest place in the country. The mountains are cooler and can be genuinely chilly at night in winter.

The sea

Warm year round, between about 24 and 28°C, and comfortable to swim in every month.