A small island - just 8 sq mls - and deserted apart from several hotels which line its only road; all the hotels are on the NE shore. The coral reef offshore is part of the second longest in the world, stretching the whole length of the archipelago.

Real escapists seeking tropical-island solitude, bird-watchers, those with committed eco-interests and scuba-divers. Honeymooners.

Self-contained all-inclusive hotel complexes, all of a similar category. Check the tour-operator's brochure carefully with regard to "all-inclusive" promises as "luxury" items like imported drinks and motorised water sports are often excluded.

2½ mls of archetypal Caribbean beach of near-white, fine coral sand sloping very gently into warm, clear water. The Playa Pilar boasts the highest dunes in the Caribbean.

None outside what is on offer in the hotels themselves. For important information on Cuban currency regulations, see under the Currency section in the Cuba country report.

Daytime: almost exclusively beach-based activities with virtually every water sport imaginable; scuba diving at a dozen or more offshore reefs; bird-watching. Nightlife: nothing outside the hotels which offer full entertainment programmes.

Hotel restaurants offer the only choices. A few options on Cayo Coco including a local restaurant in a cave which caters for tourist parties; a handful of barbecue bars. Locally caught shellfish are well worth trying. Food everywhere in Cuba is restricted in choice and often of comparatively poor quality - definitely not a destination for gourmets.

None.

Half day: jeep safari; horse riding; glass-bottomed boat trips; visit to Moron, the nearest town on the mainland; cave restaurant with show (evening); La Guira (recreation of life of local charcoal workers in early 1900s). Full day: boat/catamaran trips for coral-reef snorkelling; Ernest Hemingway yacht excursion; deep-sea fishing; jungle tour (speedboats); hiking around Loma del Puerto and Las Dolinas; Ciego de Avila city visit; Trinidad (colonial city); Jamaica (flight). One/two days: Havana.

At the midpoint of Cuba's N coast, 270 mls E of Havana. 65 mls N of the provincial capital of Ciego de Avila and its international airport.

At the W tip of the large "cays", some 400 islands stretching for 186 mls from Santa Lucia in the SE and forming the Sabana Camaguey Archipelago (also known as Jardines del Rey). Reached via a bridge from the larger Cayo Coco which is in turn linked to the mainland by a narrow causeway toll road, about 16 mls long.

Telephone Area Code: 33
Website: www.dtcuba.com

Airport : Cayo Coco
Airport Code: CCC
Flight time from ther U.K.: 10 hrs