Just off the highway, we are taken down an old farm track, through incredibly fertile fields growing vegetables, coffee and tobacco.
Not a modern farm implement to be seen as most farmers grow their produce organically in the rich volcanic soil of the valley and with the help of oxen. Vinales is the capital of fine Cuban Cigars.
They show you how they handpick the tobacco leaves, remove the stem (which holds the majority of the nicotine), then spray the leaves with a mixture of honey, rum and vanilla (other variations can include pineapple, guava, cinnamon and sugar cane), and then the leaves are left to dry. Once the leaves are dry, they’re rolled into cigars by hand.
The region also preserves a rich vernacular tradition in its architecture, crafts, and music, according to the UN’s cultural organization.
These attributes proved popular with tourists.
Vinales first turned to tourism after Cuba’s partial economic liberalization in 2011 allowed for small business licenses and benefited from the tourist boom that followed the warming of ties between Havana and the United States a few years later.