Where is Cayo Romano?
The island of Cayo Romano has an area of 777 km², the largest in the Jardines del Rey Archipelago, its neighbor and fourth largest Cayo Coco, has an area of 370 km2. They are part of a group of islands, keys and islets on Cuba’s north central coast called Jardines del Rey or the King’s Gardens. Unlike its two neighbors of Cayo Coco and Guillermo, Cayo Romano has yet to be developed but does offer some pristine virgin beaches and astounding scenery.
About 19km from Cuba’s northern mainland, in the Atlantic Ocean, the whole archipelago where Cayo Romano is located includes over 2,500 islands and islets spanning several provinces which include primarily Ciego de Avila and Camaguey.
The islands of the Jardines del Rey first saw tourist development in the 1990s, first was Cayo Guillermo in 1992, with the opening of the Hotel Gran Caribe Club Villa Cojimar, followed by a resort called Guitart Cayo Coco (now the Hotel Colonial) opened in 1993 on the neighboring island Cayo Coco. Cayo Romano, despite having a road running directly to it from Cayo Coco, is yet to be developed.
In the 1990’s, there wasn’t an international airport on any of the islands. Tourists would fly into the Maximo Gomez airport located in the capital of Ciego de Avila. The construction of the pedraplen causeway from the mainland began in 1988, its 27kms (16 miles) length connecting Cayo Coco to the mainland of Cuba was concluded in just 3 years and, with it began the unprecedented era of tourism on both islands in the King’s Gardens. There’s a seven kilometers causeway connecting Cayo Guillermo with Cayo Cayo Coco, which ends with a 1.5 km bridge that connects Cayo Romano to Cayo Coco. The bridge is still not prepared for very heavy traffic and needs reinforcing before development on Cayo Romano can really begin, however, its perfectly fine for cars.
Cayo Romano is 516km (320 miles) from Havana. Varadero is 472 km (293 miles) from Cayo Romano, whereas the closest cities to Cayo Romano are Ciego De Avila (population of 86,100) at 101km (62 miles) and Moron (population of 60,600) 62 km (38 miles). Cayo Romano and Cayo Coco are just 1.5km apart and are connected by the aforementioned causeway and bridge. Cayo Guillermo is around 32 km from Cayo Romano.
Even though there are no direct flights, to give an idea of just how close Jardines del Rey in Cuba is to The Bahamas, the Clarence A. Bain Airport (MAY) in the Bahamas is just 214 km (132 miles) from Jardines del Rey International CCC Airport near Cayo Romano, Cuba.
With regard to the United States of America, Key West Florida is just 272 miles (438 kilometers) by flight from Cayo Romano, Jardines del Rey.