This beautifully restored museum is worth a visit for its wide-ranging exhibits on everything from archeology to ethnology to numismatics to colonial weaponry. The museum has a beautiful, bright inner courtyard displaying some lovely, early 19th-century furniture, as well as an ornate horse-drawn hearse. Lots of natural light illuminates the quirky, Victorian-era potpourri of natural-history exhibits, from bugs, butterflies, polymitas (snails with multicolored shells), to preserved fleas in nuptial dress, viewed under a magnifying glass. Antique buttons and buckles, pen nibs, death masks, a Masonic lodge throne in the shape of a peacock. On the historical side, there are the usual photographs of Cárdenas heroes of the wars of independence and the Revolution and a gruesome reminder of the risks rebels took, in the form of the garrote used to strangle victims to death. 

Founded on April 6, 1863, it is one of the most renowned cultural institutions of Latin America. On the Plaza de la Vigia, the massive, white Teatro Sauto is one of Cuba's finest and best-preserved neoclassical structures. Nationally and internationally renowned figures have performed in the ballets, operas, musical comedies, concerts, variety shows and plays that have been presented on its stage. This magnificent building has excellent acoustics and was declared a National Monument.

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.