Founded on April 6, 1863, it is one of the most renowned cultural institutions of Latin America. On the Plaza de la Vigia, the massive, white Teatro Sauto is one of Cuba's finest and best-preserved neoclassical structures. Nationally and internationally renowned figures have performed in the ballets, operas, musical comedies, concerts, variety shows and plays that have been presented on its stage. This magnificent building has excellent acoustics and was declared a National Monument.

This beautifully restored museum is worth a visit for its wide-ranging exhibits on everything from archeology to ethnology to numismatics to colonial weaponry. The museum has a beautiful, bright inner courtyard displaying some lovely, early 19th-century furniture, as well as an ornate horse-drawn hearse. Lots of natural light illuminates the quirky, Victorian-era potpourri of natural-history exhibits, from bugs, butterflies, polymitas (snails with multicolored shells), to preserved fleas in nuptial dress, viewed under a magnifying glass. Antique buttons and buckles, pen nibs, death masks, a Masonic lodge throne in the shape of a peacock. On the historical side, there are the usual photographs of Cárdenas heroes of the wars of independence and the Revolution and a gruesome reminder of the risks rebels took, in the form of the garrote used to strangle victims to death. 

This nightspot under the stars, modelled on the famous Tropicana cabaret in Havana, is just 20 minutes' drive from Varadero. An attractive option for enjoying the finest Cuban cocktails and a wide range of music.

The oldest statue in the western hemisphere dedicated to Admiral Christopher Columbus was erected in 1862 in a park in the old City of Cárdenas. Famous about its name "La Ciudad del Cangrejos" (city of the crabs). It’s also known as the Flag city due to the Cuban national flag was hoisted for the first time, atop the building of the La Dominica Hotel. Narrow streets full of horse-drawn carriages, and not anymore what it was used to be in the earlier years.