It is thought that the first settlers in Varadero arrived in the region some three thousand years ago. They were fishers and gatherers. The first documented evidence of the place dates back to 1587 when its salt mines guaranteed constant trade with Havana and Spanish fleets that are called into port every six months on their voyages between Spain and Americas.

In the second half of the 18th century several families settled there and built the first Hispanic and Creole town. One of the estates of the period was called Varadero, a place where boats were in dry dock, and it was decided to give this name to the entire beach. Nevertheless, it was not until the 19th century that some of the local people took the initiative to come together, divide up the land, designate spots that were ideal for recreation and begin the budding tourism trade



In 1923, the U.S. millionaire, Du Pont, built his residence “Xanadu”, in the spring of 1930 the Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, while visiting Cuba, travelled to Varadero where he was spellbound by its beauty.
Just over a decade later, Varadero beach was to begin its solid development up to the point where it has become one of the country’s main tourist resorts. Varadero, 140 kilometers to the east of Havana, and thirty eastward from Matanzas, is located on the Hicacos Peninsula, a 22 kilometer-long piece of land that is 700 meters wide and surrounded by sea. It is the northernmost point of the island, almost touching the Tropic of Cancer line, and, therefore, the closest part of Cuba to the United States, from which it is separated by 180 kilometers.