Cayo Coco and the Jardines del Rey

The Jardines del Rey are a string of flat, scrubby cays along Cuba's northern coast, and Cayo Coco with its neighbour Cayo Guillermo hold the best beaches in the country: long, wide strips of very fine white sand shelving into water that stays waist-deep and turquoise a long way out, backed by low vegetation rather than hills. Getting there is memorable in itself, along a causeway built across seventeen kilometres of shallow lagoon where flamingos feed in pink drifts on either side of the road, along with pelicans, spoonbills and ibis. Beyond the resorts there is snorkelling on the offshore reef, a long sandbar at Playa Pilar that is regularly named the best beach in Cuba, and mangrove and lagoon trips. It is a beach destination first and foremost, and largely an all-inclusive one.

What you actually see

• Playa Pilar - the sandbar beach on Cayo Guillermo, often rated the country's finest.
• The causeway flamingos - pink flocks feeding in the lagoons on the drive in.
• The reef - snorkelling and diving on the offshore coral.
• The long shallow beaches - fine white sand and waist-deep turquoise water.

When to go

November to April is the dry season with the most reliable weather; the summer is hot and humid with a hurricane risk from around August to October. Flamingo numbers on the causeway vary through the year but they are usually there. Christmas and Easter fill the resorts.

Honest expectations

This is resort Cuba, and the cays are essentially a strip of all-inclusive hotels with little independent life, so travellers wanting Cuban towns and street life will find almost none of it here; Morón and Remedios on the mainland are where that is. The causeway has been criticised for restricting water flow in the lagoon. Food in the resorts is famously mediocre. The beaches, though, genuinely are superb.

Nearby

Morón and Remedios are on the mainland; Camagüey is a few hours east.