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Oceanfront Cuba: the cays of Jardines del Rey
Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo — reef-fringed islands on the Atlantic edge.
Off the north coast of Ciego de Ávila, a long causeway runs out to Jardines del Rey — the cays of Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, where accommodation is almost entirely beachfront resort. This is oceanfront Cuba at its most developed; here's how it works, with real stays.
How it works
Cayo Coco
A flat mangrove-and-beach cay reached by a 17 km causeway and lined with large all-inclusive resorts. Playa Pilar, on neighbouring Cayo Guillermo, is regularly rated among the finest beaches in the Caribbean.
What it is — and isn't
The cays are resort enclaves: few casas particulares and little local life beyond the hotels. You come for the sand, the reef and calm, shallow water — not for towns or nightlife.
Getting there
Jardines del Rey airport (CCC) serves the cays directly for international charters; overland it's the causeway from Morón and Ciego de Ávila on the mainland.
The full picture
Islands built for the beach
Jardines del Rey — the King's Gardens, named by a 16th-century explorer for the Spanish crown — is a chain of low cays strung along Cuba's north-central shelf. Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo are the developed pair, reached by a 17-kilometre causeway laid straight across the shallow lagoon. They exist, for the visitor, almost entirely as beach: flat, mangrove-backed islands whose reason to come is the white sand and the warm, shallow, reef-sheltered water.
The beaches themselves
Playa Pilar, on the tip of Cayo Guillermo, is regularly rated among the finest beaches in the Caribbean — powder sand and a sandbar you can wade far out along. Cayo Coco's north-shore beaches run for kilometres, backed by resorts and fronted by a barrier reef that keeps the water calm and good for snorkelling. Ernest Hemingway fished these waters and set part of his writing here, which is how Cayo Guillermo's beach got its name.
Wildlife on a resort island
For all the development, the cays keep a wild edge: flamingos wade the inner lagoons, herons and pelicans work the mangroves, and the causeway itself is one of the best places in Cuba to see flamingos from a car. The interior is protected, and the reef offshore supports diving and snorkelling — a reminder that these are ecological islands with hotels on them, not the other way round.
What the cays are not
Be clear about the trade: this is all-inclusive resort territory, with very few casas particulares and almost no town life beyond the hotels. You come for sand, reef and calm water, not for paladares, plazas or nightlife. Travellers who want a real Cuban town alongside their beach are better based on the mainland at Morón or in the colonial cities, with the cays as a day or two of pure beach.
The mainland behind the cays
The antidote to a resort-only cay is the mainland town of Morón, half an hour inland at the foot of the causeway — a real Cuban town of horse-carts and a famous crowing-cockerel statue, with casas particulares and, nearby, the Laguna de la Leche and Redonda lakes for birdlife and fishing. It gives a cay holiday a Cuban anchor: a place to see daily life, eat in a paladar and buy from the market, a short drive from the beach. Pairing a few resort nights with a night or two in Morón is how independent travellers do the Jardines del Rey.
Getting to the cays
There are two ways onto Jardines del Rey. Jardines del Rey airport on Cayo Coco takes international charters directly, dropping beach travellers a few minutes from their resort — the simplest arrival. Overland, the approach is the causeway from Morón and Ciego de Ávila on the mainland, a long straight run over the shallows that is a small spectacle in itself, with flamingos often wading beside the road. A rental car unlocks the second option and the mainland behind it; without one, a resort transfer or a taxi from Ciego de Ávila is the way in. Either route, the shallows and the reef are the reward at the end.
Arrive, then explore wider
The stays below are real and link to their details. The cays have their own airport for charters and a causeway to the mainland — from where the free CubaAtlas atlas maps the rest of the island, the beaches and the routes inland.
Where to stay
Cayo Coco
Ciego de Ávila
What's around Cayo Coco
Plan the whole stay on CubaAtlas
Where the trip begins.
Information only
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