Hotel La Ermita

You know you're in for a visual treat as you snake uphill to this three-star hotel perched on the precipice of a mogote (limestone hillock) with dramatic vistas across the Valle de Viñales. Designed in neo-colonial fashion, this hotel is laid out in a kind of half-moon around spacious lawns studded with an attractive Olympic-size swimming pool. The Las Terrazas restaurant, decorated country still and serving a motley menu of continental and traditional criolla fare, overhangs the valley – a superb setting. The mood is enhanced by live troubadors. Make the most of breakfast here, but you're better off dining in the village by night.

Accommodations are in four two-story blocks with shaded porches or balconies with Adirondack chairs. Choose your room carefully, as some of the blocks are angled at ninety-degrees to the valley. A few older rooms are further back and don't have quite the same enthralling views.

Hotel Los Jazmines

With its unbeatable position overlooking the Viñales valley, Los Jazmines is one of the most renowned hotels in Cuba. It's also a great bargain. The views alone are worth the price. But this hotel also has plenty of charm. The main building in a Mediterranean neo-colonial style rises three-stories over a swimming pool suspended on the very edge of the valley. A pool with a view. We love it! However, poolside "animations" for tour groups and (mainly) Cubans families on weekends are a slap in the face for visitors wanting to savior the solitude in silence. The top-floor restaurant, cross-ventilated through French doors, exudes yesteryear charm and has the same stupendous views. Its therefore easy to forgive the ho-hum food. The mahogany bar tempts you to light up a cigar and quaff a mojito. There's also a disco here, but forget it. You're here for the scenery and Viñales' pickled-in-aspic lifestyle.