It's off the tourist trail for now but Gibara in south-east Cuba, buzzes once a year when Latin America's coolest film festival comes around. Our writer is charmed by a town frozen in time
Where is Gibara?
In Cuba, at the end of the highway heading out of Holguín (reached by domestic flight from Havana), the pleasant, park-filled capital of the province of the same name in the south-east of the country.
What's the vibe?
Gibara is an independent-spirited, coastal fishing village of charming squares and run-down Spanish-era buildings on a cobalt bay. The train line was suspended in 1958, just before the Revolution, and there's a feeling that the town has been snoozing ever since. No one has bothered to plaster the town with revolutionary slogans and there is no internet, but its isolation has helped it retain its character and natural good looks.