Statues of illustrious Latin American leaders line the Parisian-style Calle G (officially known as Av de los Presidentes), including Salvador Allende (Chile), Benito Juárez (Mexico) and Simón Bolívar. At the top of the avenue is a huge marble Monumento a José Miguel Gómez, depicting Cuba's second president. At the other end, the monument to his predecessor – Cuba's first president, Tomás Estrada Palma (long considered a US puppet) – has been toppled, with just his shoes remaining on the original plinth.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.34 MILES
Havana's main cemetery (a national monument), one of the largest in the Americas, is renowned for its striking religious iconography and elaborate marble…
2.3 MILES
This emblematic museum is set in the former Presidential Palace, constructed between 1913 and 1920 and used by a string of Cuban presidents, culminating…
2.72 MILES
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…
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla
3.69 MILES
As important as it is diminutive, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, which sits close to the dock in Regla, has a long and colorful history. Inside on…
2.02 MILES
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…
Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña
2.74 MILES
This 18th-century colossus was built between 1763 and 1774 on a long, exposed ridge on the east side of Havana harbor to fill a weakness in the city's…
Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso
2.16 MILES
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…
2.16 MILES
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions')…
Nearby attractions
0.08 MILES
Essentially a homage to Cuban ballet, this well-laid-out exhibition space in an eclectic Vedado mansion displays objects from Cuba's rich dance history…
0.24 MILES
Cuba has three synagogues, serving a Jewish population of approximately 1500. The main community center and library are located here, where the friendly…
0.31 MILES
One of Havana's best museums dazzles like a European stately home. It's replete with all manner of architectural features, including rococo furniture,…
0.4 MILES
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…
0.42 MILES
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…
0.53 MILES
Unmissable on the Havana skyline, the modernist Edificio Focsa was built between 1954 and 1956 in a record 28 months using pioneering computer technology…
7. Monumento a las Víctimas del Maine
0.65 MILES
West beyond the Hotel Nacional is a monument (1926) to the 266 American marines who were killed when the battleship USS Maine blew up mysteriously in…
0.69 MILES
This classic modernist hotel – the former Havana Hilton – was commandeered by Fidel Castro's revolutionaries in 1959 just nine months after it had opened,…