This 40-sq-km managed-resource area is still little-explored by independent travelers, although organized groups come here. Organize guided hikes through Ecotur or at Villa San José del Lago. Highlights include La Solapa de Genaro, a 1km hike through tropical savanna to a gorgeous set of waterfalls and swimming holes. The Cueva de Valdés walk (800m) goes through semi-deciduous woodland to a cave.
A longer hike heads 8km to Chalet Los Álamos, the house of an erstwhile sugar plantation near the village of Meneses.
The reserve includes the Sierra de Meneses y Cueto, a hill range running across the north of the province that acts as a buffer zone for the heavily protected Bahía de Buenavista.
As in the Sierra Maestra, history is intertwined with the ecology here. General Máximo Gomez battled through these hills during the Spanish–Cuban–American War. In 1958 Camilo Cienfuegos' rebel army (Column No 2) pitched their final command post here. An imaginative monument by sculptor José Delarra marks the spot.
You'll need a taxi or your own wheels to get to Jobo Rosado.
