Regla, Guanabacoa & the Forts
From Regla's boat dock, head straight (south) on Martí past Parque Guaicanamar, then turn left on Albuquerque and right on 24 de Febrero, the road to…
Must-see attractions in Havana
Havana
Emerging from the tunnel under the Río Almendares, your first glimpse of Miramar is the so-called 'house of the green tiles,' a subtle hint of the…
Habana del Este
Overlooking Cojímar's harbor is an old Spanish fort dating from 1649, a twin of the Torreón de la Chorrera in Vedado. It was the first fortification taken…
Havana
Also known as the Havana Convention Center or by the acronym Palco, this is one of Cuba's most dramatic modern buildings. Built for the Nonaligned…
Regla, Guanabacoa & the Forts
On a grassy knoll outside La Cabaña fort, this outdoor museum of anachronistic-looking rockets and missiles dates to the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis …
Havana
The leading art academy in Cuba was established in the former Havana Country Club in 1961 and elevated to the status of institute in 1976. The cluster of…
Vedado
The tomb of Orthodox Party leader Eduardo Chibás, in the Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón, once gained notoriety. During the 1940s and early ’50s Chibás was a…
Havana
Founded in 1960, the national aquarium is a Havana institution designed primarily for Cuban visitors, who arrive by the legion. Overseas visitors, be…
Habana Vieja
A diminutive museum dedicated to Latin America’s great liberator, who remains a perennial hero to most Cubans. Downstairs there are panels containing text…
Regla, Guanabacoa & the Forts
Convento de Santo Domingo is a sadly ruined convent with a handsome but mildewed baroque facade that's usually closed (there are no official hours, but…
Habana del Este
East across the river from Cojímar is a large housing estate of prefabricated apartment blocks built from 1971 by micro brigadas (small armies of workers…
Monumento a Julio Antonio Mella
Vedado
At the bottom of the Universidad de la Habana steps is a monument to the student leader who founded the first Cuban Communist Party in 1925. In 1929 Cuban…
Havana
Lying in the shadow of Hospital Nacional Hermanos Ameijeiras, a 24-story Soviet-era hospital built in 1980, is this bronze representation of the mulato …
Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau
Habana Vieja
Tucked away behind Plaza Vieja, the 'Brau' is a leading cultural institution that was formed in 1996 under the auspices of the Unión de Escritores y…
Habana Vieja
This photographic archive of Old Havana from the early 20th century onward was started by former City Historian Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring in 1937. There…
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
Habana Vieja
At the corner of Plaza de la Catedral, this cultural center named after the island's most celebrated painter is hit or miss depending on what is or isn't…
Outer Havana
On a hilltop at El Cacahual, 8km south of Aeropuerto Internacional José Martí via Santiago de las Vegas, is the little-visited mausoleum of the hero of…
Habana Vieja
To the side of the Palacio de Gobierno on Churruca is the Coche Mambí, a 1900 train car built in the US and brought to Cuba in 1912. Put into service as…
Habana Vieja
German scientist Alexander von Humboldt is often referred to as the 'second discoverer' of Cuba, but his huge Cuban legacy goes largely unnoticed by…
Habana Vieja
An important art gallery that is named after a celebrated Venezuelan painter who maintained a studio here until her death in 2004. Spread across three…
Iglesia y Convento de Santa Clara
Habana Vieja
South of Plaza Vieja is Havana's largest and oldest convent, built between 1638 and 1643, though since 1920 it has served no religious purpose. For a…
Habana Vieja
A project of Arte Corte inaugurated in December 2013 in collaboration with the Office of the City Historian, Barbeparque is a whimsical space that invites…
Regla, Guanabacoa & the Forts
Effectively an arm of Guanabacoa’s municipal museum, this tiny place on the road to Regla displays a scruffy selection of material relevant to the…
Habana Vieja
Casa Oswaldo Guayasamín is an old studio and now a museum for the work of the great Ecuadorian artist, who painted Fidel Castro in numerous poses. The…
Vedado
Tucked away behind the US Interests Section is this art deco tower, which looks like the Empire State Building with the bottom 70 floors chopped off. One…
Museo de las Telecomunicaciones
Havana
A small museum in Centro Habana's Etecsa Telepunto office. Among the antique phones and telegraph equipment is some interesting material relating to…
Havana
A peripheral museum housed in the old Cristina train station built in 1859. There's a big collection of signaling and communication gear here plus old…
Havana
The modest, book-filled house of late Cuban man of letters José Lezama Lima is worth a quick stop if you're interested in understanding Cuban literature…
Vedado
Cuba has three synagogues, serving a Jewish population of approximately 1500. The main community center and library are located here, where the friendly…
Habana Vieja
This numismatist's heaven brings together various collections of medals, coins and banknotes from around the world, including a stash of 1000 mainly…
Habana Vieja
A simple museum that exhibits some beautifully restored original frescoes in the Casa del Mayorazgo de Recio, popularly considered to be Havana's oldest…
Habana Vieja
Preserved in Parque de los Enamorados (Lovers' Park), surrounded by streams of speeding traffic, is a surviving section of the colonial Cárcel (Tacón…
Vedado
The Museo Antropológico Montané, on the Universidad de la Habana campus, was established in 1903 with a rich collection of pre-Columbian artifacts,…
Museo de Historia Natural Felipe Poey
Vedado
Inside the Universidad de la Habana, this is the oldest museum in Cuba. It was founded in 1842 by the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural…
Memorial a los Estudiantes de Medicina
Habana Vieja
A fragment of wall encased in marble at the end of Paseo de Martí marks the spot where, in 1871, eight Cuban medical students were shot by the Spanish in…
Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas
Regla, Guanabacoa & the Forts
Inside the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, this armaments museum contains weapons from bows and arrows to giant catapults and cannons.
Habana Vieja
Thousands of people pass by his image every day, but few spare a glance for this marble statue of engineer Francisco de Albear, located in a small Habana…
Habana Vieja
Encased in Plaza Vieja's oldest building is this quirky playing-card museum, with a 2000-strong collection that includes rock stars, rum drinks and round…
Havana
Now the Spanish embassy, this beautiful wedding-cake-like building was constructed in the art nouveau style in 1912. It's the only embassy in this part of…
Habana Vieja
The Casa de México Benito Juárez exhibits Mexican folk art and plenty of books but not a lot on Juárez (Mexico’s first indigenous president) himself.
