Exactly 456 steps lead up to the Loma de la Cruz, a hill named for the large white cross that has graced it since 1790. Formerly known as Cerro de Bayado, it changed its name after May 3, 1790, when Friar Antonio Alegria placed a cross on its summit to start a Catholic pilgrimage. From here you have a lovely view of Holguín and the surrounding limestone hills. There are also artisan shops and a snack bar.

Museum of Natural Sciences, a Moorish-style structure with beautiful ceramic tile work, contains a decent natural-history collection with preserved specimens of 11 Cuban ecosystems. It exhibits around 7,000 specimens of fauna native to Cuba and from other parts of the western hemisphere. Its collections of birds and molluscs are the most comprehensive in the whole country. Be sure to check out the Polymita snail-shell collection from Baracoa.

The museum, in the former Casino Español at the plaza's northern end, contains an exhibit of pre-Columbian artifacts as well as displays on the Revolution and the province's role in it. There is a beautiful popular legend that says that this building had a tunnel that tunnelled under the plaza and ended at the Cross Hill (Loma de la Cruz), where there was a fortress. Locally, the redbrick building is known as La Periquera ("the Parrot Cage"), because brightly dressed Spanish officers peered through its barred windows while the city was under siege by General García's troops in 1868.

The Casa Natal Calixto García contains some of the belongings of General Calixto García, an important hero of the 19th Century struggles. It exibits manuscripts, personal items and weapons of the time, all excellently preserved. It's worth a visit if you're an aficionado of Cuban history, and you can learn more about the Ten Years' War.