Havana Points of Interest Survey

Dialogue Opening, Chapter 1: “You know how it is there early in the morning in Havana, before even the ice wagons come by with ice for the bars? Well, we came across the square from the dock to the Pearl of San Francisco Cafe to get coffee and there was only one beggar awake in the square and he was getting a drink out of the fountain. But when we got inside the cafe and sat down…” (Hemingway, To Have and Have Not, 1937).

Thanks to the above excerpt, leaving the dock and walking across the Plaza de San Francisco will be a little more interesting. The Pearl is now long closed but I will still be looking.

For those that have toured Havana, what were they 3 best places you visited, what was the 1 place you visited that you liked the least, and the 1 place you did not visit and most regret missing.

Thanks

The cemetery was incredible and the stories there are wild

We didn't go to necessarily visit "sites", but rather walk around Old Havana to just see how the people live, meet them and stop anywhere that looked interesting. We succeeded and had a fantastic time. Went into churches, small museums, shops, cafes, sat in parks to people watch and talked to many locals....they would hear us speaking English to each other and just come up to us to talk as they knew English. They were as interested in Americans & America as we were with them!

We did go to the Melia Cohiba hotel to see the Buena Vista Social Club show in the evening and it was fantastic. Got food and a drink included in the price.

Thanks for the replies.

Awhile back I booked a tour with Blexie, and he asked me if there was anything specific I would like to see or do. To be honest I don't know, and I think I will be very happy leaving it up to his discretion. But there must be something I would later feel bad about if I missed (especially if we drove or walked right past it ).

Excellent post! Can’t wait to read the responses!

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Following as I’ll be in Havana on the Sun in June.

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We used Blexie tours. I think the Hotel National is a great place to see, even if the Embassy frowns upon it. Our guide took us there in our old car. We paid $5 each at the desk, and our guide took us on an impromptu tour of the lower level, into the famous bar, and around outside where the beautiful grounds are. The $5 gets you one "free" drink each. We also toured the missile bunkers from the Cuban Missile crisis while there. Also, Blexie tours took us to the Colon Cemetery, where we just wandered around looking at the amazing sculptures, and out to Fusterlandia, which is a crazy collection of tiled over structures similar to what you see in Barcelona. We also were taken to buy cigars at the current factory (on our trip, Partegas was closed). You need a car to see these places.

Walking distance you can get to the four major squares, the Granma memorial, the Havana Club rum museum, and the Almacenes Artisan market is huge.....if you are looking for an old car painting, this is the place to go. You can easily spend a few hours here looking at the wonderful arts and crafts, great place for souvenirs of all price ranges.

Because we are lazy, once back onboard the ship after a long day out, we did not go out again in the evening, and I think I should have at least gone to the Buena Vista social club....maybe on another trip!