The eastern province of Holguín covers an area of 5,778 square miles (9,300 square kilometers) and has a population of a little over a million.

Most of its people live in urban areas. Its capital, which is also called "the city of parks," was founded in 1720 and has a strong Hispanic influence. The right-angle grid of its streets was an innovation in its time and made it possible for Maceo and Libertad Streets, two of the main thoroughfares, to link a large number of parks and public squares, which have been kept just the way they have always looked. It is a city with a busy cultural life, made famous by two very different popular figures: "El Guayabero" and the donkey of Mayabe.