Introduction
Granma holds Pico Turquino, Cuba's highest peak, and the Sierra Maestra's forested national park, alongside Bayamo — the city where Cuba's independence movement began in 1868 and where the national anthem was written.
Overview
The Sierra Maestra, Cuba's highest and most rugged mountain range, runs along Granma's southern edge, and Pico Turquino, at 1,974 metres the highest point on the island, sits within Parque Nacional Turquino, a protected area of cloud forest supporting some of Cuba's richest biodiversity. Reaching the summit is a genuine multi-day trek, typically done with a mandatory park guide, through terrain and forest cover found nowhere else in Cuba at this scale. Bayamo, Granma's capital, holds a different kind of significance: it was here in October 1868 that Carlos Manuel de Céspedes issued Cuba's first formal call for independence from Spain, and the city is also where the Bayamo Anthem, later adopted as Cuba's national anthem, was composed and first performed. Much of colonial Bayamo burned in an 1869 fire, but the Plaza del Himno (Anthem Square) and a handful of surviving colonial buildings anchor the city's historic core today.
Discover Granma
Pico Turquino and the Sierra Maestra
Pico Turquino, Cuba's highest peak at 1,974 metres, sits at the heart of Parque Nacional Turquino, a protected stretch of the Sierra Maestra range holding cloud forest and a concentration of endemic plant and animal species found nowhere else on the island. The standard route to the summit is a genuine multi-day trek rather than a day hike, typically undertaken with a mandatory park guide given the terrain's difficulty and the area's remoteness, and rewards the effort with views stretching to the Caribbean coast on a clear day. The range as a whole offers hiking well beyond the main summit route, through forest cover and elevation changes unlike anywhere else in Cuba.
Bayamo: Where Cuba's Independence Movement Began
Bayamo holds a specific place in Cuban history distinct from the rest of the island's 20th-century narrative: on 10 October 1868, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes issued Cuba's first formal declaration calling for independence from Spain, an event now commemorated annually and treated as the starting point of Cuba's decades-long independence struggle. The same period produced the Bayamo Anthem, composed and first performed in the city, later adopted as Cuba's national anthem. Much of the colonial city burned in an 1869 fire rather than fall to Spanish forces, and today the Plaza del Himno (Anthem Square) — named for the anthem's composition — anchors the historic centre, alongside the surviving Iglesia de San Salvador and a handful of other colonial-era buildings that predate the fire.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Cuba's highest peak, reached by a multi-day guided trek through the Sierra Maestra's cloud forest and rich biodiversity.
The city where Cuba's independence movement began in 1868 and where the national anthem was composed.
Granma Travel Information
- A guide is mandatory for the Pico Turquino trek — arrange this through Parque Nacional Turquino's own office rather than assuming independent access.
- The Turquino trek genuinely takes multiple days — this isn't a summit attainable as a day trip from Bayamo or the coast.
- Much of colonial Bayamo was lost to an 1869 fire, so the historic centre is smaller than in towns like Trinidad or Camagüey — plan a shorter visit accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is the hike to Pico Turquino?
What happened in Bayamo in 1868?
Is there much colonial architecture left in Bayamo?
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