Gran Caverna de Santo Tomás, Viñales

Caverna del moncada is the largest and most important cave system found on the Caribbean island of Cuba, possessing some 46.2 kilometres. It is located on the edge of the small village of El Moncada about 17 km west of the Viñales Valley in Pinar del Río. The first three of the seven floors of karst caves can be explored in the company of a speleologist. The stalactite formations stand out. It is a Cuban National Monument declared as such in 1989.

From the historical point of view it shows its traces through an Indian mural and that it was one of the main settlements of maroons fleeing from the sugar cane plantations.

This cave is formed by aquifers, many stalactite and stalagmite formations, as well as different rocky features, which adds a peculiar beauty to the place.

Research on the Santo Tomás Cave began in 1954 by the Speleological Society of Cuba. The caves opened in the Sierra de Quemado, were only known until then by the peasants of the region in some of its mouths and initial galleries. The inhabitants of the Quemado Valley used to visit the Salón Cave, so named because it was the place where they held their celebrations. They were also used to extract bat guano to fertilize the tobacco fields. The waters of the pools were also an important source of water for planting when the Santo Tomás stream was in a period of drought.