🇨🇺 Cuba · Central Cuba
Cayo Coco is the postcard Caribbean in its purest form: kilometers of dazzling white sand beaches, a sea of turquoise gradients that looks painted and a nature of mangroves, lagoons and flocks of pink flamingos. It forms part of the Jardines del Rey archipelago, off the north-central coast of Cuba, and is —together with its neighbor Cayo Guillermo— one of the country's great sun-and-beach destinations, with an area of large all-inclusive hotels that host mainly travelers from Canada and Europe looking for rest and sea.
Unlike Cuba's urban destinations, here people come not so much for the history or culture as for the generous nature: swimming in warm, shallow waters, snorkeling over reefs, sailing by catamaran to pristine cays and disconnecting from the world. The name 'Cayo Coco' doesn't come from the coconut, but from a bird: the coco or white ibis, which is abundant in its mangroves. Indeed, the fauna —flamingos, pelicans, herons— is one of its great attractions, in an area that is a biosphere reserve.
This guide covers Cayo Coco with a practical eye: its most beautiful beaches, those of neighboring Cayo Guillermo (with the famous Playa Pilar), the sea and nature excursions, and its role as a relaxation base with possible getaways to Morón and the coast. It's a destination for those seeking a first-rate beach and comfort, with the bonus of a wild nature that reminds you that, even here, Cuba is much more than a resort.
The cays of the Jardines del Rey archipelago, among them Cayo Coco, were for centuries a practically uninhabited territory, frequented only by fishermen, charcoal makers and, at different times, by pirates and smugglers who took advantage of their labyrinths of mangroves and islets. The name 'Jardines del Rey' (King's Gardens) is attributed to the navigator Diego Velázquez, who is said to have dedicated it to the king of Spain in the 16th century. 'Cayo Coco', for its part, owes its name to the coco or white ibis, a bird abundant in the area. For a long time, these cays remained on the margins of development, with an almost intact nature of beaches, lagoons and wildlife. The writer Ernest Hemingway frequented these waters in his yacht in search of fishing and adventure, and the area appears in some of his works (Cayo Guillermo is mentioned in 'Islands in the Stream'). The great change came in the last decades of the 20th century: from the 1980s and, above all, the 1990s, Cuba bet on international tourism as a source of foreign currency, and the long causeway connecting the cays with the mainland was built, along with the first large hotels. Since then, Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo have become one of the most important sun-and-beach tourist hubs in the country, combining modern resorts with protected natural areas. The full history is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The province of pineapple and of the Jardines del Rey: cane fields and orchards in the middle of the island, the historic Trocha from Júcaro to Morón of the wars of independence, the rooster city of Morón, and world-famous cays —Coco and Guillermo— of white sand and flamingos that Hemingway fell in love with.
Read the history of Ciego de Ávila →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Contrary to what almost everyone assumes, Cayo Coco is not named after the palm trees or the coconut fruit: it owes its name to a bird. The 'coco' is the white ibis (Eudocimus albus), a bird with snowy plumage and a curved beak that nests by the thousands in the cay's mangroves, and which gave its name to one of the most famous beach destinations in the Caribbean. That small misunderstanding sums up the history of the place well: before being a paradise of resorts, Cayo Coco was, for centuries, a kingdom of birds, mangroves and smugglers.
The cay forms part of the Jardines del Rey archipelago, a long chain of cays and islets that stretches off the north-central coast of Cuba. According to tradition, the name 'Jardines del Rey' (King's Gardens) was given in the 16th century by the conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Cuba's first governor, who is said to have dedicated this beautiful succession of cays to the king of Spain, as opposed to another archipelago south of the island, the 'Jardines de la Reina' (Queen's Gardens).
The rich birdlife of these cays —ibis, flamingos, pelicans, herons— has always been part of their identity, to the point of naming the most famous of them. The wetlands and inland lagoons, protected today, remain one of the great refuges of aquatic birds in the Caribbean, and explain why much of the archipelago is declared a biosphere reserve.
For centuries, these cays remained practically uninhabited. Their geography of mangroves, lagoons, shallows and reefs made them hard to populate but rich in resources. They were frequented by fishermen and, at different times, by smugglers and pirates who used their labyrinths as a refuge. Nature reigned almost intact in a territory that would take centuries to transform.
Throughout the colonial era and much of the republican era, the cays of the Jardines del Rey archipelago, among them Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, remained on the margins of development. They were almost pristine territories, with no stable settlements, where human activity was reduced to fishing, the production of charcoal from mangrove wood (the 'carboneros') and the occasional passage of vessels.
The geography of the cays —with their labyrinths of mangroves, their shallows, their channels and their remoteness— also made them, at different times, a hideout for pirates, corsairs and smugglers, who found in them refuge and alternative routes to official trade. That reputation of a wild, somewhat lawless territory accompanied this part of Cuba's north coast for a long time.
Nature, meanwhile, prospered almost without interference: immaculate beaches, dunes, lagoons with flamingos, mangroves full of birds and one of the largest coral reef barriers in Cuba off its coasts. This isolation of centuries preserved an exceptional ecosystem that, much later, would be both the great tourist attraction of the cays and a valuable natural heritage to protect.
One of the best-known cultural marks of the area is that of the American writer Ernest Hemingway, a great lover of Cuba and of fishing. Hemingway, who lived many years on the island, sailed the waters of Cuba's north coast in his yacht 'Pilar', including those of the Jardines del Rey, in search of deep-sea fishing, adventure and moments of retreat. These fish-rich waters were a paradise for his fishing passion.
The islands and cays of this region are reflected in his work. In particular, Cayo Guillermo —neighbor of Cayo Coco— is mentioned in his posthumous novel 'Islands in the Stream', set in part in these waters, where the protagonist sails and fishes around the area. That literary connection gave the cays fame and a special aura long before mass tourism arrived.
In tribute to that relationship, the famous beach of Cayo Guillermo bears the name 'Playa Pilar', in memory of the writer's yacht. Thus, the figure of Hemingway became forever linked to this corner of Cuba, adding a cultural attraction to the natural beauty of cays that were then still almost uninhabited and far from imagining their future as a first-rate tourist destination.
The great change in Cayo Coco's history came in the last decades of the 20th century. After the fall of the socialist bloc and the deep economic crisis of the 'Special Period' in the 1990s, the Cuban government bet decisively on international tourism as a source of foreign currency for the country's economy. The pristine cays of the north, with their paradise beaches, became a priority target of that development.
The key piece was the construction of a long causeway: a road raised over the sea, several kilometers long, that crosses the Bahía de Perros to connect Cayo Coco with the mainland. This engineering work —which also had an environmental impact, by altering the circulation of water in the bay— made land access possible to cays that were previously reachable only by sea or air, opening the door to the construction of hotels and tourist infrastructure.
From then on, large all-inclusive hotels were built on Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, many in association with international chains, and a sun-and-beach tourist hub developed that came to receive numerous visitors each year, mainly from Canada and Europe. The Jardines del Rey international airport was also built, connecting the cays directly with abroad. In a few decades, the cays went from being an almost uninhabited territory to one of the most important tourist destinations in Cuba.
The tourist development of Cayo Coco and the Jardines del Rey posed, from the outset, the challenge of reconciling hotel activity with the conservation of an exceptional ecosystem. The area, with its mangroves, lagoons, beaches, dunes and the great reef barrier, is home to rich biodiversity —including notable populations of flamingos and aquatic birds— and forms part of areas recognized for their natural value, integrated into the Buenavista Biosphere Reserve, declared by UNESCO.
Today Cayo Coco is at once a first-rate sun-and-beach destination, with its large all-inclusive resorts, and a place of interest for nature tourism: watching flamingos and birds, diving and snorkeling on the reefs, and touring the mangroves and lagoons. That double face —the resort and the nature reserve— defines the experience of today's visitor.
The management of the destination seeks to balance the tourist appeal with the protection of the surroundings, in an area where nature remains the main asset. For the traveler, Cayo Coco offers the chance to combine absolute rest on dream beaches with contact with wildlife and landscapes that recall that, beyond the hotels, these cays remain a valuable natural sanctuary of the Cuban Caribbean.