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The 'Cayos de Villa Clara', which includes the islands of Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas and Cayo Ensenachos, is currently one of Cuba's most active beach resorts in terms of tourism development. There are currently 23 hotels there for a total of approximately 12,600 rooms.

Hotels and services currently under construction:

Cayo Santa Maria : None
Cayo Ensenachos : None
Cayo Las Brujas : None

Tourism development started first on Cayo Las Brujas in 1999 with the opening of the first hotel in this region, the Villa Las Brujas. The next hotel to be built was the Sol Cayo Santa Maria (2001), the latter became the first all-inclusive resort in the province of Villa Clara. Find here a detailed chronology of tourism development in the Cayos of Villa Clara.

Apart from the small hotel Villa Las Brujas, all the hotels in Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas and Cayo Ensenachos are resort style and all-inclusive (meals, snacks, drinks, daily activities, entertainment, etc.). All facilities (hotels and services) belong to the government-owned Grupo Gaviota, but management contracts are awarded to several international hotel chains (such as Melia, Sirenis, Blue Diamond, Valentin, Banyan Tree, MGM Muthu Hotels, Archipelago International, Roc, and Iberostar) to manage and promote many of these hotels.

Click to see current and previous management of all hotels in the Cayos de Villa Clara since 1999

Click the following links to view maps:

On Cayo Santa Maria, the location of Hotels and Tourist attractions & services
On Cayo Ensenachos, the location of Hotel and Tourist attractions & services
On Cayo Las Brujas, the location of Hotels and Tourist attractions & services
The location of all Plazas (commercial & entertainment centers)
Aerial video tour of the 'Cayos de Villa Clara'

icon logo youtubeClick to watch our Tourist Attractions & Services video from our YouTube channel.

YouTube Video Click to watch our Sol Cayo Santa Maria video (Dec. 2022) from our YouTube channel

In Cayo Santa Maria, every hotel is located along its northern coast, while the southern areas are mainly covered by marshes and mangroves. The hotels are all oceanfront but have been built a little back behind the dunes. In most cases, the beaches are accessible via several raised footbridge for a minimum impact on the dunes' flora and fauna. The dunes also serve as a natural protection against hurricanes, thus minimizing damages to hotels.

There's another all-inclusive resort on Cayo Ensenachos, it's a one-island/one-resort concept. And on the other neighboring island, Cayo Las Brujas, there was for many years only one small boutique hotel, called Villa Las Brujas, located on the beautiful beach of Playa Salina. But since 2015, Cayo Las Brujas has been undergoing an extensive tourist development with the construction of several new all-inclusive hotels and a shopping center.

During our first trip to Cayo Santa Maria in January 2002, when the Sol Cayo Santa Maria was the only hotel on a desert island, we were told of the project to build more than 10,000 hotel rooms in the next 10 years or so. It was hard to believe at the time, but they not only achieved this goal, they exceeded it!

It is planned that the hotel development of the entire 'Jardines del Rey' (King's Gardens) archipelago, which includes the following islands: Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos, Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Paredon Grande, Cayo Cruz, Cayo Sabinal, etc., should eventually include approximately 32,000 hotel rooms. Visit the King's Garden Islands section of our website to learn more about the other tourist destinations of this vast archipelago.

Lily & Normand
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