Nueva Gerona, Cuba

The island's only sizeable town, Nueva Gerona lies in the lee of the Sierra de Casa, on the bank of the Río Las Casas. Whether you are coming by plane or boat, this is where you will arrive and where you're likely to be based. According to an 1819 census, the population stood at just under two hundred and it boasted just "four guano huts and a church of the same". While the town has certainly moved on since then, it's still a small and quirky place, with a cosiness more suited to a village than an island capital, and a sleepy peacefulness well offset by the hub of action around the central streets. Even half a day here breeds a sense of familiarity, and much of the town's attraction lies in wandering its streets, chatting with locals, a few of whom speak English, and visiting the low-key museums.

Architecturally, Nueva Gerona floats in a no-man's-land between old-style colonial buildings and modern urbanity. When the town was brought under Spanish control in the 1830s there were only thirty-odd private houses, and life centred around the military garrison, the commander's house and a prison galley (since removed) by the dock. Today, it's a pretty town, with many of its concrete, one- and two-storey buildings painted into cubes of pastel colour, and its few older buildings, complete with stately colonnades and red-tiled roofs, adding a colonial touch.