In terms of the comfort of hotels and the picturesque beaches of Varadero, only two islands can be compared, included in the Sabana-Camaguey archipelago and turned into a luxury resort area - Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Coco. The islands were uninhabited, so they were freely built up with hotel complexes and connected with a special dam with the main island. However, to make life easier for tourists, a terminal was needed here, as guests flew to the Maximo Gomez airport in Ciego d'Avil, located 70 km from the islands, and then drove to their hotels by bus for an hour, which caused certain inconveniences.
That is why in 2002 the current airport was built on the island of Cayo Coco, which was named Jardines del Rey, which translates as the King's Gardens. They say that such a poetic name was given to the islands by the first governor of Cuba - the Spaniard Diego Velazquez.
The airport is located near the eastern tip of Cayo Coco Island. It is the only Cuban airport partially operated by a foreign company. It receives over 200,000 passengers a year, most of whom are citizens of Canada and Argentina. The airport mainly serves the already mentioned islands of Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, but sometimes tourists arrive here who booked a vacation in the Las Brujas archipelago.
History
The development of the tourism industry on the island of Cayo Coco began in the 1990s. Before the appearance of the current airport, there was already an air terminal, the infrastructure of which was decided not to destroy, but to fit into the surrounding landscape. Thus, the old runway became part of the highway connecting Cayo Coco with Cayo Guillermo, and the terminal building now belongs to the El Baga nature reserve. By the way, you can climb the tower of the first airport - an observation deck is currently working on it.
The new airport, consisting of one squat terminal and one runway, began operations on December 26, 2002. Environmentalists believed that the construction of an airport at the selected site could disrupt the local ecosystem, but the Cuban government did not even listen to them.
In September 2017, Jardines del Rey Airport was hit by the impact of Hurricane Irma, but was rebuilt in a few months. Moreover, its terminal was strengthened and equipped with a number of new stores and an air conditioning system.
Infrastructure
The airport terminal on Cayo Coco Island is small. Its area is slightly more than 64 thousand square meters. m, and the capacity is 600 people per hour. The terminal has one regular waiting room, two luxury waiting rooms (one of them is allowed in for 20 cookies, the second is intended only for the customers of the carrier "Cubana de Aviacion"), a bar serving modest snacks, a restaurant where you can fully and tasty have lunch before departure, duty free shops, smoking room. You can also find a car rental office and a tourist information desk in the arrivals area. There is a taxi rank outside the terminal building.
A branch of the bank is open around the clock in the departure hall. This is the only bank office on the nearest islands that is open even on weekends.
The terminal has no luggage storage facilities and no free Wi-Fi.
The airport is not a transit airport, so there are no hotels. However, this is not required - any hotel on the island can be reached in 10-40 minutes.
The only 3,000-meter asphalt runway is equipped with an instrument landing system. The airport has a parking lot for three aircraft, connected to the runway by two lanes.
How to get there
After arriving on the island of Cayo Coco, passengers need to somehow get to their hotel. There is no public transport on Cayo Coco and neighboring Cayo Guillermo, so you will have to forget about getting to the hotel by a regular inexpensive bus.
In principle, the islands are mainly visited by package tourists, who are provided with a free transfer by their tour operator. Buses that carry tourists on holiday packages stop in front of the terminal. One bus stops sequentially at different hotels, where it drops off passengers. And here the most interesting thing begins: there are not many hotels on the island, so we can assume that some of the people go to the same hotel. And this whole crowd will be standing at the front desk trying to get a good number. They say that sometimes the waiting time for check-in can take up to 2 hours. Therefore, experienced tourists, not paying attention to the free transfer and not waiting for fellow travelers, immediately get into a taxi upon arrival and go to their hotel in order to be there faster than others. A taxi to the most distant hotel in Cayo Coco will cost 25 cookies, and to a hotel in Cayo Guillermo - 45 cookies.
