Topes de Collantes

The Escambray mountains rise steeply behind Trinidad, and Topes de Collantes sits at around 800 metres in air that is noticeably cooler than the coast. The reserve is a mixture of pine and cloud forest, coffee plantations and deep valleys, threaded with trails to waterfalls: Salto del Caburní drops in stages into a pool you can swim in after a steep descent, and Vegas Grande and El Rocío offer alternatives. Coffee has been grown up here since the nineteenth century and small farms still process it by hand. The area also holds a curious relic of the mid-twentieth century in the shape of a huge hotel building on the ridge, originally begun as a sanatorium, which dominates the skyline in a way nothing else here does.

History

Coffee growers were already living in these mountains when the construction of a huge Art Deco sanatorium for tuberculosis patients was ordered in 1954. The hospital later became a school, and in the mid-1970s it was turned into the Kurhotel, a hotel for rehabilitation and therapy, which holds almost 800 works by leading Cuban painters across its 210 rooms, halls and lobbies; a small workers' settlement grew up around it. A mountain campus of Las Villas University was built here in the 1980s, and with Trinidad and the beaches of Ancón close by, more hotels followed (Wikipedia, Topes de Collantes).

Highlights

• Salto del Caburní - the main waterfall, reached by a steep trail with a swimmable pool.
• Vegas Grande and El Rocío - alternative waterfall trails, quieter than Caburní.
• Coffee farms - small hillside producers with tastings and drying yards.
• Cloud forest trails - cool walks through pine and tree ferns with drifting mist.

When to go

November to April is drier and the trails are safer; in the wet season the paths turn to mud and rivers rise. Mornings are clearer before cloud settles on the ridges. It is cool enough up here to want a layer, which surprises people coming from Trinidad.

Practical notes

The road up is steep and rough, and most people go by jeep transfer rather than by car. The waterfall trails are properly steep in both directions, and the climb back from Caburní in the heat defeats plenty of visitors. Some trails require a guide. Water levels vary enormously, so the falls can be a torrent or a trickle depending on recent rain.

Nearby

Trinidad and the Valle de los Ingenios are below; the south coast beaches are half an hour from town.

Key facts