Founded on April 6, 1863, it is one of the most renowned cultural institutions of Latin America. On the Plaza de la Vigia, the massive, white Teatro Sauto is one of Cuba's finest and best-preserved neoclassical structures. Nationally and internationally renowned figures have performed in the ballets, operas, musical comedies, concerts, variety shows and plays that have been presented on its stage. This magnificent building has excellent acoustics and was declared a National Monument.

This exquisite, neoclassical concert hall is named after a 19th-century violinist/composer who was exiled for his nationalist leanings. It was the first place that danzón, Cuba's national dance, was performed.

Canimar River is a Natural Park and a river, one of the deepest in Cuba, where you can sail and enjoy the exuberant vegetation and the rich fauna of the cliffs around it. The park invites visitors to enjoy its peaceful natural beauty with horse or boat rides or fishing and snorkeling excursions. The river flows into the bay of Matanzas next to the Morrillo Castle, built in 1720.

This distinctive, slate-blue building was built in 1838 for the wealthy del Junco family and since 1980 has housed a collection of artifacts, photographs, memorabilia and tools—some of them gruesome—chronicling the sugar and slave industries, on which the city's wealth was built.