Must see attractions in Havana

Originally constructed in 1608 and rebuilt in baroque style from 1719 to 1738, this church-convent ceased to have a religious function in the 1840s after…

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…

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,…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

One of Havana's newer buildings, this beautiful gold-domed Russian Orthodox church was built in the early 2000s and consecrated at a ceremony attended by…

This church dates from 1732, although there has been a Franciscan hermitage on the site since 1640. This was where sailors once came to pray before…

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…

One of the world’s more surreal Chinatowns, Havana’s Barrio Chino is notable for its lack of Chinese residents – most Chinese people left Havana as soon…

In Parque de los Enamorados (Lovers' Park), surrounded by speeding traffic, lies a section of the colonial Cárcel (aka Tacón Prison), built in 1838. Many…

Running along the banks of the Río Almendares, below the bridge on Calle 23, is this welcome oasis of greenery and fresh air in the heart of the chaotic…

This huge building dating from the early 18th century first functioned as a free school and convalescent home run by the Belemitas order. It was taken…

Arguably the world's most famous US embassy, this modernist seven-story building on the Malecón with its high security fencing first opened in 1953, but…

Havana's curiously under-visited 600-hectare botanical garden suffers from an out-of-town location and poor transport links (get a taxi). It opened in…

Passers-by usually miss this tree-filled oasis at Plaza de San Francisco de Asís’ southeastern corner, where the remains of some of Cuba’s best-known…