Varadero is a resort town in the province of Matanzas

Matanzas Province

Matanzas is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. Varadero is also called Playa Azul, which means "blue beach" in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

.

Geography

It is situated on the Hicacos Peninsula

Hicacos Peninsula

Hicacos is a peninsula on Cuba's northern shore, in the province of Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is located on the peninsula. The name comes from a species of cactus.-Geography:...

, between the Bay of Cárdenas

Bay of Cárdenas

The Bay of Cárdenas is a shallow bay on Cuba's northern shore, in the province of Matanzas.It is located on the Cuban coast, facing the Nicholas Channel, and is delimited to the north by the Hicacos Peninsula. To the north-east it is flanked by cays of the Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago, such as...

 and the Straits of Florida

Straits of Florida

The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys and Cuba. The strait carries the Florida Current, the beginning of...

, some 140 km east of Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, at the eastern end of the Via Blanca highway

Via Blanca (Cuba)

Via Blanca is a highway in northern Cuba, connecting the capital city of Havana and the city of Matanzas. A second section extends eastwards from Matanzas to the tourist town of Varadero.It is mostly a four lane highway, with some divided sections...

. The peninsula is only 1.2 km wide at its widest point and is separated from the island of Cuba by the Kawama Channel. This spit of land however extends more than 20 kilometers from the mainland in a northeasterly direction and its tip, Punta Hicacos, is the northernmost point of the island of Cuba. At the northeastern end of the peninsula there is a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 with virgin forest

Virgin Forest

Virgin Forest is a self-described B-movie starring Sarsi Emmanuel, who plays a barrio lass of Chinese ancestry; the late Miguel Rodriguez, as a Filipino-Spanish illustrado; and, Abel Jurado, who plays the lover of Sarsi's character.-Synopsis:...

s and beaches. The Hicacos Point Natural Park is a 3.12 km² (1.2 sq mi) ecological preserve established in 1974. It contains the 250 m (820.2 ft) long Cave of Ambrosio, Mangón Lake (home to 31 species of birds and 24 species of reptiles) and the ruins of the La Calavera (The Skull) Salt Works (one of the first salt works to be constructed by the Spanish in the New World). The cay

Cay

A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...

s developed off shore, such as Cayo Piedras and Cayo Cruz del Padre are the western most part of the Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago

Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago

Sabana-Camagüey is an archipelago that lines Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast. It is located off the northern coast of the provinces of Matanzas, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, and is bounded to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, specifically by the Nicholas Channel ...

.

Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport

Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport

Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport is an international airport serving Varadero, Cuba and the province of Matanzas. The airport is located closer to the town of Matanzas than to Varadero. The closest airport to Varadero is Santa Marta Airport...

, situated west of the peninsula, is Varadero's airport. It is the second-most-important airport of the island after José Martí Airport

José Martí International Airport

José Martí International Airport , sometimes known by its former name Rancho-Boyeros Airport, is located southwest of Havana, Cuba, and is a hub for Cubana de Aviación, Aerogaviota and Aero Caribbean, and former Latin American hub for Aeroflot Soviet Airlines...

 in Havana, and serves international and domestic flights.

History

The first mention of Varadero was in 1555. The place was first used as a dry dock (Spanish: varadero) and the salt mines of the peninsula (closed in 1961) supplied most of the Spanish Latin America Fleet since 1587. However, the foundation date of Varadero as city was only on December 5, 1887, when ten families from the city of Cárdenas obtained a permission to build their vacation homes between today's 42nd and 48th Street.

It was established as municipality (Spanish: municipio

Municipio

Municipio and Município are terms used for country subdivisions. They are often translated as municipality.-Overview:...

) at the administrative re-distribution of July 3, 1976 from territories previously part of Cárdenas. In August 2010, the Varadero municipality was abolished according to a Law approved by the Cuban National Assembly, becoming again part of the Cárdenas municipality.

Tourism

Varadero is foremost a tourist resort town, boasting more than 20 km of white sandy beaches. The first tourists visited Varadero as early as the 1870s, and for years it was considered an elite resort. In 1910 the annual rowing regatta was started; five years later the first hotel, named Varadero and later Club Nautico, was built. Tourism grew in the early 1930s as Irénée du Pont

Irénée du Pont

Irénée du Pont was a U.S. businessman, former president of the DuPont company and head of the Du Pont trust.-Biography:A descendant of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, he graduated from Andover in 1894 and MIT in 1897, then worked for Fenn’s Manufacturing Contracting Company for a number of years before...

 Nemours, an American millionaire, built his estate on the peninsula. Many famous and infamous people stayed in Varadero, for example Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

.

After the Cuban Revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

 in 1959, many mansions were expropriated from their rich owners. These mansions soon became museums. As a symbol of the new integrated tourism for Cubans and foreign visitors of all social classes, the Park of the 8000 Cubicles (Parque de las 8000 Taquillas) was built in 1960. Visitors could leave their belongings in the basement of the park, had access to sanitary installations and gastronomic services on the first floor, and could rent bathing articles and swimsuits. The surroundings of the park became the center of the city. Between the 1960s and 1980s Varadero transformed itself into a cultural centre. During those years the central park (8000 Taquillas) (located between 44th and 46th Street) saw countless concerts, festivals and sporting events.

The 1990s brought the start of another hotel building campaign, mostly in the 4-star and 5-star segment. Many of the hotels are operated or co-owned by foreign businesses like Melia, Barcelo, TRYP, etc. (France's Club Med

Club Med

Club Méditerranée , commonly known as Club Med, is a French corporation of vacation resorts found in many parts of the world, usually in exotic locations. It is considered the original all-inclusive resort.-Foundation:...

 used to have a property but has since left Varadero.) As international tourism was opened up, the local population expanded with the arrival of people, some in key economic positions, from other parts of Cuba. As a consequence, Varadero has lost much of its social and cultural life and its traditions. The central park, the cinema and various cultural meeting places were neglected in favor of a hotel-centred all-inclusive-tourism and finally closed. The International Carnival, an initiative of Cubans and foreigners started in the 1980s, also ceased.

In addition to its most valued resource, the beach, Varadero has natural attractions such as caves and a chain of easily accessed virgin cays. There are also cultural, historical and environmental attractions in the vicinity, such as the cities of Matanzas and Cárdenas, the Zapata Peninsula

Zapata Peninsula

Zapata Peninsula is a large peninsula in Matanzas Province, southern Cuba, at . Ciénaga de Zapata National Park is located on the peninsula....

 and the resort of San Miguel de los Baños. Varadero, which is a free port, also possesses facilities for scuba diving, deep-sea fishing, yachting and other water sports.

Varadero receives more than 1 million tourists annually.

Varadero is primarily visited by European and Canadian tourists. The number of U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 tourists visiting Varadero, although increasing, has been limited because of the U.S. government restrictions

United States embargo against Cuba

The United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...

that make it difficult, but not illegal for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba as tourists.

Demographics

In 2007, the municipality of Varadero had a population of about 20,000 between the Hicacos peninsula (7,000) and the two incorporated localities of Santa Marta and Boca de Camarioca. With a total area of 32 km² (12.4 sq mi), it has a population density of 771.3 /km2.
Starting from January 2011, the Varadero municipality was abolished and incorporated into the neighbor municipality of Cardenas. Therefore, Varadero is now only acknowledged as the region in the Hicacos peninsula, properly the beach area.