Juan Gualberto Gomez International Airport — Matanzas, Cuba

Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport, known by its code VRA, is the arrival point for Varadero, the narrow Hicacos Peninsula that holds Cuba's most famous stretch of white-sand beach. The airport honors Juan Gualberto Gómez, a journalist and organizer who worked alongside José Martí during Cuba's independence movement, a legacy reflected in the terminal's name rather than its coastal setting. VRA ranks as Cuba's second-busiest airport after Havana, handling a steady flow of charter and scheduled flights from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European countries whose travelers fill Varadero's resort hotels. Unlike Havana's airport, which mixes business and leisure traffic, VRA is overwhelmingly oriented toward vacationers, with seasonal peaks tied to winter escapes from colder climates. The surrounding Matanzas province blends resort development with older sugar-growing towns and fishing communities along the coast.