Parque Guanayara in Topes de Collantes is 15km (9.3 miles) north of the Los Helechos hotel. From all walking routes available Parque Guanayara hosts probably the area’s most scenic ones. An easy to intermediate hike follows the Guanayara River for a few kilometers up to the Salto El Rocío, a beautiful waterfall, which concludes with the Poza del Venado, featuring a natural pool in which visitors can and do cool off. Along the trail you will be thrilled by the memorable views of Pico San Juan, one of Cuba’s highest mountains.

The longest hikes take around 3 hours and include stops for food, toilet breaks etc. Other shorter walks take no more than 30 minutes. The views you are just breathtaking showing visitors to Topes de Collantes the other side of Cuba’s vast tourism offerings. A popular separate tour offered by local guides to younger visitors is the conspicuously named “Rambo Tour”. As you can guess, courage is required as you’ll be jumping off of rocks into the waterfalls and swinging on vines across deep jungle ravines.

The daily transport from the Topes de Collantes Hotels is by way of open back Russian army trucks which take guests up to the 15km stretch where all the trails at Parque Guanayara both begin an end. You are then free to take whichever trails take your fancy from the numerous available. Most trails include one attraction or another however the Cascada El Rocio waterfall is particularly attractive.