Nightlife near pier?

We will be in Havana overnight in late May. Have a private car tour booked for six hours during the day, but we'd like to try to experience some nightlife after. Are there any good bars/clubs close to the pier, or should we plan to taxi somewhere? We're not terribly picky, don't necessarily need a cabaret show or anything too organized. We typically prefer wandering around in cities and speaking with locals-I do speak passable Spanish.

I am also curious about this! We are in Havana until 2AM on our cruise next April.

Hi All,

So what do people from the cruise ship do at night ????

We’re on the same cruise in April. We are on the people to people “American Classic Cars” tour pretty much all day. Going to play it by ear on what to do at night. Depending on how we feel.

It would be great to find something close by like good local music near the ships terminal in walking distance.

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We attended the Buena Vista Social Club show at the Melia Cohiba Hotel....it was great! Not a vegas-type show.....it's Cuban/Latin music with singers and dancers too.

We attended the Buena Vista Social Club show at the Melia Cohiba Hotel....it was great! Not a vegas-type show.....it's Cuban/Latin music with singers and dancers too.

Hi Go Bucks,

Can you give more details we are leaning on going to this. How did you get to the hotel, how did you purchase tickets, how much did it cost, what time did it begin and end, and etc. Thanks greatly Stewart

We are sailing to Cuba March 2019 with an overnight in Havana as well. I started the following thread which might provide you some information:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2610475

More directly to your question, though, I have come up with the following tentative plan of local spots for us to visit after dinner. We may/may not hit all of them, but this gets us started (literally and figuratively) in the right direction. The "itinerary" creates a loop that starts/ends at the ship. Approx 2 miles total loop.

Here is the loop:

La Lluvia de Oro

El Floridita (may skip due to crowds, too touristy)

El Patchanka

Art Pub

La Reliquia (free salsa dancing lessons)

La Vitrola

This route makes a complete loop back to the cruise terminal. All in all it's approx. 3 km so approx. 2 miles total.

The first bar La Lluvia is located on Calle Opispo. I've been told this street is the Havana version of Bourbon St in New Orleans. If that is the case we may end up making a few more stops and letting the night take us where it takes us. This at least gives us a starting game plan and we can enjoy from there!

If you input all these in to google maps in advance of your trip you'll be able to see how it maps out. That may be helpful.

Cpayne, thanks for this list! Locations saved to my Google Maps [emoji483][emoji484]

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How do you save locations to your google maps? This would be handy for our trip!

Please be sure to report back which locations you try and add to the list. We are not sailing for another year so welcome any additional input/feedback!

We are sailing to Cuba March 2019 with an overnight in Havana as well. I started the following thread which might provide you some information:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2610475

 

More directly to your question, though, I have come up with the following tentative plan of local spots for us to visit after dinner. We may/may not hit all of them, but this gets us started (literally and figuratively) in the right direction. The "itinerary" creates a loop that starts/ends at the ship. Approx 2 miles total loop.

 

Here is the loop:

 

La Lluvia de Oro

El Floridita (may skip due to crowds, too touristy)

El Patchanka

Art Pub

La Reliquia (free salsa dancing lessons)

La Vitrola

 

This route makes a complete loop back to the cruise terminal. All in all it's approx. 3 km so approx. 2 miles total.

 

The first bar La Lluvia is located on Calle Opispo. I've been told this street is the Havana version of Bourbon St in New Orleans. If that is the case we may end up making a few more stops and letting the night take us where it takes us. This at least gives us a starting game plan and we can enjoy from there!

 

 

If you input all these in to google maps in advance of your trip you'll be able to see how it maps out. That may be helpful.

Thank you! Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for posting

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How do you save locations to your google maps? This would be handy for our trip!

 

 

 

Please be sure to report back which locations you try and add to the list. We are not sailing for another year so welcome any additional input/feedback!

I'll be sure to report back!

I had to play with it a little to figure out how to save each location [emoji4]

Open the Google Map app

Search for a location

Press the "save" icon once the location opens

I saved each location to the "want to go" pre-set category

All locations will appear under "your places" under the "saved" tab

Here are a couple of screen shots ...

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Can you give more details we are leaning on going to this. How did you get to the hotel, how did you purchase tickets, how much did it cost, what time did it begin and end, and etc. Thanks greatly Stewart

We did it on an Oceania ship tour, but I've read that you can book it on your own. If you like Latin music, then you'll love this show.

It was held in the Melia Cohiba hotel, at the Habana Cafe (it's in the hotel). We rode in a bus from the cruise terminal to the hotel, probably a 10 min. ride. I think we got there at about 8:30pm and they served us some appetizers and a drink. The show started about 9:30pm and lasted till 11pm. This ship tour was included in our cruise fare, so I don't know how much they really charge, but I read that it was 20 CUC's ($20). Try Googling the name of the hotel and you can probably email them.

My Spanish is bad. I have a ship tour planned for the day but would like to try something on my own for the night. How hard is it to get around if you DON'T speak the language.

Lack of Spanish will NOT be a problem....especially if you are just wanting to enjoy the nightlife. Learn 4 words.....cerveza, daiquiri, mojito and perhaps agua (in case of emergency 😉). All kidding aside, you will have no issues. In November we spent almost 2 weeks traveling to Nicaragua and we speak very little Spanish. You use sign language, you point, and you figure it out. Close to the port and in tourist establishments you will find they know some English as well. Don’t let the language hold you back!

"dónde está el baño" is useful to know as well.

"dónde está el baño" is useful to know as well.

That’s too much Spanish to remember if you’ve been drinking! 😛. A simple “bano?” will do!