On Cuba’s remote southeastern coast, Desembarco del Granma National Park protects a dramatic meeting of limestone cliffs, marine terraces, caves and exceptionally clear Caribbean water. Its Spanish name recalls the landing of the yacht Granma in December 1956, but the park’s UNESCO significance is primarily natural. Successive uplift and erosion created one of the world’s most extensive and best-preserved systems of coastal limestone terraces, both above and below sea level.
The terraces resemble immense steps cut along the shore. Sinkholes, cliffs, caves and submerged features document geological processes continuing over a vast timescale. Dry forest and coastal scrub support endemic plants and animals adapted to thin soils and seasonal conditions. This is therefore not a conventional beach park: its strongest experiences involve guided walking, landscape interpretation, birdlife and the relationship between geology and human occupation.