Havana Travel Forum

Hi Everyone,

My friend and I are planning a trip to Havana at the start of December. We are wondering where the best part of the city to stay is that is close to the night life, shops etc............a central location. Any suggestions are appreciated..............thanks

Paul

two types of accomodations are generally available. Hotels from one star to five stars are available and the centrally situated ones are very good. My preferance is for hotel inglaterra which has a historic flavour to it. dont expect hotels to be world class unless they are golden tulip or melia or in that class. you should decide to stay in the old havana area, which is close to everything. there are many many hotels in the area.
some people like staying with cuban families who spruce up one or two of their rooms for rent. a practice not well looked down upon by the government but many tourists prefer this route since they would get a glimpse into the cuban life, without realizing that this look is an artificial one. Cubans are extremely good at deception, as you would find out.
food is a bit of a problem so dont come to havana expecting gourmet food. the food whether at home or at hotel is at best OK. nothing exceptional, some people seem to think that if they give you lots of food, then it is good.
cuba-junky.com is just about the best site for the information on stays in cuba. private offers from people with yahoo.es connections are a bit suspect. if you are booking with a private home, try to do it directly rather than through a third person since you would end up paying 5 cucs to that person per day of your stay.
If you plan to come to Baracoa please let me know, i can recommend some nice places to stay and places to eat.
For varios reasons, i prefer to stay in Hotels in Cuba rather than at private homes. (the grass is greener I suppose)

I like the hotel telegrafo , stayed there on my 2 first trips to Havana.Now i stay all the time in a casa in vedado and i am very happy there.In vedado you get some good jazz-clubs too and all kind of different music in bars and clubs.There are also more younger people there and less tourist. You can check out my pages for more info..have a fantastic time..i be going back in january for 2 month and cant wait

Hola!

I am a Romanian girl and I've been to Cuba for the second time, end of August beginning of September. It was wonderful! In spite of their material needs they are so kind, so friendly,so warm. Their way of living and a trip to Cuba is a good life experience for us, europeans, who are never content with what we have! But I let you to experience the same. I can give you the address of the casa where I stayed, in Central Havana. The price was 30$ per night/room, very good placed, close to the Malecon, to Deuville hotel (where u can change money), to Havana Vieja. The owners of the house are very kind and helpful, the house, the rooms are very nice, clean and their bathrooms, showers are just perfect! Not talking about the food...it was delicious and cheap (4 $ a breakfast, 8 & a dinner).
CASA LUIS MIGUEL
CAMPANARIO No.63
ENTRE SAN LAZARO Y LAGUNAS
CENTRO HABANA
TELEF. 0053-7-8636203
casa1932lm@yahoo.com
You may tell them that you got their address from Silvia from Romania. They'll be happy, believe me!
For any kind of other information, just ask me!
My best regards,
Silvia
P.S. A casa Particular is always better than a hotel. Do you know why? Much cheaper (you have the same conditions as in a hotel, tasty food), but you live close to cuban families and only like that you can experience the real cuban life! Oh..I forgot to mention that in a casa particular you may have the same privacy as in a hotel!
Hasta luego!
My email address hortensiasilvia@yahoo.com

Thanks everyone for the great advice on accomodations. Any suggestions for a particular area in Havana that has exceptional nightlife and restaurants. Thanks again.

Paul