Visited this site in May 2018.

Our visit was slightly shortened by the car breaking, but with some luck, we found local mechanic, who fixed everything in 10 minutes.

The elegant core of the city is concentrated around main square – Parque Jose Marti. The architecture was inspired by the founders – French emigrants. The city is not that old, it was only founded in 1819 and was influenced by the neoclassic ideas of the settlers. The key attractions are Teatro Tomas Terry (1889) with good external mosaics, Arco de Triunfo (1902), Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion Church (1869), Palacio de Gobierno (1917) and Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte or Palacio de Ferrer (1918). For 1 cuc we climbed the latter one, with dominating light blue cupola and iron staircase. There good views over the city, with some usual for Cuba a bit dilapidating impression. Despite the buildings constructed in various periods, together they create quite balanced and harmonic ensemble. We also made a stroll along key shopping and pedestrian street El Bulevar.

We liked Cienfuegos, as it is not usual colonial town, but a later example of neoclassical architecture.