Havana
Paladares at the top of crumbling mansions, rumba on Sunday afternoons, and an ice-cream cathedral that opens when there's ice cream.
Old Havana is the restored postcard; the city that's worth the time spreads west from it, through Centro Habana and Cayo Hueso to Vedado and, on the far western edge, Jaimanitas. The best of it is in neighbourhoods rather than monuments — a painted alley, a mosaic barrio, a staircase in a half-ruined mansion.
Logged in Havana
Callejón de Hamel
Havana, CubaAn alley of Afro-Cuban murals and scrap-metal sculpture in Cayo Hueso, with live rumba every Sunday from noon.
Clandestina
Havana, CubaCuba's first independent design shop, selling screen-printed shirts, bags and posters on a corner of Old Havana since 2015.
Coppelia
Havana, CubaHavana's 'Cathedral of Ice Cream': a 1966 park pavilion that sells in pesos, offers one or two flavours, and shuts when supplies run out.
Fusterlandia
Havana, CubaA barrio on Havana's western edge that the artist José Fuster has been covering in mosaic since 1994 — his house first, then his neighbours'.
La Bodeguita del Medio
Havana, CubaAn Old Havana bodega turned bar, its walls covered in signatures — where Neruda and Nicolás Guillén drank, and Hemingway's famous mojito line may not be his.
La Guarida
Havana, CubaA paladar at the top of a crumbling Centro Habana mansion — the building where Fresa y Chocolate was filmed.
Where to stay in Havana
Stays shown via Stay22 — booking through the map supports the log.
Part of
Mentioned in
Clandestina
Havana, CubaCuba's first independent design shop, selling screen-printed shirts, bags and posters on a corner of Old Havana since 2015.
Fusterlandia
Havana, CubaA barrio on Havana's western edge that the artist José Fuster has been covering in mosaic since 1994 — his house first, then his neighbours'.
La Bodeguita del Medio
Havana, CubaAn Old Havana bodega turned bar, its walls covered in signatures — where Neruda and Nicolás Guillén drank, and Hemingway's famous mojito line may not be his.
La Camaronera
Miami, United StatesA working fish market on the edge of Little Havana where the day's catch becomes ceviche seconds after it's weighed.
La Guarida
Havana, CubaA paladar at the top of a crumbling Centro Habana mansion — the building where Fresa y Chocolate was filmed.
Matanzas
A city of rivers and bridges between Havana and Varadero, where a small press still makes its books by hand.