Viñales Valley

The hills here are made of a rock called limestone.

Water can dissolve limestone. This makes caves, holes and springs.

UNESCO calls the Viñales Valley a karst landscape. The U.S. National Park Service explains that karst forms where water dissolves the bedrock, making sinkholes, caves, springs and streams that sink underground. It forms in rocks that dissolve, such as limestone.

In Viñales, the mogotes are limestone hills. UNESCO describes them as tall, rounded hills that rise suddenly from the flat floor of the valley.

Karst (US National Park Service): a landscape in which dissolution of soluble bedrock (limestone, marble, gypsum) has produced sinkholes, sinking streams, caves and springs; rainwater enters through cracks, fractures and holes dissolved into the rock, travels underground, sometimes far, and returns at springs, many of them cave entrances. Karst also stores groundwater, which moves fast and is poorly filtered.

UNESCO describes Viñales as an outstanding karst landscape: a flat, fertile plain from which a series of dome-like limestone outcrops, the mogotes, rise abruptly to as much as 300 m, with mountains encircling the valley.

Farmers grow tobacco here. The soil and weather are also good for other crops and for farm animals.

Some farmers still use animals to pull their farm tools.

UNESCO says the valley's fertile soil and climate suit raising farm animals and growing food crops and fodder, which is food for animals. UNESCO highlights the traditional ways tobacco is grown here.

UNESCO explains that machines for growing and harvesting lower the quality of the tobacco, so older methods are still used, such as having animals pull the farm tools.

UNESCO: the valley was colonized at the beginning of the 19th century; fertile soil and a suitable climate supported stock-raising and fodder and food crops. Traditional agriculture survives, notably tobacco growing; because mechanical cultivation and harvesting lower tobacco quality, time-honored methods such as animal traction remain in use.

The property is largely rural. UNESCO notes that the cultural landscape keeps its land-use patterns, traditional farming methods and the infrastructure that supports them, and calls it a living landscape that has adapted to modern life and to visitors.

Simple farmhouses stand across the valley. Most are made from local, natural materials.

The village of Viñales has wooden houses with porches.

UNESCO says most of the buildings scattered over the valley floor are simple homes or family farms built from local, natural materials.

The village of Viñales stretches along its main street. It has kept its original layout, and many of its houses are one-story wooden homes with porches. UNESCO adds that the valley's crafts and music are part of its rich traditions too.

UNESCO: the quality of the cultural landscape is enhanced by the vernacular architecture of its farms and villages. Most buildings on the plain are simple, of local and natural materials, used as homes or family farms. The village of Viñales, strung out along its main street, retains its original layout and many examples of colonial architecture, mostly one-story wooden houses with porches.

UNESCO also names the music of the field worker (veguero) and traditional crafts among the valley's living traditions.

Wear a hat and sunscreen in the sun. Rest in the shade.

People live and farm here. The valley is their home.

The CDC suggests shade, clothing that covers your skin, a hat with a brim all the way around, sunglasses and broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher, put on again after 2 hours in the sun.

UNESCO calls Viñales a living landscape where people live and farm. It says growing tourism is expected to be a future threat, and that hurricanes and a smaller water supply as the climate changes are risks too.

CDC sun safety: seek shade; wear clothing that covers, a hat with a brim all the way around and UV-blocking sunglasses; use broad-spectrum SPF 15+ sunscreen, reapplied after 2 hours outdoors and after swimming, sweating or toweling off; UV rays reach you on cloudy days too.

UNESCO lists tourism development as an expected future threat to the property's integrity, together with frequent hurricanes, a shrinking water supply linked to climate change and pressure from urban development; its management plan includes public use, interpretation and environmental education.