Havana
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1. Museo de la Revolución
Centro HabanaBatista's Palacio Presidencial, unsuccessfully attacked by students on March 13, 1957, was converted into the Museum of the Revolution after Castro's 1959 victory. The Russian tank outside was used by Cuban forces to repel the Bay of Pigs invasion. The marble staircase and the magnificent upstairs ceiling mural tell one story, while galleries with displays of items from colonial times to the present tell another; the contrast is effective. Photographs of tortured revolutionaries, maps tracing the progress of the war, the bloodstained uniforms of rebels who fell in the 1953 Santiago de Cuba Moncada Barracks attack, and photos of Fidel and Che complete a comprehensive tour of the Revolution's history. Don't miss Cretin's Corner for a look at some familiar faces.
View Tours and ActivitiesCalle Refugio 1, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7862–4098Sight Details
Rate Includes: CUC$8 for combined ticket to museum and Memorial Granma, Daily 9–5 -
2. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes—Colección Arte Cubano
Centro HabanaHavana's fine-arts museum occupies two separate buildings, each of which deserves careful exploration. The original location on Calle Trocadero, finished in 1954, occupies the site of what was once a market. Designed by Alfonso Rodríguez Pichardo, the building, a compact prism with a large central courtyard, seems to breathe light. It now contains a varied and exciting Cuban collection. The third floor has 16th- to 19th-century colonial religious paintings, portraits, landscapes, and street scenes. Rooms 3 and 4 follow the 1927–38 beginning and consolidation of Cuban modern art. On the second floor, in rooms 5–8, are works by artists from the 1950s to 1990s. The power, color density, and intensity of Cuban painting is extraordinary, as is the rush through 500 years of history—from Armando Menocal's chained Columbus embarking for Spain in 1493 to Servando Cabrera Moreno's Guernica-like depiction of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and beyond to more contemporary pieces. Paintings to look for include the sensual El Rapto de las Mulatas by Carlos Enríquez, Gitana Tropical (sometimes known as the "Cuban Mona Lisa") by Victor Manuel Garcia, Maternidad by Wifredo Lam, Recibido en Mal Estado by Zaida del Río, and Mundo Sonádo by Tonel (Antonio Eligio Fernandez).
Calle Trocadero, e/Av. de la Bélgica (Misiones/Egido/Monserrate) y Calle Agramonte (Zulueta), Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7863–2657Sight Details
Rate Includes: CUC$5; CUC$8 for combined ticket with Colección Arte Universal, Tues.–Sat. 9–5, Sun. 10–2, Closed Mon. -
3. Asociación Cultural Yoruba de Cuba
Centro HabanaThe Asociación Cultural Yoruba provides a close look at African culture. The bigger-than-life orishas (Yoruban deities) on display are all identified and explained in English, French, and Spanish. It is also a place where people still come to pray and give offerings to the various orishas. Depending on the day, you may even get to witness a Santería ceremony or ritual here, which the public are welcome to attend. The association is near the Parque de la Fraternidad Americana, a shady space around a sacred ceiba tree planted in 1928 with soil from each of the free countries of the Americas.
Paseo de Martí (Prado) 615, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7863–7415Sight Details
Rate Includes: CUC$5, Daily 9–5 -
4. Callejón de Hamel
This neighborhood project, directed by and featuring the painting (note the vivid street murals) and sculpture of Salvador Gonzalez Escalona, is an ongoing Afro-Cuban educational and artistic event. All the quirky sculptures you see here have been made out of recycled materials---look for the story of Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince, which has been painted into an array of bathtubs at the far end of the street. Afro-Cuban music groups Rumbo Morena and Eroso Obba perform here every Sunday from noon to 3 pm, enthusiastically watched by locals and tourists alike.
Off Calle San Lázaro, e/Calle Ánimas and Calle Soledad, Centro Habana, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7878–1661Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
5. Capitolio
Centro HabanaModeled after Washington, D.C.'s domed Capitol building, Havana's Capitolio was built in 1929 and is rich in iconography. The statue to the left of the entrance stairway represents Work (considered a masculine ethic); that on the right is of Virtue (a perceived feminine attribute). Some 30 bas-reliefs on the main door depict events in Cuba's history. The giant main hall is called the Salon de los Pasos Perdidos (Hall of the Lost Steps), allegedly for the fading reverberations of footsteps. It's dominated by the gigantic bronze statue of Minerva (once known as La República). Set into the floor at her feet is a diamond (presently a replica) from which all distances on the island are measured. The former Senate Chamber is at the end of the right-hand corridor; the one-time Chamber of Representatives is on the far left. The on-site restaurant, El Salón de los Escudos, serves a reasonable lunch; the Café Mirador offers lighter fare. The building seems to be undergoing perpetual renovation.
Paseo de Martí (Prado), Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7860–3411Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Edificio Bacardí
Centro HabanaBuilt in 1930, the former Bacardí rum headquarters (the family elected not to brave the Revolution and now makes rum in Puerto Rico) is an Art Deco outburst best admired from the roof of the Hotel Plaza across the street. Its terra-cotta facade is covered with nymphs, sylphs, salamanders, and undines; its bell tower is capped with a brass, winged bat you'll recognize from the Bacardí rum label (or from the coat of arms of the House of Aragón, a clue to the family's Catalonian heritage). Visitors can't go inside, but it's worth a look at the outside nonetheless.
Calle San Juan de Dios 202, Havana, La Habana, Cuba -
7. Estudiantes de Medicina
Centro HabanaA fragment of Havana's early ramparts commemorates the spot where eight medical students were unjustly executed for independence activism by the Spanish governors in 1871. At night the monument is beautifully illuminated, the work of the electrical engineer Félix de la Noval. You'll see amber light representing rifle fire; it can't, however, extinguish the white light (against the wall), which symbolizes the ideals of independence.
Paseo de Martí (Prado) y Av. del Puerto (Calle Desamparado/San Pedro), Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba -
8. Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás
Centro HabanaTobacco is a fundamental part of Cuban life, and a look inside a cigar factory makes for an interesting trip—despite the high entry fee and the pricey cigars. Now in its new location on Calle San Carlos, instead of the old iconic orange and white building behind the Capitolio, the Fábrica de Tabacos is a good place to learn about the cigar-making process. Guided tours of the factory are only available on weekday mornings and must be booked in advance, which can be done at any of the major hotels in the city. Although interesting and informative, the tours are fairly rushed and only last 15 to 20 minutes. Many of the rooms are also closed to visitors. Those who wish to purchase cigars at the end of the tour can do so around the corner at the H. Upmann Empresa de Tabaco Torcido store.
Calle San Carlos 816, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7878--5166Sight Details
Rate Includes: CUC$10, Factory visits weekdays 9–1 -
9. Iglesia del Santo Angel Custodio
Centro HabanaThis prim little white church is a required visit for literature buffs hot on the trail of scenes from the novel by Cirilo Villaverde (1812–94), Cecilia Valdés (o la Loma del Angel). The novel's bloody denouement takes place on the steps here during a marriage scene straight out of Racine. A plaque on a wall across from the church door lauds Villaverde's portrait of 19th-century Cuban life. Villaverde, in fact, made literary history with the stark social realism with which he portrayed the inhuman treatment of slaves in his novel. (One scene, for example, depicts plantation owners complaining bitterly about their foreman whipping slaves so early in the morning that the screaming and the crack of the lash disturbs their morning slumber.) The neo-Gothic church is, indeed, on La Loma del Angel (The Hillside of the Angel). With its pure, vertical lines, it's markedly different from La Habana Vieja's hulking Baroque structures. Originally erected in 1690 and rebuilt in 1866, Santo Angel del Custodio was the site of the baptisms of both José Martí and Félix Varela, the priest, patriot, and educator credited with having "first taught Cubans to think." Martí, Varela, and Villaverde were all key contributors to the cause of Cuban independence.
Calle Compostela 1, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7861–0469Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Tues.–Sat. 10–6:45, Mass at 5 pm; Sun. 8–11:30, Mass at 9 am -
10. Memorial Granma
Centro HabanaA glass enclosure behind the Museo de la Revolución shelters the Granma, the yacht that transported Castro and 81 guerrillas back to Cuba from exile in Mexico in 1956. Bought from an American, the 38-foot craft designed to carry 25 (presumably unarmed) passengers nearly foundered during the week-long crossing. It eventually ran aground at Oriente Province in Eastern Cuba, but it was two days behind schedule. The saga gets worse: Castro's forces were ambushed and only 16 survived, including Fidel, Che, Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. The park around the yacht is filled with military curios: tanks, jeeps, the delivery truck used in the 1957 assault on the Palacio Presidencial, and an airplane turbine, allegedly from a U-2 spy plane downed during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Calle Colón, e/Av. de la Bélgica (Misiones/Edigio/Monserrate) y Calle Agramonte (Zulueta), Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7862–4091Sight Details
Rate Includes: CUC$8 for combined ticket to memorial and Museo de la Revolución, Daily 10–5 -
11. Monumento Máximo Gómez
Centro HabanaThis bronze equestrian monument honors the great military leader of Cuba's 19th-century wars of independence. It was erected in 1935 in modern Havana's most pivotal location—in an important traffic circle and at the entrance to the tunnel leading to the fortresses across the harbor. The Dominican-born General Gómez led the mambises (a term used by the Spanish for Cuban rebels) in the Ten Years War, refused to surrender when an unsatisfactory treaty was signed in 1878, left the island, and returned with José Martí almost 20 years later to continue the fight in the 1895 Second War of Independence. Martí died in the opening battle; fellow general Antonio Maceo fell in December of 1895, but Gómez survived.
Av. del Puerto (Calle Desamparado/San Pedro), e/Calle Agramonte (Zulueta) y Av. de las Misiones (Bélgica/Edigio/Monserrate), Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba -
12. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes—Colección de Arte Universal
Centro HabanaThe collection is housed in the splendid Centro Asturiano finished in 1928 (in answer to the Centro Gallego across the Parque Central), a building designed by Spanish architect Manuel del Busto, as dazzling as the collection it contains. Its sweeping stairway was inspired by the Paris Opera House, and its immense stained glass window alludes to the discovery of America. The collection ranges from Roman, Greek, and Egyptian ceramics and statuary to European art from the Italian, German, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, French, and British schools. In addition there are rooms devoted to the art of the United States, as well as displays of Asian, Mexican, Cariibbean, and South American works. Works by Joseph Turner, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Francisco José de Goya, Bartolomé Estaban Murillo, Zurbarán, Brueghel, Canaletto, Peter Paul Rubens, Velázquez, Sorolla, and Zuloaga, among others, are displayed here.
Calle Obispo, e/Av. de la Bélgica (Misiones/Egido/Monserrate) y Calle Agramonte (Zulueta), Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba7863–2657Sight Details
Rate Includes: CUC$5; CUC$8 for combined ticket to Colección Arte Cubano, Tues.–Sat. 9–5, Sun. 10–2, Closed Mon. -
13. Palacio de Aldama
Centro HabanaJust past the Parque de la Fraternidad Americana's southwest corner is this Italianate mansion built in 1840 by the Spanish merchant Domingo de Aldama. His son, Miguel de Aldama, worked for Cuban autonomy from Spain until his palace was sacked by the Spanish authorities in 1869. Don Miguel fled to the United States, where he continued his work as an activist for Cuban independence until his death in 1888. The building isn't open to visitors, but the massive columns and monumental size of the place are striking proof of the economic power of the 19th-century Cuban sugar barons, dubbed the zacarocracia by Cuban journalists and historians.
Av. Simón Bolívar (Reina) 1, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba -
14. Parque Central
Centro HabanaAcross from the Hotel de Inglaterra and the Gran Teatro de la Habana, this park has always been a hub of Havana social activity. Centered on a statue of (who else?) José Martí and shaded by royal palms and almond trees, this is the place for heated debates on Cuba's national passion—baseball. The Hotel Plaza is on the park's northern end. On its southern end, notice the opulent 1885 Centro Asturiano, now the home of the Museo de Bellas Artes and its Arte Universal collection. This is one of the best places to hire a classic open-top American car and driver for a tour around the city or a sunset drive down the Malecón.
Calle Refugio 1, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba
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