Things to do in Havana
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Havana
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry season and the best months: 22 to 28C, low humidity and minimal rain. December to March is peak.
Best single months, pairing the best weather with Jazz Plaza in January and the Habanos Festival in February.
Rainy, hot season: 30 to 34C, afternoon downpours, cheaper and emptier, with the worst blackout risk in the hottest weeks.
Worst months: peak hurricane risk, the heaviest rain and humidity, and the thinnest festival calendar.
What's on
- Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza mid-to-late January
Founded by Chucho Valdés, venues across Vedado and Old Havana, many events free or low cost.
- Habanos Festival February
The cigar world week: factory visits, tastings and a gala, ticketed and expensive.
- Havana Biennial from February, Biennial years
Contemporary art programming across the city in Biennial years.
- Havana World Music Festival March
Music festival in the still excellent, warming dry season tail.
- May Day parade 1 May
A vast parade at Plaza de la Revolución; spectacle and disruption in equal measure.
- Carnival late July to August
Comparsas and rum fill the Malecón; joyful, sweaty and very local.
- International Ballet Festival October, even-numbered years
A draw for dance travellers in even-numbered years.
- Havana International Film Festival early December
Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano turns Vedado cinemas into the city living rooms.
Best things to do in Havana
Old Havana
The essential first day: four restored plazas linked by side streets, best walked early and again at golden hour.
Fábrica de Arte Cubano
A former factory turned art, music and bar complex where young Havana actually goes at night.
Classic convertible tour
A 1950s convertible loop past the Malecón, Capitolio and Vedado is the best orientation to a sprawling city.
Malecón
Eight kilometres of seawall that work as the city living room, best walked west into the sunset.
Callejón de Hamel
An Afro-Cuban art alley that erupts into a free Sunday rumba session around noon.
Fusterlandia
A fishing suburb covered in mosaic art by José Fuster, where whole streets beyond the main house are the artwork.
El Capitolio
The restored 1929 capitol building, with the vast Salón de los Pasos Perdidos on the guided interior tour.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Five centuries of Cuban painting in a modernist palace, strongest on the revolutionary and contemporary floors.
Where to stay in Havana
Old Havana (Habana Vieja)
first trip, all-round base
Everything in the old city is walkable and the district is prioritised for power, though it is noisy and carries a location premium.
Vedado
longer stay, return trip, calm and space
Garden suburb mansions, bigger casas with terraces and better value per room, at the cost of a taxi or Malecón walk to the old city.
Centro Habana
confident, Spanish-speaking return visitors
Ten minutes from both Old Havana and Vedado at lower prices, but the most deteriorated district, with dark unlit streets at night.
Miramar / Playa
business, diplomacy, big-group villa
Leafy embassy district with big houses and the largest hotels, but quiet and car-dependent for everything else.
Think twice about
- Regla and Guanabacoa
Fascinating to visit by day with a guide, but no visitor accommodation infrastructure and poor transport after dark.
- Cerro, Diez de Octubre and San Miguel del Padrón
Southern residential districts with nothing a visitor needs, strained services and long rides to everything.
- Airport corridor
Functional one-night chains only, far from everything a visitor comes for.
- Deep Centro Habana side streets
Suspiciously cheap unreviewed apartments can mean no generator or water tank, and darkness when power and water go.
Best restaurants in Havana
La Guarida
The most famous paladar, up a marble staircase in a crumbling mansion, with the most atmospheric dining room in Cuba.
San Cristóbal Paladar
Generous old-school Cuban cooking in a maximalist mansion, famous for portions, warmth and private rooms.
Casa Mía Paladar
Seafood-forward Cuban-Italian cooking in a welcoming house, the safest strong dinner near the Nacional and FAC.
Doña Eutimia
Home-style Cuban cooking by the Cathedral, with lamb ropa vieja and black beans regulars write about by name.
El Cocinero
Modern Cuban small plates and a rooftop terrace beside FAC, the standard dinner before a FAC night.
O'Reilly 304
Small, loud modern Cuban cooking and great daiquiris in the old city, with its sibling El del Frente opposite.
El del Frente
The sibling of O'Reilly 304 across the street, same modern Cuban formula; book the rooftop if you can.
Iván Chef Justo
Intimate and chef-driven, the food-nerd favourite among the old city paladares.
Outdoor things to do in Havana
Viñales Valley
Tobacco farms, horseback rides and limestone mogotes in a UNESCO valley, the top excursion from Havana.
Playa Santa María del Mar
The best equipped stretch of the local beaches east of the city, with loungers, rentals and beach restaurants.
Las Terrazas
An eco-community in a biosphere reserve with forest hikes, birding viewpoints and a zip-line over the lake.
Salto de Soroa
A waterfall swim beside an orchid garden, best combined with Las Terrazas in one private car day.
Playa Girón
Cenote swims and shore snorkelling off a reef wall, plus the invasion beach itself, on a long southern day.
Varadero
Twenty kilometres of resort beach for an easy full-facility beach day, not for local life.
Club Habana
The one course in Havana: a modest layout played for novelty and company, arranged in advance through a hotel or casa.
Varadero Golf Club
The serious Cuban course, an 18-hole design along the peninsula with sea views on the closing stretch.
Best hotels in Havana
Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski
The flagship luxury hotel facing Parque Central, with a rooftop pool and the definitive Capitolio view.
Iberostar Grand Packard
Modern luxury inside a historic Prado façade, with an infinity pool and the strongest large-hotel service reviews.
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
The 1930 Art Deco landmark on the Malecón bluff, stayed in for history, gardens and its great terrace.
Royalton Habana
A modern glass alternative on the Malecón with contemporary rooms and sea views.
Grand Aston La Habana
The newest large-hotel hardware in Vedado, for travellers who want a modern full-service base.
Iberostar Parque Central
The reliable mid-to-upper workhorse on Parque Central, with rooftop pools and the best-located breakfast in the old city.
Hotel Santa Isabel
A former cardinal palace on Plaza de Armas, smaller and more personal than the Parque Central properties.
Meliá Cohiba
The big modern Vedado tower by the Malecón, with the best large pool in Vedado and business-hotel reliability.
Is Havana expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CUP 40,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CUP 75,000 a person |
| Splurge | CUP 190,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Tropicana: a few days ahead
- Gran Teatro de La Habana: a few days ahead
- Viñales Valley: a few days ahead
- Club Habana: a few days ahead
- Varadero Golf Club: a few days ahead
- La Guarida: weeks ahead
- San Cristóbal Paladar: a few days ahead
- Doña Eutimia: a few days ahead
- Book your casa for the first nights, La Guarida a week ahead in high season, and Tropicana in high season.
- Book the Viñales private car via your casa one to two days ahead, and Gran Teatro tickets if a performance anchors your dates.
- Ask your host the night before whether a museum or venue is open tomorrow, as schedules change by notice in a window.
Is Havana safe?
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
- Violent crime against visitors is rare; the real risks are scams, pickpocketing in crowds, pavement injury and food or water mishaps.
- Keep phones out of sight on the street and take a taxi after dark for cross-city moves.
- Never change money on the street with a stranger; use your casa host or a changer they introduce, and count slowly in front of them.
- Carry a torch or phone light at night, a power bank, and bottled or filtered water; blackouts are a standing condition.
Havana travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Plaza-facing restaurants on Plaza Vieja and Plaza de la Catedral charge above average for average food; walk a block or two off.
- Any restaurant a jinetero walks you into carries his commission in your bill, sometimes doubling it.
- Street cigar offers of festival-price Cohibas are counterfeit; buy only at La Casa del Habano and keep receipts.
- Change only a small arrival float at the airport CADECA; the official rate is a fraction of the informal rate.
- La Bodeguita del Medio and El Floridita are drink-once photo stops, not dinners.
Getting around Havana: public transport and more
- Walk Old Havana and the Malecón; the rest is a taxi city, so agree the total price and currency before moving.
- La Nave is the local ride-hailing app with cash payment; download and register before you arrive.
- Colectivos run fixed Malecón and Calle 23 routes cheaply if your host explains the route first.
- Viazul buses are cheap but slow; a private car via your casa is the reviewed preference for day trips.
Who Havana suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Havana your trip
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