Lap up the luxury at the beach at Ancon near Trinidad.

When you want some beach-lazing hedonism to balance out your revolutionary duties, your only problem will be choosing which picture-postcard white beach fringed by royal palms overlooking a turquoise sea you would most like to lie upon.

If you head for the coast near the World-Heritage-listed town of Trinidad, you'll be able to combine a variety of experiences.

If you want to escape the Western tourist hoards, head for the dingy little beachside spot of La Boca. Here you can eat sumptuously of lobster and other fruits of the sea caught daily by the local fisherman.

From here you could cycle to the nearby five-star resort beach of Ancon to dabble in some snorkeling.

Trinidad is also an easy cycle from La Boca. Trinidad is one big photo opportunity - an extremely picturesque town of twisting cobblestone streets dotted with those massive American 1950s oil-guzzling cars lovingly preserved not through desire, but necessity.

From Trinidad, you can take a steam train into the Valle de los Ingenios to see the sugar plantations that were once worked by armies of slaves. You can climb up an old slave-watch tower to get a birds-eye view of the plantations, a typical hacienda and your cute little steam train waiting for you at the station.