Santa Lucia really is nothing more than a magnificent strip of beach, the resort area is less than 1 ml long with a few hotels lined up next to each other on the shore. A few bars have sprung up near run-down residential apartment blocks where the surfaced road peters out.

With its 21-kilometre strip of dazzling white sand overlooking the northern coral reef, Santa Lucia is well known for the quality and variety of its dive sites, with romantic names such as Valentina and Poseidon. Hotels and resorts dot the island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway.

Dating back to 1514, Camaguey has been wiped out several times by battles and pirates (led by Henry Morgan). When it was rebuilt, its streets became a labyrinth, as if to confuse any future invaders. Today, these winding streets lined with rainbow-coloured houses are a delightful treat.

Santa Lucia is for those mainly those seeking sun, sea, sand and an escapist holiday, but the reef attracts serious scuba divers.

A handful of low-rise hotels all in a line on the beach. Mostly "all-inclusive".

Locality:

Santa Lucia is located on the N coast of Cuba, 400 mls SE of Havana, 70 mls NE of Camaguey (Cuba's third largest city and nearest major airport). Santa Lucia has its own small airstrip, 3 mls E. The area is set on a NE-facing strip of flat, featureless coast backed by a brackish lagoon and facing the world's second largest coral reef.