PINAR DEL RIO
Pinar del Rio Province in western Cuba produces the bulk of Cuba's tobacco crop, which is then shipped to Havana to be rolled into the famous Havana cigars. The tobacco is painstakingly cultivated by hand, and Pinar del Rio's economy is largely agricultural.
A scenic highlight of this rural province is the Vinales Valley, where limestone hills called mogotes rise dramatically from the verdant valley floor. Our travel picture of "El Mural de la Prehistoria" shows one of these cliffs.
The province's other big attraction is Playa Maria La Gorda, where scuba divers come to plunge into the clear Caribbean waters. Other visitors are content to simply snorkel off the beach shown in our travel photo. Indeed, some of Cuba's finest scenery - both above and below the surface - is found in the province of Pinar del Rio.
All the photos on Cuba-Pictures.com are by David Stanley, original author of Lonely Planet Cuba. The images on this page are details. To view the complete photos, click on the thumbnails. | 
