Must-see attractions in Havana

  • In the courtyard area of the Museum of the Revolution in Old Havana, Cuba...Cuba, February 2015 before changes in U.S.-Cuba relations began. Trip via UCLA Alumni Travel

    Museo de la Revolución

    Havana

    This emblematic museum is set in the former Presidential Palace, constructed between 1913 and 1920 and used by a string of Cuban presidents, culminating…

  • Calle Mercaderes wall mural.

    Calle Mercaderes

    Habana Vieja

    Cobbled, car-free Calle Mercaderes (Merchant's Street) has been extensively restored by the Office of the City Historian and is an almost complete replica…

  • Vintage car passing modern bar nestled between dilapidated Art Nouveau buildings along the Av de Malecon.

    Malecón

    Havana

    The Malecón, Havana's evocative 7km-long sea drive, is one of the city's most soulful and quintessentially Cuban thoroughfares, and long a favored meeting…

  • Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso

    Havana

    The neobaroque Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso, erected as a Galician social club between 1907 and 1914, features highly ornate and even exuberant…

  • Capitolio Nacional

    Havana

    The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions')…

  • Plaza de la Catedral

    Habana Vieja

    Habana Vieja's most uniform square is a museum to Cuban baroque, with all the surrounding buildings, including the city's beguiling asymmetrical cathedral…

  • Catedral de San Cristobal de la Habana in Plaza de la Catedral.

    Catedral de la Habana

    Habana Vieja

    Described by novelist Alejo Carpentier as 'music set in stone,' Havana's incredible cathedral, dominated by two unequal towers and framed by a theatrical…

  • Fusterlandia

    Havana

    Where does art go after Antoni Gaudí? For a hint, head west from central Havana to the seemingly low-key district of Jaimanitas, where artist José Fuster…

  • Plaza Vieja, bustling with restaurants and cafes in evening.

    Plaza Vieja

    Habana Vieja

    Laid out in 1559, Plaza Vieja is Havana's most architecturally eclectic square, where Cuban baroque nestles seamlessly next to Gaudí-inspired art nouveau…

  • Courtyard in National Museum of Fine Art (El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes).

    Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

    Havana

    Spread over two campuses, the Bellas Artes is arguably the finest art gallery in the Caribbean. The Arte Cubano building contains the most comprehensive…

  • Museo de la Ciudad

    Habana Vieja

    Even with no artifacts, Havana's city museum would be a tour de force, courtesy of the opulent palace in which it resides. Filling the whole western side…

  • Plaza de San Francisco de Asís

    Habana Vieja

    Facing Havana harbor, the breezy Plaza de San Francisco de Asís first grew up in the 16th century when Spanish galleons stopped quayside on their passage…

  • Statue of Cesepedes in the centre of the  Plaza de Armas Old Havana Cuba

    Plaza de Armas

    Habana Vieja

    Havana's oldest square was laid out in the early 1520s, soon after the city's foundation, and was originally known as Plaza de Iglesia after a church –…

  • Paseo de Martí

    Havana

    Construction of this stately European-style boulevard – the first street outside the old city walls – began in 1770, and work was completed in the mid…

  • Castillo de la Real Fuerza guarded the entrance of the Havana Bat back in the 16th Century.

    Castillo de la Real Fuerza

    Habana Vieja

    On the seaward side of Plaza de Armas is one of the oldest existing forts in the Americas, built between 1558 and 1577 on the site of an earlier fort…

  • Old City Wall

    Havana

    In the 17th century, anxious to defend the city from attacks by pirates and overzealous foreign armies, Cuba's paranoid colonial authorities drew up plans…

  • Cannons at Castillo de San Salvador de La Punta.

    Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta

    Habana Vieja

    One in a quartet of forts defending Havana harbor, La Punta was designed by Italian military engineer Bautista Antonelli and built between 1589 and 1600…

  • El Ojo del Ciclón

    Habana Vieja

    Just when you think you've seen Havana's strangest, weirdest, most surreal and avant-garde art, along comes the 'eye of the cyclone' to re-stretch your…

  • A statue of Cuba’s National Heroe José Martí in the center of the Parque Central.

    Parque Central

    Havana

    Diminutive Parque Central is a verdant haven from the belching buses and roaring taxis that ply the Paseo de Martí. Long a microcosm of daily Havana life,…

  • Parque de la Fraternidad

    Havana

    Leafy Parque de la Fraternidad was established in 1892 to commemorate the fourth centenary of the Spanish landing in the Americas. A few decades later it…

  • Edificio Bacardí

    Habana Vieja

    Finished in 1930, the magnificent Edificio Bacardí, once the HQ of Cuba's erstwhile rum dynasty, is a triumph of art deco architecture, with a host of…

  • Statue of Cuban poet Plácido at the Plaza del Cristo.

    Plaza del Cristo

    Habana Vieja

    A little apart from the historical core, Plaza del Cristo hasn't benefited from a full restoration yet and this adds subtly to its charm. Here you can…

  • Museo del Ron

    Habana Vieja

    You don't have to be an Añejo Reserva quaffer to enjoy the Museo del Ron in the Fundación Havana Club, but it probably helps. The museum, with its…

  • Arte Corte

    Habana Vieja

    The brainchild of Gilberto Valladares, aka 'Papito,' this novel hairdressing salon is also a school and a small museum to the barber's art. Even better,…

  • The Fuente de La India was sculpted by Italian artista Giuseppe Gaggini in 1837.

    Fuente de la India

    Havana

    Spare a glance for this white Carrara-marble fountain, carved by Giuseppe Gaggini in 1837 for the Count of Villanueva and now situated on a traffic island…

  • Lonja del Comercio

    Habana Vieja

    This large, box-shaped building on Plaza de San Francisco de Asís is a former commodities market erected in 1909. The building was completely renovated in…

  • Iglesia del Santo Ángel Custodio

    Habana Vieja

    Originally constructed in 1695, this church was pounded by a ferocious hurricane in 1846, after which it was entirely rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. Among…

  • Facade of the Partagas Cigar Factory building

    Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás

    Havana

    One of Havana's oldest and most famous cigar businesses, the Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás was founded in 1845 by Spaniard Jaime Partagás. In 2013 the…

  • La Conversación

    Habana Vieja

    Making up a trio of sculptures in Plaza San Francisco de Asís, La Conversación was added in 2012, donated by the French ambassador as a gesture of Franco…

  • Plazuela de Santo Ángel

    Habana Vieja

    This lovely, intimate plaza behind the Iglesia del Santo Ángel Custodio has benefited from a recent beautification project that has installed several…

  • Museo 28 Septiembre de los CDR

    Habana Vieja

    A pale-pink building on Obispo dedicates two floors to a rather one-sided dissection of the nationwide Comites de la Defensa de la Revolución (CDR;…

  • Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula

    Habana Vieja

    One of Havana's most attractive churches, this building is all that remains of the San Francisco de Paula women's hospital from the mid-1700s. Lit up at…

  • El Caballero de París

    Habana Vieja

    A statue outside Plaza San Francisco de Asís' famous church depicts El Caballero de París, a hirsute street person who roamed Havana during the 1950s,…

  • Russian Embassy in Havana, Cuba. (Photo by Independent Picture Service/UIG via Getty Images)

    Russian Embassy

    Havana

    In case you were wondering, that huge Stalinist obelisk that dominates the skyline halfway down Av Quinta is the Russian (formerly Soviet) embassy,…

  • 500px Photo ID: 106306455 - The artwork of Jose Fuster at his studio in Havana, Cuba...Cuba, February 2015 before changes in U.S.-Cuba relations began. Trip via UCLA Alumni Travel

    Taller-Estudio José Fuster

    Havana

    The centerpiece of Fusterlandia is artist José Fuster's own house. It contains his workshop, where you can view his paintings and ceramics and sometimes…

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