Cayo Santa Maria is a small island north of Cuba in the west of the archipelago of the king's gardens or « Jardines del Rey ». This area was declared Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO.
To get there, we take a causeway or « pedraplen » over 48 kilometers long. This road has required ten years of construction to finally connect to Cuba to the 
neighboring islands, Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos and finally Cayo Santa Maria
This small island has 13 kms long and 2 kms wide. A beach of a fine white sand ideal for walking. The beach is located north of the island while the south side consists mainly of mangrove swamps.
During the transfer bus, English-speaking guide talks about Cuba in general and the villages of the region. You can see the living of Cubans and the beauty of landscapes. It is preferable (if possible) to transfer during the day. The airport of Santa Clara has been completely renovated (2008) to accommodate the increasing flow of tourists. At its inception, the airport for military purposes was totally inadequate and everybody will remember the chaos that reigned there. When flying over the airport, we can see the old « bunkers », helicopters and military aircraft.
Cayo Santa Maria has no permanent residents. Cubans come to work in the hotels from the surrounding villages such, Caibarien, Remedios, Camajuaní and Santa Clara. To get to Cayo Santa Maria, we take an international flight to the Santa Clara (SNU) airport, then a transfer by comfortable bus to the destination (Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Ensenachos). It takes about ninety minutes to cross the villages mentioned as well as the 48 km causeway.
After crossing the first island, Cayo Las Brujas, we see on your left, the luxury hotel Occidental Royal Hideaway Ensenachos. It is a resort (adults only) of 270 superior rooms (Royal Hideaway section), 190 (Royal Spa section) and 46 luxury suites (Suite Royal area) located on Cayo Ensenachos. A concept of one hotel, like in the Maldives. This hotel is located on a small island with two of the most beautiful beaches in the region, Playa Ensenachos and Playa Megano Ensenachos. We had the chance to visit these beaches before the construction. The sea as the beach is very nice and calm.
To discover Cayo Santa Maria and the other islands, it is best to rent a Jeep or a scooter for a day. Visit our transport section for more informations on services offered on the island.
There is a small local airport located near Cayo Santa Maria (10 minutes by car), the airport is Las Brujas, it is unfortunately too small to accommodate large aircraft. As it is a protected area, there is no plan, at least in short term, to expand and strengthen the runway. Time will tell if the environment or tourism development will win the battle. With over 2.500 rooms on the island when the Barceló project will be completed, transfers from the airport will become a steady stream of buses and a hell for the villagers. There is a possibility of an airport in Caibarien, the nearest town. To be continued ....
In Cayo Santa Maria, there are three hotels run by the hotel chain Sol Melia. A 4-star hotel, the Sol (the first on the island) and two hotels 4 ½-star hotel, the Melia Santa Maria and the Meliá Las Dunas, a large complex (925 rooms) distributed in two sections, Family (West side) and adults only (east side). It is a « competitor » of Playa Pesquero (927 rooms) in the region of Holguin. Both hotels are similar because they have the same architect. Visit the hotels section to learn more.
Further east, there is the Barceló Santa Maria, a mega-complex of more than 2.640 rooms when the project completed. Phase 1 and 2 of the project will be divided by a small village called « Pueblo » administered by Gaviota cuban chain. It is obvious that the ten-year effort to build the causeway in the sea was not for one hotel! The Cubans are very environmentally conscious and during the construction of the causeway, they have provided a bridge to every kilometer, to minimize the negative impact of the construction on the local marine life. The Cubans have told us that the marine life is well. Note that the causeway is not lightened, you must be careful at night.
Click HERE to see the position of Cayo Santa Maria (Cuba) in the archipelago of the king's garden, with the excellent positioning software Google Earth. If you do not have the software installed on your computer, click HERE to download a free copy. You will not be disappointed!
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