Cuba's offers for the leisure industry, designed in accordance with international tourist parameters, are based on the natural beauty of the largest Antillean island, which boasts hundreds of kilometers of excellent thin-sanded beaches.

The Cuban option is supported by a broad cultural and traditional complement that is more than five centuries old, within a context in which the privileged location of the archipelago also plays a major role.

Over the last few years, the traditional tourist modalities of sun and beaches have been linked to the environment, with programs that constitute true adventures for those who bet on the Island to spend their vacations.

The country's mountainous ecosystems do not escape the dynamic growth of the leisure industry, and many tourist offers already include excursions and stays in those areas.

The potential of that activity lies in Cuba's elevations, divided into four mountain ranges covering approximately 21 percent of the Island's total surface, in addition to 37 percent of forest areas.

In Cuba's westernmost province, Pinar del Río, sits the Guaniguanico Mountain Range - made up of the Sierra del Rosario and the Sierra de los Organos - where the region's beauty is concentrated. Its highest mountain is the Pan de Guajaibón, whose top is 699 meters above sea level.

In the central region, the Topes de Collantes National Park is the major attraction in the Guamuhuaya group, also known as the Escambray Mountain Range, with breathtakingly beautiful sites such as the Caburní waterfall.

The two other mountain ranges are the Sierra Maestra and the Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa mountains, in eastern Cuba, where the highest elevations are the Turquino (1,974 meters above sea level), Cuba (1,872 meters) and Suecia (1,734 meters).

Cuba's mountains, and particularly those in the eastern region, are among the most important centers of evolution, dispersion and endemism in the Antilles.

This peculiarity of Cuban mountainous ecosystems responds to the fact that these territories are the ones that first emerged from the sea during the creation of the archipelago, so they benefited from the prolonged evolution of their flora and fauna.

More than 6,700 plant species, 51 percent of which are endemic, grow in the main mountainous regions in the country, along with 3,400 species of mushrooms.

Cuba's prolific fauna, represented by more than 14,000 species, is especially rich in arthropods, mollusks, amphibians, reptiles and birds, with a high rate of endemism.

At international level, the aforementioned systems are regarded as Earth's water deposits, areas of biological diversity and recreation, integrated centers and cultural heritage. Cuba is not alien to that classification.

For all this, Cuba's mountains are an excellent option in the broad program for tourist development, in an environment where more tourists visit the island every year to enjoy its unique nature and unforgettable adventures.