Where is Cayo Coco ?

Cayo Coco is an island with an area of 370 km2, the second largest in size after its neighbor Cayo Romano with its 465 km2. They are part of a group of several islands called « Jardines del Rey » (King's Gardens in English) and which itself is part of a bigger archipelago called « Sabana-Camaguey ».

Cayo Guillermo is located west of Cayo Coco and considered to be the little sister of Cayo Coco, an area of barely thirteen square kilometers. These islands are located North of Cuba in the Atlantic Ocean.

This archipelago counts over 2,500 islands and islets (cays) located off the Atlantic coast of Cuba in the provinces of Ciego de Avila and Camaguey.

The island of the Jardines del Rey which saw the first tourist development, Cayo Guillermo in 1992 with the opening of the Hotel Gran Caribe Club Villa Cojimar, followed by the Guitart Cayo Coco on the neighboring island Cayo Coco, in 1993.

At that time, there was no international airport on the island. Tourists had to use the airport located in the capital of Ciego de Avila. The construction of the dam « Pedraplen » long of 27 kms connecting Cayo Coco to the big island of Cuba in 1988 began the era of tourism on both islands of the King's Gardens. A seven-kilometers causeway, which ends with a 1.5 km bridge, connects Cayo Coco with Cayo Guillermo.

There is island of this archipelago is booming fast, Cayo Santa Maria. It is located about 25 kms as the crow flies from Cayo Guillermo. Like Cayo Coco, Cayo Santa Maria is connected to the island of Cuba by a dike 48 km. There are more than 5,000 rooms in Cayo Santa Maria and several projects are underway.

Some of the islands of the archipelago of Jardines del Rey in the provinces of Ciego de Avila and Camaguey.

Cayo Coco is connected to the island of Cuba by a causeway of 27 km with a 17 km section in the sea with fourteen bridges to limit the impact on the environment. This dam was inaugurated in 1988 after only 16 months of work. A toll booth was installed at the entrance to the dyke (2 CUC per car payable only in CUC).

When you travel on the road connecting Cayo Coco to Cayo Guillermo, do not be surprised to see cows wandering on the road. Be careful!

It takes more than 30 kilometers of the road between the main island of Cuba and the center of Cayo Coco. Once past the section in the sea, the road is winding between small islands and eventually to join the mainland to Cayo Coco. There is only one road to connect Cayo Coco to Cayo Guillermo. Besides a section of this road is the former runway of the first airport of the island (local flights).

Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo are located in the province of Ciego de Avila. The nearest village is Morón, where the employees working in the hotels live. The government is working to build houses (4,000 rooms), near the entrance to the causeway for employees of hotels. This will facilitate the transfer for those who must borrow the dam every day.

The province of Ciego de Avila, who previously was paired with the neighboring Camaguey until 1976, has an area of 6.783 km2 with more than 420,000 inhabitants and its capital is the city of Ciego de Avila, founded in 1840. At this time there were only 263 inhabitants.

Revisit us to follow the development of Cayo Coco!

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