Viñales is a town and municipality in the north-central

Pinar del Río Province The Pinar del Río Province is one of the 15 provinces of Cuba. It is at the western end of the island of Cuba. The capital and largest city is Pinar del Río (191,081 pop. in 2022). Geography The Pinar del Río province is Cuba's westernmost p ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. The town consists mostly of one-story wooden houses with porches. The municipality is dominated by low mountain ranges of the Cordillera de Guaniguanico such as Sierra de los Órganos. Typical outcrops known as ''

mogote A mogote () is a generally isolated, steep-sided residual hill in the tropics composed of either limestone, marble, or dolomite. Mogotes are surrounded by nearly flat alluvial plains. The hills typically have a rounded, tower-like form. Overv ...

s'' complete the

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ic character of the landscape. The town and the

Viñales Valley Viñales Valley () is a karstic depression in Cuba. The valley has an area of and is located in the Sierra de los Órganos mountains (part of Guaniguanico range), just north of Viñales in the Pinar del Río Province. In 1999, the valley ...

immediately to the north were made a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in November 1999 for the

landscape and traditional agriculture as well as

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...

, crafts and music.

History

Before European settlement, the area was the home of a remnant

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

population swelled with runaway slaves.Guerrillero:Pinar del Río
"El Templo de los Cimarrones"
The area was colonised at the beginning of the 1800s by tobacco growers from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, who settled in the

Vuelta Abajo Vuelta Abajo (or Vueltabajo, literally: The lower roundtrip) is a geographic region in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It lies in the extreme western part of the island, bordered on the north by the Sierra de los Órganos mountains. It is on ...

region. The first colonial settlement in Viñales is documented in 1871, in the form of a ranch belonging to Andrés Hernández Ramos. The town was established in 1878 as a typical community, with church, school, hospital and recreation park.

Economy

Viñales is an

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

area, where crops of fruit, vegetables, coffee and especially

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

are grown by traditional methods.

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

is also an important part of the area's economy.

Tourism

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

centered on the

is developing, the area being protected by constitution since February 1976, and declared a national monument in October 1978. Attractions in Viñales include the Viñales Municipal Museum, Casa de Caridad Botanical Gardens, Museo Paleontológico, Palenque (a

Maroon Maroon ( , ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word , meaning chestnut. ''Marron'' is also one of the French translations for "brown". Terms describing interchangeable shades, with overlapping RGB ranges, inc ...

village) and the nearby

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s (Cueva del Indio, Cueva de José Miguel, Cueva de Santo Tomás) in Valle de Viñales National Park, which were refuges for runaway slaves. There is also a cave that doubles as a nightclub. Casas particulares (private residences that have been tailored and licensed to operate as

bed and breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...

s) offer accommodations to visitors year-round. There are also three hotels located a few kilometers outside of town, rated three stars: La Ermita, Los Jazmines, and Rancho Horizontes San Vicente. The campground Dos Hermanas has 54 cabins available to tourists, a swimming pool and a restaurant.campismo Dos Hermanas
/ref>

Climate

Viñales has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, with a hot, lengthy wet season, and a warm and relatively short dry season. The average temperatures range from highs of 31.7 °C and lows of 22 °C in July and August to 26.2 °C and 16.1 °C in February. April–November represents the wet season, being especially wet May–October. December–March is the dry season, however only December and March qualify as true dry season months, as the threshold for such a month is less than 60 millimeters. The rainiest month in Viñales is June, with 226 millimeters, and the driest is December with 50 millimeters.

Demographics

In 2022, the municipality of Viñales had a population of 28,740 with a 0.33%/year increase. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

Gallery

Image:VinalesCubaTransport.jpg, A man rides down the main street in Viñales Image:DowntownVinalesCuba.jpg, Downtown Viñales File:Valle di Viñales 01.jpg, Viñales Valley File:Mogote-and-lake vinales.jpg, View of lake and Mogote at Viñales File:Viñales - Vista d la Calle Real.jpg, View of the Calle Real in 1902.

References

External links

Viñales Municipality

"Valle Son Music"
A collection of son and salsa groups performing in Viñales
"Viñales Tours & Accommodation"
Tourist information on the town of Viñales
"Viñales, Land to Dream"
Viñales Page Information
Viñales information about Casas Particulares
Viñales Page about tourism Information and Casas Particulares {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinales Populated places in Pinar del Río Province Populated places established in 1871 Climbing areas of Cuba 1871 establishments in the Spanish Empire