Havana is the Cuban capital and the Western Hemisphere's most cinematically preserved colonial city — 2.1 million people living in a city that time, economics, and ideology have held in partial suspension since 1959. La Habana Vieja (Old Havana, UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1982) is 4 square kilometres of Spanish colonial and baroque architecture in various states of repair from crumbling splendour to freshly restored, threaded by narrow cobblestone streets where 1950s American cars (the almendrones — 'almonds', named for their shape; Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, Studebakers, Buicks, kept running by Cuban mechanical ingenuity because no new parts were available) serve as collective taxis. Ernest Hemingway drank in the El Floridita bar (his frozen daiquiri seat still has a bronze statue) and wrote Old Man and the Sea in a house outside the city that is now a museum. The Malecón (the 8km seafront road, crumbling, salt-bleached, where Habaneros gather at sunset to drink rum and watch the ocean) is the most melancholic urban promenade in the Americas. Best months: November–April (dry season, 24–28°C, low humidity).
The Cathedral of Havana (1748–1777 — a Cuban baroque masterpiece with an asymmetrical twin-towered façade (the left tower is wider than the right, because the bell takes more space than the clock), built by the Jesuits who were expelled from Cuba by the Spanish before its completion; the interior held what was believed to be Columbus' remains for 115 years before they were moved to Seville in 1898) faces Plaza de la Catedral, the oldest of Havana's 5 main plazas (Plaza Vieja, Plaza de Armas, Plaza de San Francisco, Plaza de la Catedral, Plaza del Cristo). The recommended walk: all 5 plazas in sequence from north to south, 3km, 2.5 hours, through the full range of colonial to neo-classical to socialist realist architecture that Old Havana contains.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLa Bodeguita del Medio (Empedrado 207 — a tiny bar opened in 1942, famous for being the place where Hemingway developed his affection for the mojito (white rum, lime, sugar, mint, soda water) and wrote "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita" on the wall (or had it written; the attribution is disputed). The bar is very touristy, overpriced (mojito $8), and worth the experience precisely once — the walls are covered floor-to-ceiling in decades of signatures and graffiti from visitors from every country on earth. The mojito ritual here (made in front of you by a barman who crushes mint in a pewter cup with a pestle, then adds rum from a bottle without measuring) is the Caribbean cocktail in its original context.
Ropa vieja (shredded beef slow-cooked in tomato sauce with peppers and olives — literally 'old clothes', the name referring to the shredded appearance of the beef; the national dish of Cuba and of Cuban-American cooking, tracing its origins to the Canary Islands of Spain) with black beans (frijoles negros) and white rice (arroz) is the standard Cuban plate. Paladares (private restaurants in converted homes — legalised in 1994, the best places to eat in Havana since they compete for quality rather than serving tourists on state contracts): La Guarida (Concordia 418 — the most famous paladar in Cuba, in a crumbling baroque palace, the setting of the 1993 film Strawberry and Chocolate, prix fixe ~$25) or Doña Eutimia (Callejón del Chorro, Plaza de la Catedral — simpler, more local, excellent ropa vieja, $12–18).
El Capitolio (Capitol Building, 1929 — a near-identical reproduction of the Washington DC Capitol (though the Cuban version is 1 metre taller, a point of pride that is fiercely disputed by Cubans who insist it was designed this way intentionally); the largest building in Cuba, built during the Machado dictatorship with US investment; now the seat of the Cuban Parliament after being a science museum for 50 years under the revolution). The dome interior (free public access) has a 62-metre vaulted ceiling and a 24-carat diamond set in the floor marking kilometre zero for all Cuban roads. Adjacent: the Parque Central, the Hotel Inglaterra (1875 — where Winston Churchill stayed during the Spanish-American War), and the Gran Teatro de La Habana.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Malecón (the 8km seafront seawall road — Avenida de Maceo, running along the north coast of Havana from La Punta at the entrance to Havana harbour westward to Vedado; 1902–1959 to build; the most important social space in Havana and one of the most evocative urban spaces in the world: at sunset, Habaneros of all ages come to sit on the seawall, drink rum from bottles wrapped in newspaper, play guitars and listen to rumba, watch the ocean, and let the evening happen). The spray from the waves in rough weather leaps over the road and drenches pedestrians. Bring a bottle of rum (Havana Club 3-year, $4 at any bodega) and a bag of maní (roasted peanuts, $1) and sit on the wall until dark.
Fábrica de Arte Cubano (FAC — Calle 26 and Calle 11, Vedado; a former cooking oil factory converted in 2014 into a multi-space cultural complex: 5 galleries, 3 concert stages, 2 bars, and 1 restaurant, all in a single evening; entrance $2, open Thu–Sun 20:00–03:00; the most interesting evening in Havana by considerable margin). Nazdarovie (Malecón 25 — a Soviet-themed bar with a view of the Malecón, serving Soviet-era food and excellent cocktails, a reminder that Cuba and the USSR were intertwined for 30 years; mains $12–20).
Plaza de la Revolución (Revolution Square — a 72,000 sq m space (larger than the Vatican\s St Peter's Square) where Fidel Castro delivered speeches that lasted 7 hours, Pope John Paul II said mass in 1998, and where Fidel Castro's ashes were driven through on the way to burial in Santiago. The two most famous images: the 150m-tall José Martí Memorial tower (1958, the national poet who inspired Cuban independence) with a white marble Martí statue at the base, and the steel cut-out portrait of Che Guevara on the Ministry of the Interior building — the 1967 Alberto Korda photograph (the most reproduced photograph in the world) made permanent in welded steel. Entry to the Martí Memorial museum: $2.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideEl Vedado (the residential neighbourhood west of Old Havana — wide boulevards, 1920s–1950s Art Deco and neo-classical mansions, the Hotel Nacional (1930 — the most famous hotel in Havana, where Meyer Lansky held the Havana Conference of the American Mafia in 1946, Boardwalk Empire fans will recognise the setting), and the best paladares in the city). San Cristóbal Paladar (San Rafael 469 — a former optician's shop, now the most decorated restaurant in Havana, Obama had lunch here in 2016 during his historic visit; ropa vieja and lamb chops, $20–30). La Cocina de Lilliam (Calle 48 — garden patio, traditional Cuban with French influence, the prawn cocktail is the standout, $15–25).
José Fuster (José Rodríguez Fuster — Cuba's most celebrated living artist, a ceramicist and painter who has covered an entire neighbourhood of Jaimanitas (15km west of Old Havana, taxi $10 one-way) in Gaudí-inspired tile mosaics: his own house, the neighbours' houses (with their permission), the bus stop, the doctor's surgery, the children's playground, the streets — approximately 80 houses in a single neighbourhood have been transformed over 30 years into a permanent outdoor museum of his ceramic work). Entry: free; the artist sometimes holds court in the courtyard and sells his work (framed prints from $30). The most genuinely Cuban and least-touristy experience in Havana.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Tropicana (Calle 72 No. 4504, Miramar — the most famous nightclub in the Americas, operating since December 30, 1939, under an open-air, forest canopy of royal palms and bougainvillea: 32 performers in Carnival costumes and elaborate headdresses, live 30-piece orchestra playing mambo, rumba, cha-cha-cha, and Afro-Cuban jazz, the show running 90 minutes in the open air regardless of rain (it rarely stops for weather)). The Tropicana survived the revolution (Fidel kept it, he said, because it was 'a monument to the frivolity of the bourgeoisie'). Tickets: $90–120 including dinner and one drink. Book through your hotel or a state tourism office. Dress code: smart casual.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFinca La Vigía (Lookout Farm — Ernest Hemingway's Cuban home from 1939 to 1960, 15km southeast of Havana in the town of San Francisco de Paula; taxi $15–20). The house has been preserved exactly as Hemingway left it: 9,000 books still on the shelves in the rooms where he wrote, his fishing trophies, his typewriter, his bar, his swimming pool (where Ava Gardner swam naked, according to the legend), and the boat Pilar (the 12-metre motor cruiser on which he fished for marlin in the Gulf Stream, now on dry-dock in the garden) which inspired The Old Man and the Sea. Visitors are not permitted inside (you view through the open windows and doors), but the exterior tour takes 45 minutes. Adults $6.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideViñales (200km west of Havana, 3.5 hours by Víazul bus ($12) or shared taxi ($25) — the most dramatic landscape in Cuba: a valley of mogotes (limestone karst towers, remnant hills of an ancient plateau, rising 300 metres from flat valley floor with vertical walls, covered in tropical forest, resembling the towers of Guilin, China) where tobacco is grown in vegas (plots of rich red soil) and cured in bohíos (thatched wooden barns that you see throughout the valley). A half-day from Havana works if you take an early shared taxi (depart 07:00, arrive 10:30, depart 15:00, arrive 18:30). UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (1999). Most beautiful in morning light.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideEl Floridita (Obispo 557 — a bar and restaurant operating since 1820, known as 'the cradle of the daiquiri' for refining the cocktail in the 1930s and for Hemingway's daily presence for 20 years (he favoured a Papa Doble — a double daiquiri without sugar, which his diabetes prohibited, with extra grapefruit juice)). A bronze statue of Hemingway leans against the bar in his usual spot. The daiquiri here ($9) is among the best frozen cocktails on earth. The bar is touristy, cheerfully so — mariachi bands circulate, bartenders perform, and the sense of theatrical tourism is entirely in keeping with the Hemingway legend.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCasa de la Música (Galiano 255, Centro Habana — the most authentic live salsa venue in Havana for locals and visitors who want to dance rather than watch; Cuban salsa (casino) is different from the Americanised salsa of clubs elsewhere: slower, more connected, improvisational, with complex partner work that looks effortless and takes years to master; the musicians play continuously from 22:00; tourists are welcomed by local dancers who teach on the spot). Entrance: $10. The drink: Cuba Libre (rum and Coke, $4). Dress: anything that lets you move. The alternate venue: La Casa de la Trova (Obispo) for son cubano (the older, more complex parent style of salsa — slower, more guitar-oriented).