Canimar River is a Natural Park and a river, one of the deepest in Cuba, where you can sail and enjoy the exuberant vegetation and the rich fauna of the cliffs around it. The park invites visitors to enjoy its peaceful natural beauty with horse or boat rides or fishing and snorkeling excursions. The river flows into the bay of Matanzas next to the Morrillo Castle, built in 1720.

A little overwhelmed by passing traffic, this landmark square is the cultural hub of Matanzas, with the Matanzas Provincial Museum on one corner and the magnificent, neoclassical Sauto Theater taking up a whole side. In the middle of the square is the marble statue of an anonymous independence fighter known as El Soldado Desconocido (The Unknown Soldier). A couple of cafés face the theater and there's a modern art gallery to browse.

This once-elegant, arched bridge over the Yumurí Estuary used to set a Parisian, Seine-like scene. Built in 1878, with two imposing carved columns at each end, it connected the barrio of Versalles, named for resident wealthy French coffee planters, and the city. Although it's currently in sad shape, it's still one of the most striking pieces of Matanzas architecture. The Cuban government used to give replicas of the columns as official gifts to visiting dignitaries

This museum is a perfectly preserved 19th-century natural-medicine pharmacy that looks out onto the Parque de Libertad through large stained glass windows. The pharmacy closed its doors in 1964, and has been preserved exactly as it was on that day, down to the huge, ornate cash register; the log book with handwritten recipes for each prescription; the rolls of brown paper to wrap the glass bottles that were individually filled and labeled; and the ceiling-high, handsome wood-and-glass cases holding hundreds of decorative porcelain jars. There are guided tours to the distillery behind the shop, where the pharmacists manufactured their world-famous trademark syrups and tonics.