Best Sustainable Hotels and Eco Friendly Stays in Cuba
Best Sustainable Hotels and Eco Friendly Stays in Cuba
The 4 best places to stay in Cuba run on solar or generate their own power off grid, grow food on permaculture plots and family farms, and sit inside some of the island’s protected landscapes. From the Sierra del Rosario and Vinales in the west to the Toa River rainforest near Baracoa in the far east, these casas particulares, eco farms and eco hotels are top rated for low impact travel through Cuba’s wilder corners. Cuba does sustainability the old way, out of necessity and ingenuity, and these stays show it best.
How we decide the best place to stay in Cuba
Each top rated stay in Cuba is hand picked and checked for sustainability features.
Cuba runs on its own logic, so we start with the stays that have stopped waiting for the grid. Casa Prima near Vinales lives entirely off grid, solar powered through a battery array, and pulls its fresh water from its own well instead of leaning on the mains.
We give weight to the places that feed their guests from the soil they sit on. Casa Toa is a working family eco farm on the bank of the Toa River, growing the food that reaches the table and rooting its sourcing in the land at the edge of the Humboldt biosphere rather than in imports trucked across the island.
We look hard at where a stay actually sits, because in Cuba the setting is often the conservation story. Hotel Moka is built around living trees inside the Sierra del Rosario, Cuba’s first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, so the surrounding wildlife of Las Terrazas is the reason the place exists, not a backdrop bolted on afterwards.
The casas particulares, eco farms and eco hotels on this list of best places to stay in Cuba have proven they are making a real effort to protect the island while taking care of their guests. If Cuba is the start of a wider journey, our guide to the best sustainable hotels across the Caribbean gathers the region in one place, or sail south to the eco stays of Jamaica, east to the Bahamas and on to the Cayman Islands.
Top Picks, Where To Stay in Cuba
- Casa Prima Eco Lodge (Vinales): Off grid solar, own well and permaculture garden
- Casa Toa (Baracoa): Family eco farm beside the Humboldt rainforest
- Hotel Moka (Las Terrazas): Built around living trees in a UNESCO biosphere
Casa Prima Eco Lodge
Casa Prima is a rural eco retreat in the Sierra de los Órganos foothills near Viñales, built brick by brick by local craftsmen alongside two long term Swiss German residents who run it as a casa particular and yoga retreat.
It runs on a solar array with battery storage that keeps it independent of the grid, draws fresh water from its own well, and grows produce in an on site permaculture garden.
Casa Toa
Casa Toa is a family run eco farm of riverside bungalows and cabins sitting beside the Toa River, roughly ten kilometres from Baracoa and on the doorstep of the UNESCO listed Alejandro de Humboldt National Park.
It sleeps around twenty guests across three timber buildings in a working rainforest setting, with hiking, river trips and farm based activities run with local families rather than large operators.
Hotel Moka, Las Terrazas
Hotel Moka is a 26 room hotel at the heart of Las Terrazas, an integrated eco community that grew out of a 1968 reforestation project inside the Sierra del Rosario, Cuba's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The building was designed around existing trees so that trunks pass through the structure and balconies wrap around them, and it sits within a community running on principles of reforestation, sustainable agriculture and environmental education. IMPORTANT: it is state owned and appears on the US Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List, so travellers subject to US jurisdiction cannot legally book or pay to lodge here.
Hotel Cayo Levisa
Hotel Cayo Levisa is the sole, low rise hotel on a small mangrove fringed cay in the Colorado Archipelago, reached only by a short boat crossing from Palma Rubia on the mainland. (now closed)
The island runs off-grid with electricity generated on site and fresh water ferried in by boat, and it sits beside an extensive coral barrier with around 23 dive sites that keep it geared to small scale nature tourism. IMPORTANT: the hotel is state owned and listed on the US Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List, so US persons are generally barred from lodging or booking here.
More Caribbean Sustainable Stays
Book Your Next Stay Consciously
Travel is a wonderful opportunity to connect with Mother Earth.
However, it is also frequently undermined by reckless development and disrespectful tourism practices.
This directory is a curated, verified list of hotels, lodges, and resorts that honour our planet and are led by visionary stewards of the environment.
From farm-to-table culinary experiences to dedicated ocean conservation efforts, such as marine protection and coral restoration, these establishments are redefining hospitality.
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