Havana

Booking through normal hotel sites does not work for Cuba, however the old part of Havana has some wonderful buildings which have been beautifully restored by a state organisation called Habanaguanex, they have a web site www.habaguanex.com. One to recommend is Hostal Los Frailes, Calle Tenitente Rey (Brasil) All streets have two names just to confuse. The Los Frailes is a beautifully restored mansion so lovely that it features on nearly every guided tour of Havana Vieja, there are 22 rooms including 4 mini suites which are recommended as they have large windows and balconies the rest only open onto a central patio and don’t have windows but this is not uncommon in this part of the city. The rooms are very well appointed, the staff incredibly nice and helpful and the whole place is a relaxing and soothing after a day’s sightseeing with live music in the bar during the day. Some way across the city in Vedado is the famous Hotel Internacional, and even further away in Miramar there are several Hotels, owned by the major chains.

The alternative in Cuba is casas particulares, which are rooms to rent in private houses and very commonly used by visitors, these vary from some which are in apartments or houses that contain fabulous artworks to smaller basic rooms. A great way to get to know local people and the city, guide books and web sites have loads of information on these.

Restaurants

There are two types of eating places, in state run restaurants including those run by Habaguanex and in privately owned ones called paladares which are restricted in how many people they seat and what they can serve to eat and drink, in theory. In Havana Vieja the following restaurants are all worth checking out, the standard of food is reasonable, not madly exciting but better than I had been lead to believe and cheap.

Since our visit things have changed and there seems to be more Paladars opening and doing good food with less restrictions than in the past so check out books and web sites.

Al Medina, Calle Oficios 12 , has a middle eastern type menu and a lovely courtyard, this makes pleasant change from the standard fare available in so many places.

Hanoi, Calle Teniente Rey (Brasil) 507 up near the Capitolio does very cheap plain Cuban food.

El Meson de Flota, Calle Mercaderes 257, has a nice setting and the main attraction is probably the excellent flamenco music, which starts roughly at 8 pm, food OK and wine available by the glass.

La Paella, Calle Oficios 53, well the paella is not quite up to Spanish standards but it is not bad.

La Taberna de la Muralla, Plaza Vieja, the great attraction is the draught beer brewed by an Austrian Brewery, light – claro or dark – oscura, it does food, grills etc and is supposed to do good burgers, you might be surprised how keen you are for one, but recent reviews are very mixed.

El Santo Angel, Plaza Vieja, food was a cut above some of the others in the area and has a lovely terrace overlooking the square. Sunday night it does dinner with a big band on the terrace, recent reviews are mixed. Café Taberna does something similar on Saturday nights.

Ambos Mundos Hotel in Calle Obispo has a handy lobby bar with snack type meals and also a roof top terrace.

El Templete, Avenida del Puerto 12-14, this is an upmarket fish restaurant and they know how to cook fish even if the choice is limited also has a good wine list of Spanish & Chilean wines, more expensive than any of the above but worth it.

La Casa Julia, Calle O’Reilly, is a paladar and one of the best in the old part, it looks like someone’s front room because it is, be prepared to share a table and eat reasonably well and cheaply.

Go to China Town, this is mainly one street Boulevar del Barrio Chino (Cuchillo) in Centro Havana not far from old part, there are twenty plus restaurants one of the best is Tien Tan No 17, food is good and very cheap go for a few of the small dishes the large ones must be huge.

La Guarida, Calle Concordia 418 in Habana Centro is a paladar, however it is one of the best known in Havana as the building featured in a well known Cuban movie Fresa y Chocolate. The food is wonderful, the setting amazing, the wine list and cocktails excellent, however beware that when you get a taxi there you will think that he has misheard as it is a crumbling mansion. You need to book in advance, you can do this on line www.laguarida.com and yes it is expensive by Cuban standards but worth every Cuban Convertible Peso. It appeared to have shut for a time but is now open again and getting great reviews, delighted to hear that.

In Vedado visit the Hotel Nacional but the restaurant is very pricey and the outdoor terrace grill is nothing spectacular but do have a drink on the terrace or in the garden.

If you venture over to Miramar have lunch at El Ajibe there is only one thing to eat, amazingly good roast chicken, with rice, a secret sauce, beans, chips, fried bananas and salad.Tthe staff are really helpful.

Bars

Most bars have live music, and sell local beer and of course cocktails, mainly Mojitos. They also mostly have a decent basic food selection, Calle Obispo probably has the largest selection in the old part but they all close at midnight.

Bar Monserrate, Avenida de Belgica 401, not far from the famous El Floridita.

Bosque Bologna, Calle Obispo 460, more an afternoon place, does decent food.

Café Paris, corner of San Ignacio and Obispo, is well run and has a relaxed atmosphere.

Dos Hermanos, Avenida del Puerto, next to the Museo del Ron, feels more like a locals bar.

La Lluvia D’Oro, Calle Obispo 316, has a good variety of music and depending on the type the crowd varies and sometimes the locals can get fairly lively.

Café Oriente, Calle Oficios 112, has one of the best cocktail lists around and the menu also looks good, not the cheapest but worth it.

El Floridita, Calle Obispa 557, is one of the Hemingway haunts worth a visit just to see the bar and the staff uniforms and to try the dacquiris, even if they are more expensive than most places.

La Bodeguita del Medio, Calle Empedrado 207, was the main Hemingway haunt, not sure the very average mojitos are worth the detour.

El Patio, Plaza de la Cathedral, this is a lovely setting and great to sit outside in the square.

Drink

One reason to visit must be to drink mojitos and you can do that by the bucketful, they vary in quality and price, but be sure to try other rum based cocktails such as dacquiris.

There are also locally brewed beers Crystal and Bucanero , the latter being stronger, these are widely available.

Wines are mainly imported from Spain, with Torres being the main brand however there are more wines recently from Argentina and Chile, they are as you would expect relatively expensive.

There are so many lovely small Museums in Havana Vieja that are worth a visit, every street seems to have at least a couple from the President’s train to coins, and chocolate The whole of the old part is just wonderful to wander around. The Camera Oscura in Plaza Vieja is worth a visit giving you an amazing view of the city.

The Partagas Cigar Factory is also worth visiting for one of the English speaking tours, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Museo de la Revolucion should also both be on the list, and explore the architecture of the Vedado area.

A must is to take a stroll along the Malecon and watch the kids sitting on the sea wall.

Visit the forts on the Eastern Bay Coast, the first with the lighthouse is the Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morr, you might if you are lucky get invited up to the Port Control Office . If you walk onto the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana then you could walk onto Casablanca and get the ferry back to Habana Vieja

Travelling around the island Viazul are recommended but if you book your ticket in advance you still have to turn up at least hour in advance to pay and check in your baggage. The fare to Trinidad is reasonable for a journey which is timetabled as 5 hours and can take as much as 6 and a half. Transturs who are part of CubaTours run what seem to be much more modern buses with a guide for the same price and drop you back at your hotel in Havana.

This is a UNESCO world heritage site and is a wonderfully preserved colonial town, it is also visited by a very large number of people and surprisingly when we visited there were only two hotels in the town, the Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad, expensive but worth a visit for a drink or dinner, and Las Cuevas half an hour up the hill from the town, much cheaper and with a pool and views but with fairly poor service.

The town is also full of casas particulares which since they are in town could be a good option. The music is mainly round the stairs leading between the Casa de la Trova and the Casa de la Musica but there are quite a few other bars with music and shows.

There were only supposed to be three paladares in town however there are lots of people trying to get you to try their home cooking, two excellent paladares are

Estela, Calle Simon Bolivar 557, has excellent Cuban home cooking, best to go early to get a table in the lovely setting of the garden.

Sol y Son, Calle Simon Bolivar 283 is another excellent place for Cuban home cooking and a lovely plant filled terrace.

Trinidad Colonial, Calle Maceo 55, is a restaurant and bar which is set in a wonderful restored mansion, the food is good although lunchtime may have more atmosphere than the evening.

Bar Dacquiri, Calle Lino Perez 313 is a great place to sit outside and chill over a beer or a cocktail if you have had enough live music.

Visit the Museo Romantico, one of the many other museums in the town, also take a taxi to the Playa Ancona, although the beach is public the hotels are all inclusive so you will have to eat and drink at the basic beach bar which grills some decent fish.