Havana rewards the traveller who pays in Cuban pesos rather than dollars. Free plazas, first-Sunday museum access, 5-CUP city buses and pizza sold through a window keep a day here under 1,000 CUP if you skip the tourist-priced bars.
Plaza Vieja's restored 17th-century arcades cost nothing to wander, and Calle Mercaderes hides free single-room museums: Casa del Chocolate, Museo del Tabaco and the Maqueta de La Habana Vieja scale model. Most open 09:00–17:00, Tuesday to Saturday.
Street windows along Obrapía and Aguacate sell pizza de queso for 150–250 CUP and pan con lechón for about 200 CUP, served on paper straight from a home kitchen. Cash pesos only, no menu, no seating — you eat standing on the kerb like everyone else.
The shaded square around the Céspedes statue hosts a secondhand book market Monday to Saturday, heavy on 1960s Revolution pamphlets and battered Lorca. Browsing is free; El Templete's ceiba tree beside it marks Havana's 1519 founding spot.
Havana's longest free attraction: eight kilometres of seawall where families, guitarists and fishermen gather from late afternoon. The stretch from Paseo del Prado west toward Belascoaín catches the best sunset light off the Centro Habana facades.
Centro Habana's main produce market on Avenida de Bélgica sells mango, guava, plantain and avocado by the pound in pesos — a full bag of fruit runs 300–600 CUP. Vendors weigh on hand scales and open around 07:00 until stock runs out.
The street-side cafetería window beside the pricier El Biky restaurant on Infanta and San Lázaro serves croquetas, sandwiches and coffee for a fraction of the dining-room bill — most items land between 200 and 500 CUP.
Shared 1950s American cars run fixed routes with a raised finger to flag them down. The Línea route through Vedado costs roughly 200–300 CUP a seat versus several thousand for a private tourist ride in the same vintage Chevrolet.
The 1966 flying-saucer ice cream pavilion at 23 and L still sells ensaladas of five scoops in Cuban pesos to those who join the queue in the garden. Closed Mondays; the peso line moves slowly but the price is a fraction of any hotel dessert.
The Regla–Casablanca lanchita from Muelle Luz crosses the harbour for a token peso fare every 15–20 minutes. From the Casablanca landing, a ten-minute climb reaches the 20-metre marble Christ statue and the best free panorama of the city.
The public bus network charges a flat fare in centavos, and route P-11 plus a local connection reaches the Playas del Este sand at Santa María del Mar, 25km east. Crowded, hot and slow — but roughly a hundredth of a taxi's price.
A genuinely wild strip of jungle along the Almendares between Vedado and Miramar, with strangler figs, Santería offerings left at tree roots and no entry gate. Free, shaded and empty on weekday afternoons.
Salvador González's Afro-Cuban mural alley off Aramburu in Centro Habana is open and free every day. Sunday afternoon rumba draws a crowd around noon; other days the painted walls, bathtub sculptures and Santería symbolism are yours alone.