The spirit of one of the Caribbean's most vibrant street parties, Santiago's annual July carnival, is recalled in photos and newspaper clippings, floats, costumes, and musical instruments. Late afternoons here give a better sense of what carnival is like; stop by at 4 pm Tuesday through Saturday for a performance by music and dance troupes. The short spectacle of colorful costume, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and stirring song might have you planning your next trip to coincide with the main event. 

This venue is one of the symbols of Santiago de Cuba, where traditional rhythms such as the trova, bolero and son were born. Situated very close to the Parque Céspedes, it is the meeting place for 'trovadores', both old and new. Considered one of the most important cultural institutions in Cuba, it preserves a musical movement that is deeply-rooted in the traditions of Santiago and forms an integral part of the city's life.

Constructed in 1516, this structure is reputed to be Cuba's oldest house one of the oldest in the Americas, although many historians now doubt that claim. Noticeable for its black-slatted balconies, it is one of Santiago's top attractions. Diego Velázquez, the Spanish conquistador who founded the city and was the island's first governor, lived upstairs. At the moment this old house works as Cuban Historical Colonial Environment's Museum, its rooms overflow with period furniture and carved woodwork and encircle­ two lovely courtyards. Inside you'll find period beds, desks, chests, and other furniture. On the first floor is a gold foundry. Memorable are the star-shape Moorish carvings on the wooden windows and balconies, and the original interior patio with its well and rain-collecting tinajón vessel. An adjacent house is filled with antiques intended to convey the French and English decorative and architectural influences—such as the radial stained glass above the courtyard doors—in the late 19th-century.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the Patron Saint of Cuba, can be found 27 km from the city centre, in a mining town founded in 1830. The Basilica stands on a gentle hill and contains display cases with items such as the medal received by the writer Ernest Hemingway on being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. The story of the Virgin dates from the early 1600s, when three men in a boat first saw her floating on water during a storm; tradition holds that the Virgin saved the men from certain drowning. Records show that the statue was most likely brought from Spain on order of the then-governor of Cuba, but don't play iconoclast with the millions of faithful who take seriously the Virgin's reputed miraculous powers. Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre was crowned by Pope John Paul II in 1998, during his visit to Cuba. Every 8th of September, her feast day, thousands of pilgrims come here to give thanks and beg favours of the blessed virgin.