Location: 200km (124 miles) SW of Havana; 26km (16 miles) N of Pinar del Río Viñales is a picturesque town in the heart of Cuba's prime tobacco-growing region. The town itself sits in the center of a flat valley surrounded by stunning karst hill formations known locally as mogotes. The mogotes are irregularly shaped steep-sided hills that can rise as high as 300m (985 ft.) and have bases ranging from just a few hundred yards in diameter to as much as a couple of kilometers in length. The mogotes form part of the Sierra de los Organos mountain chain, and were formed by eons of erosion. Many consider this the most naturally beautiful spot in Cuba. To be sure, the view of the Viñales Valley from any of the surrounding hillsides is stunning, particularly at sunrise or sunset. The valley's flora is closely linked to its ancient past, since it holds 17 endemic varieties that cannot be found anywhere on Earth, including the cork palm (Microcycas calocoma), which is considered a living fossil from the Jurassic period. The region's fauna is highly endemic, including birds like the bee hummingbirds (Calypte helenae), Cuban trogons or "tocororos" (Priotelus temnurus), cartacubas (Todus multicolor), nightingales (Myadestes elisabeth) and Cuban grassquits (Tiaris canora). The town of Viñales, in the heart of the valley, is a typical agricultural settlement whose main street is flanked by galleries of columns and red-tiled houses. The socio-historical development of the region contains elements and sites that characterize the Cuban people with antecedents from aborigines, African slaves and peasants. The unique features of the area's natural landscape surround all this. The Viñales Valley has numerous caverns, among which Cueva del Indio (crossed by the San Vicente River), Cueva de San Miguel and Cueva de Santo Tomás stand out. The latter has been classified among the largest caverns in Latin America, with more than 45 kilometers of galleries. The Viñales Valley, which was declared World Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is also Cuba's true Natural Monument and receives thousands of vacationers who want to be in direct contact with nature while they tour the Cuban archipelago. Those trails are "The Road to the Mogotes", which begins at the hotel and leads to the depths of the valley, ending at the Mural of Prehistory; "Unsuspected Nature", in which travelers can enjoy the many species of birds inhabiting the region, and "The Secrets of the Underground World", in which Cueva de Santo Tomás stands out for its great archeological values.