It is located in the northern part of the eastern region of Cuba, between the provinces of Las Tunas and Guantánamo. It extends north into one of the most privileged parts of the coast, with the Bahía de Nipe and a score of beautiful beaches. In Bariay, a small cove on the coast touched by the Atlantic, Christopher Columbus, treading for the first time on Cuban soil in 1492, expressed his famous words: "This is the most beautiful land that human eyes have seen".
Named as the city of parks by its inhabitants, the settlement in the area began in the 1720s.
Holguin offers one of the richest landscapes of Cuban nature. Its pre-Columbian archaeological heritage make it a must-see for the study of aboriginal cultures in the West Indies. High mountains, fertile plains and sandy beaches alternate in the landscape of this province by the unique beauty and many attractions.
With over one million inhabitants, it is one of the most populated cities, preceded by the cities of Havana and Santiago de Cuba.
There are many historical, cultural, anthropological, landscape and tourist sites adorning the region: La Periquera, current site of the Museo Provincial de Historia; the Cathedral of San Isidro, the ecclesiastical institution of higher rank in Holguin; the Loma de la Cruz, for its characteristic viewpoint of the ancient village and the place from which the engineers conceived the nascent urban layout of the settlement; Guardalavaca, one of the most important tourist destinations of the Cuban archipelago and the Chorro de Maita, the largest Aboriginal burial site of the Antilles.
Even the inhabitants of Holguin, as authentic Cubans, are lovers of good music. Holguin has given birth to eminent musicians like Faustino Oramas, el Guayabero, and the famous pianist Frank Fernández. In this land, the son is interpreted in a very peculiar manner. Coexists also the traditional "decima Campesina," deeply rooted here, brought by migrants of the Canary Islands who populated this place in several waves, of which the maximum expression takes place during the annual Festival of May or the Festival of Latin American Culture.
