Top 10 Lighthouses in Cuba
Cuba's 5,700 kilometres of coastline — the longest of any Caribbean island — encompasses the deep-water approaches to Havana and Santiago, the shallow reef-dotted shelf of the Jardines de la Reina, the extreme western tip at Cabo San Antonio, and the wild eastern cape of Punta de Maisí facing Hispaniola. Spanish colonial engineers began lighting this coast in earnest in the 1840s, and the succession of structures they built — many still operational — forms one of the most significant collections of nineteenth-century lighthouse architecture in the Western Hemisphere. The Cuban lighthouse service, maintained today by the state through the Empresa de Balizamiento Hidrográfico, operates over eighty light stations.
1. Castillo del Morro Lighthouse (El Morro), Havana
The lighthouse at El Morro, on the headland commanding the entrance to Havana Harbour, is one of the most recognisable landmarks in Cuba. The present tower was built in 1844 by the Spanish engineer Ángel Mazarredo on the same cape where the original 1630 Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro had stood for two centuries. The round stone tower is 25 metres tall and painted white with a distinctive vertical red stripe; its light character is Fl(2) WR 15s with a range of 16 nautical miles. The lantern's red sector covers the reef to the north of the channel. El Morro is one of the most visited sites in Cuba; the fortress and lighthouse complex is open daily, and evening visitors can watch the cañonazo ceremony — a colonial tradition of firing a cannon to mark the closing of the harbour gates, still performed nightly at nine o'clock.
2. Faro Roncali (Cabo San Antonio), Pinar del Río
At the extreme western tip of Cuba, where the Yucatan Channel separates the island from Mexico, Faro Roncali stands on a low sandy cape that catches the full force of northers blowing south from the Gulf of Mexico. Built in 1849 under the engineering direction of the Spanish Corps of Engineers and named after a Spanish naval officer, the tower is a cylindrical masonry column 30 metres tall. Its light, Fl W 8s, reaches 25 nautical miles — one of the strongest on the Cuban coast. The cape is within the Guanahacabibes National Park and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; access requires a permit from the park administration in La Bajada, and the lighthouse is occasionally open to guided visits. The reef immediately south of the cape, Corrientes reef, is one of Cuba's finest diving sites.
3. Cayo Lobos Lighthouse, Jardines de la Reina
On Cayo Lobos, a low coral key in the Jardines de la Reina archipelago off the south-central coast, a slender lighthouse tower marks the edge of the reef platform for vessels navigating through this largely uninhabited island chain. The Jardines de la Reina — Gardens of the Queen — extend for about 120 kilometres along the coast of Camagüey province and were declared a marine protected area in 1996; they remain among the most ecologically intact reefs in the Caribbean. The Cayo Lobos light is a concrete tower, approximately 20 metres tall, automated and active. The area is accessible only on organised diving liveaboard vessels from Trinidad or Jucaro.
4. Punta de Maisí Lighthouse, Guantánamo
Cuba's easternmost lighthouse, at Punta de Maisí, sits on the most remote cape of the island, where the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti narrows to about 77 kilometres. The lighthouse was first built by Spanish engineers in the 1860s and substantially reconstructed in the twentieth century. The current tower, a white concrete column about 28 metres tall, produces a Fl W 7s character visible for 18 nautical miles. Punta de Maisí is reached by a poor road from Maisí village, the easternmost settlement in Cuba; the drive takes about four hours from Baracoa, the nearest town of any size. The cape's combination of Atlantic and Caribbean marine environments supports a distinctive ecology.
5. Faro del Morro, Santiago de Cuba
At the entrance to Santiago de Cuba Bay, the second Morro in Cuba guards the approach to Cuba's second-largest city and its most important eastern harbour. The lighthouse sits atop the Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca, a UNESCO-listed fortress whose construction began in 1638. The lighthouse tower, added in 1842, is a square masonry structure rising from the fortification walls; its Fl W 10s character reaches approximately 17 nautical miles. The castle and lighthouse are accessible by road from Santiago and are open daily as a museum.
6. Cabo Cruz Lighthouse, Granma
At the south-western tip of the Sierra Maestra, where Cuba's main mountain range reaches the sea, Cabo Cruz carries a lighthouse that marks a significant course-change point for vessels navigating between the south coast ports and the Windward Passage. The tower, a round masonry column about 24 metres tall, was built in 1871. Its position at the edge of the mountainous coastal zone means the light stands effectively much higher than its tower height alone would suggest. The area is within the Desembarco del Granma National Park; guided access is available from Niquero.
7. Cayo Bahía de Cádiz Lighthouse
In the northern cays of the Archipiélago de los Colorados off Pinar del Río, this lighthouse marks the approach through the shallow reef-dotted waters that characterise Cuba's north-western shelf. The tower is a white concrete post light, standing on a coral key barely above sea level, and its primary function is to define the inner edge of the deep-water channel for coastal vessels. The surrounding reef system is a lightly visited snorkelling and fishing area.
8. Cayo Paredon Grande Lighthouse, Ciego de Ávila
One of Cuba's architectural jewels is the red-and-white painted iron lighthouse on Cayo Paredon Grande, in the Jardines del Rey archipelago off the northern coast. Built in 1859 by the Spanish engineer Dimas and modelled on French offshore lighthouse precedents, the tower is a cast-iron structure prefabricated in sections and assembled on the coral key. It stands about 23 metres tall and is painted in horizontal red-and-white bands. Though automated, the tower is in good condition and has become a photogenic landmark in an area now served by the Jardines del Rey tourist development.
9. Faro de Cayo Jutías, Pinar del Río
On Cayo Jutías, a slender sand key connected to the Pinar del Río coast by a causeway, a small lighthouse marks the western approach to the shallow bight. The tower is an early twentieth-century concrete column, modest in height but effectively positioned to guide the small coastal freighters and fishing boats that work this stretch of the north coast. The key is accessible by car from Viñales via the causeway and is a quiet beach destination.
10. Punta Gobernadora Lighthouse, Artemisa
On the north-western coast west of Havana, Punta Gobernadora carries a lighthouse that marks a shoal extending from the low-lying cape. The tower is a white-painted concrete column of about 15 metres, part of the chain of lights that guides vessels along the coast toward the Havana approaches. The cape is accessible by road from the town of Artemisa.
Cuba's lighthouses are managed by the state and most are not open to independent visitors; access to working stations requires DIMAR coordination. El Morro Havana and El Morro Santiago are the most accessible. The Jardines de la Reina lights are reachable only on liveaboard dive trips. Open the map to explore the full chain of Cuban coastal lights from Cabo San Antonio to Punta de Maisí.