Topes de Collantes Grand Park, stretching for 200 square kilometers and 800 meters over the sea level, is a real paradise in the very center of Cuba, just 22 kilometers from Trinidad City. The thriving nature has created a healthy environment polished from the pollution of contemporary life, stress and anxiety.
With a very humid climate and moderate temperatures the whole year, the conditions of the place have the perfect ecological features for promoting a richness of flora and fauna, with a high level of endemic species. Numerous grottos bored through its almost vertical faults, open valleys with underground drains, narrow rivers of fast waters, beautiful waterfalls and water jumps such as the Salto del Caburní (National Monument), praise the attractions of this region.
Nature lovers will find here around 15 different kinds of pines, 12 types of eucalyptus, and more than 100 ornamental plants guaranteeing the existence of flowers throughout the year in Topes de Collantes. Additionally, there is a variety of ferns, medicinal plants, wild orchids and butterflies. Among the notable large trees, there are hundred-year-old carob, cedar, mahogany, and teak trees. Terrestrial fauna is abundant, but the prevailing animals are the white-tail deer, the wild pig, and the quails.
For all these reasons, Topes de Collantes is the ideal place for natural tourism programs whose offers range from 10 to 25 Km of distance to be covered. Birdwatching of more than 45 % of the endemic species registered in the country, cavalcades (from 1 to 4 days) making striking tours through the mountain, camps in comfortable tents, mountain biking through pathways and tracks, and canoeing along the waterfalls and ravines all make for great ways to explore the bounty of this area.
To complement the natural attractions, Topes de Collantes has a decent infrastructure including numerous specialty restaurants, Los Helechos (The Ferns) Hotel, and the Villa Caburní Hotel. There is also the Kurhoteles Escambray, for health tourism, which sums up the cultural attraction of having a fabulous Cuban Art Collection with more than 800 pieces of 169 artists. Nelson Domínguez, Alicia Leal, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Ernesto García Peña, Flora Fong, Adigio Benítez, Ever Fonseca, Raúl Santos Zerpa, Rubén Torres Llorca, Tomás Sánchez, Arturo Cuenca, Moisés Finalé, Zaida del Río, Eduardo Roca, Manuel Mendive, and Antonio Vidal are among the most famous.
These pieces were all painted by the artists in that place in the 1980s, when the Cuban plastic art was undergoing its first boom. A few years ago, the pieces were restored and organized to create a Museum of Contemporary Art and new artists joined the project with paintings and sculptures composing now the so famous "Colección de Topes" (Topes' Collection).
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