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Havana, Cuba, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
Top 10North AmericaCuba

Top 10 Things To Do in Havana

Country
Cuba
Best months
Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar
Population
2M
Language
Spanish
Budget / day
$50–110
Quick answer

Give Habana Vieja a full morning on foot: Plaza Vieja, Plaza de San Francisco, Plaza de Armas and Plaza de la Catedral sit within ten minutes of each other. Cross the harbour in the late afternoon for the nine o'clock cannon at La Cabaña. Day two belongs to Vedado: the Colón cemetery, dinner in Centro Habana, the Fábrica de Arte after 21:00. Keep a third day for Hemingway's house and Jaimanitas. Bring cash.

Havana was founded in 1514 and moved to this harbour in 1519, which is why the old city faces a bottleneck of water guarded by two Spanish forts rather than the open sea. UNESCO listed Old Havana and its fortifications in 1982, and the Office of the City Historian has been rebuilding the quarter street by street ever since.

The 10 best things to do in Havana

Habana Vieja and its four plazas, Havana, Cuba
1

Habana Vieja and its four plazas

Historic quarter· Plaza Vieja, Habana Vieja, Havana

The old city is walkable in a morning and rewards a second pass. Plaza Vieja is the residential one, with a camera obscura in its northeast corner. Plaza de San Francisco faces the harbour. Plaza de Armas is the oldest. Plaza de la Catedral holds a baroque cathedral built from coral limestone, its fossils still visible in the facade.

Time4 hours
CostFree to walk
Best atBefore 10:00
TipWalk the plazas in the order above and you finish at the cathedral
↗ UNESCO listingMap
The Malecón at sunset, Havana, Cuba
2

The Malecón at sunset

Waterfront· Malecón, from Paseo del Prado west to the Almendares river, Havana

Eight kilometres of seawall, begun in 1901 and finished in stages over fifty years, and the closest thing Havana has to a public living room. In the hour before dark it fills with couples, fishermen working handlines and trumpet practice. The buildings behind take the salt badly, which is why restored facades alternate with shells.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostFree
Best atThe hour before sunset
TipAfter a winter norte the waves break clean over the wall and close the road
Map
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
3

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Museum· Trocadero e/ Agramonte (Zulueta) y Avenida de Bélgica, Habana Vieja

The national collection splits across two buildings five minutes apart. Cuban art fills the 1954 modernist block on Trocadero and is the stronger half: Lam, Peláez, Portocarrero and Cabrera in one line from colonial portraiture to the present. The universal collection sits in a 1927 palace whose staircase justifies the ticket by itself.

Time2 to 3 hours for both
CostCash in Cuban pesos
Best atWeekday mornings
TipThe two buildings are separately staffed and separately ticketed
Map
4

Fábrica de Arte Cubano

Arts venue· Calle 26 esq. 11, Vedado, Havana

A cooking-oil factory in Vedado turned into the most interesting building in the city: galleries, a concert hall, a screening room, half a dozen bars and a roof terrace in one shell. It opened in 2014 and the programme turns over constantly. Thursday to Sunday evenings, and it shuts for weeks between programmes.

TimeAn evening
CostCover charge at the door, cash
Best atFrom 21:00, Thursday to Sunday
TipYou are handed a card at the entrance
Map
El cañonazo de las nueve at La Cabaña, Havana, Cuba
5

El cañonazo de las nueve at La Cabaña

Fortress· Parque Histórico Militar Morro-Cabaña, Casablanca, Havana

The fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña was built after the British took Havana in 1762 and remains the largest Spanish colonial fortification in the Americas. Every night at 21:00 a squad in eighteenth-century uniform loads a cannon and fires it across the harbour. The ramparts give the best view of the old city there is.

Time2 to 3 hours including the crossing
CostEntry fee at the gate, cash
Best atArrive by 20:00 for a place on the wall
TipTaxis run through the harbour tunnel and will wait for you
↗ UNESCO listingMap
6

Museo de la Revolución and the Granma

Museum· Refugio 1, e/ Avenida de Bélgica (Monserrate) y Agramonte (Zulueta), Habana Vieja

The former Presidential Palace, finished in 1920 and decorated by Tiffany, has held the museum of the revolution since 1974. The building is the exhibit: the marble staircase still carries bullet damage from the 1957 student assault. Behind it, under glass, sits the Granma, the yacht that carried Castro from Mexico in 1956.

Time2 hours
CostCash in Cuban pesos at the door
Best atMornings
TipThe Granma pavilion sits outside the ticketed rooms
Map
El Capitolio and the Gran Teatro, Havana, Cuba
7

El Capitolio and the Gran Teatro

Landmark· Paseo del Prado, e/ San José y Dragones, Habana Vieja

The Capitolio was finished in 1929 for the Cuban congress, and its dome stands 91.73 metres. A decade of restoration ended in 2018 and it is again the seat of the National Assembly, with a gilded Statue of the Republic under the rotunda. Next door the Gran Teatro opened in 1915 and has housed the Ballet Nacional since 1965.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostGuided tours only
Best atLate afternoon
TipBallet tickets are sold at the Gran Teatro box office on the day
Map
Finca Vigía, Hemingway's house, Havana, Cuba
8

Finca Vigía, Hemingway's house

House museum· Vigía y Steinhart, San Francisco de Paula, San Miguel del Padrón, Havana

Ernest Hemingway bought this hilltop house in 1940 and lived here for two decades, writing The Old Man and the Sea on the property. He left in 1960 and gave it to Cuba, and it has barely been touched since: nine thousand books, the typewriter he worked at standing up, and the Pilar under cover in the garden.

Time2 hours plus the drive
CostEntry fee at the gate, cash
Best atDry mornings
TipThe house closes when it rains
Map
Necrópolis de Cristóbal Colón, Havana, Cuba
9

Necrópolis de Cristóbal Colón

Cemetery· Calle Zapata y Calle 12, Vedado, Havana

Fifty-six hectares of marble laid out as a city, with numbered streets, a chapel at the crossing and roughly 800,000 graves. Begun in 1871, completed in 1886 and a national monument since 1987. The grave people queue at is La Milagrosa, where visitors knock on the stone and leave without turning their back on it.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostEntry fee at the gate
Best atMorning
TipTake the map sold at the entrance
Map
10

Fusterlandia

Public art· Jaimanitas, Playa, Havana

In 1994 the artist José Fuster started tiling his own house in Jaimanitas, a fishing village at the western edge of the city. He did not stop, and neighbours began asking for their walls and gates too. More than eighty houses now carry the mosaics, so the project reads as a neighbourhood rather than an attraction.

Time1 hour
CostFree to walk
Best atDaylight, any day
TipIt is 20 km west of the old city with no useful bus
Map

7 of the 10, mapped

Havana · 7 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Havana travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Havana?+
Four. One for Habana Vieja and the harbour forts, one for Vedado and the cemetery, one for Hemingway's house and Jaimanitas, and one for a trip out to Viñales or the eastern beaches. Three works if you drop the day trip. The city rewards a slower pace than its size suggests, because crossing it takes longer than the map implies.
When is the best time to visit Havana?+
December to April, the dry season, when the city sits around 25°C and the humidity is bearable. Hurricane season runs June to November and peaks in September and October. July and August are hot, wet and the months Havana holds its carnival, so they are lively and uncomfortable in equal measure.
Do credit cards work in Cuba?+
No. Cards issued by US banks have never worked here, and since June 2026 the central bank has suspended Visa and Mastercard transactions entirely, whatever country issued the card. Bring everything you intend to spend as cash in euros or dollars, in small and mid-sized notes, and change what you need as you go.
Do you need a visa for Cuba?+
Most visitors need a tourist card, now issued electronically as an e-visa, valid for up to 90 days depending on nationality. Everyone must also complete the D'Viajeros arrival form online within seven days before landing and carry the QR code. Travellers from the US have a further set of rules under their own licence categories.
How bad are the power cuts?+
Real and frequent. Cuba's grid has failed nationally several times during 2026, and scheduled neighbourhood cuts run daily between those failures. Hotels and larger casas have generators; smaller guesthouses and restaurants often do not, so lifts, air conditioning and wifi stop with the power. Carry a power bank and cash.
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Havana

Six private kitchens, from the Centro Habana staircase everybody photographs to a Vedado penthouse with the sea behind it.
All 6 restaurants →
Centro Habana

La Guarida

Cuban fine dining · Concordia 418, e/ Gervasio y Escobar

The paladar that made the format famous, open since 1996 in the ruined mansion from Fresa y Chocolate.

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Centro Habana

San Cristóbal Paladar

Cuban · San Rafael 469, e/ Lealtad y Campanario

A 1940s house crowded with santería altars and colonial furniture, where the Obama family ate in 2016. Classic Cuban: roast pork, seafood, plantain.

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Vedado

El Cocinero

Mediterranean and Cuban · Calle 26, e/ 11 y 13

The brick chimney next to the Fábrica de Arte, with a terrace at the top reached by a spiral staircase. Grilled fish and cocktails before joining the queue below.

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Habana Vieja

Doña Eutimia

Traditional Cuban · Callejón del Chorro, Plaza de la Catedral

A small room off the alley beside the cathedral, doing the Cuban standards properly: ropa vieja, picadillo, pork with congrí. A queue at lunchtime.

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Habana Vieja

El del Frente

Small plates and cocktails · O'Reilly 303

An upstairs bar and kitchen on O'Reilly with a roof terrace, ceviche and some of the better cocktails in the old city. It faces its own sister restaurant.

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Café LaurentVedado

Café Laurent

Spanish and Cuban · Calle M, e/ 19 y 21

A penthouse in a 1950s block behind the Hotel Nacional, done in white with a balcony over Vedado. Spanish-leaning cooking and the quietest room here.

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After dark

Best live music and bars in Havana

Six rooms where the music is the point: a basement jazz club, a Sunday rumba in an alley, two Hemingway bars and the cabaret that has run since 1939.
All 6 live music and bars →
Vedado

La Zorra y el Cuervo

Jazz club · Calle 23, e/ N y O

The city's jazz basement, entered through a red telephone box on Calle 23. Two sets a night and tables tight against the stage.

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Centro Habana

Callejón de Hamel

Rumba and street art · Callejón de Hamel, e/ Espada y Hospital

Two blocks of alley in Cayo Hueso that Salvador González has been painting since 1990, around Santería imagery. The rumba starts at noon on Sundays.

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Habana Vieja

El Floridita

Cocktail bar · Obispo esq. Monserrate

The daiquiri bar at the end of Obispo: red-jacketed barmen and a bronze Hemingway on the counter. Touristed, and the drink is still made correctly.

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Habana Vieja

La Bodeguita del Medio

Mojito bar · Empedrado 207

A narrow bar off the cathedral square, open since 1942, its walls signed by decades of visitors and its claim on the mojito disputed by everyone else.

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Centro Habana

Casa de la Música Galiano

Salsa and timba · Galiano, e/ Concordia y Neptuno

The state-run salsa hall in Centro Habana, where the big timba bands play to a floor that knows every break. The late session is the serious dancing.

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Marianao

Tropicana

Cabaret · Calle 72, Marianao

The open-air cabaret in Marianao has run since 1939, staged under the trees with a cast of around two hundred. Expensive by every Cuban measure.

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Collections

Best museums and galleries in Havana

Five beyond the national gallery: a governor's palace, Napoleon's death mask, two art collections and the country's photographic archive.
All 5 museums and galleries →
Habana Vieja

Museo de la Ciudad

City history · Plaza de Armas, Tacón e/ Obispo y O'Reilly

The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales on Plaza de Armas, seat of the Spanish governors from 1791 and now the city museum. Baroque courtyard and state carriages.

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Vedado

Museo Napoleónico

Historic collection · San Miguel 1159, esq. Ronda

A Florentine-style mansion beside the university holding thousands of objects assembled by the sugar magnate Julio Lobo. The strangest collection in the Caribbean.

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Museo Nacional de Artes DecorativasVedado

Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas

Decorative arts · Calle 17, e/ D y E

A 1920s Vedado palace kept much as its owners left it, with rooms of Sèvres, Meissen and art deco. It shows how the Havana bourgeoisie actually lived.

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Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo LamHabana Vieja

Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam

Contemporary art · San Ignacio esq. Empedrado

The contemporary art centre opposite the cathedral, named for Cuba's best known painter and organiser of the Havana Biennial. The sharpest programme here.

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Fototeca de CubaHabana Vieja

Fototeca de Cuba

Photography · Mercaderes 307, Plaza Vieja

The national photographic collection on Plaza Vieja, with the Korda and Corrales archives behind it. The best account anywhere of how the revolution was photographed.

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The two exports

Best cigars and rum in Havana

Four places to understand what leaves the island: a rum museum, two cigar factories and the shop collectors fly in for.
All 4 cigars and rum →
Museo del Ron Havana ClubHabana Vieja

Museo del Ron Havana Club

Rum museum · Avenida del Puerto 262, esq. Sol

An eighteenth-century mansion on the harbour front, with a working scale model of a sugar mill and a guided walk through fermentation, distilling and ageing.

↗ MuseumMap
Habana Vieja

Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás

Cigar factory and shop · Industria 520

The yellow 1845 facade behind the Capitolio is the most photographed cigar factory in the world. Rolling has moved, so the shop and lounge are the reliable part.

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H. Upmann factoryCentro Habana

H. Upmann factory

Cigar factory tour · Padre Varela (Belascoaín), Centro Habana

The working factory most visitors are shown around, in Centro Habana. Tours take half an hour and pass sorting, rolling and the reader who reads aloud to the floor.

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La Casa del Habano, Quinta y 16Miramar

La Casa del Habano, Quinta y 16

Cigar shop and lounge · 5ta Avenida esq. 16, Miramar

The Miramar branch is the one cigar people cross the city for: a walk-in humidor, a lounge and staff who talk vintages. Buy here rather than in the street.

↗ HabanosMap
Where to base yourself

Best neighborhoods in Havana

Five districts, and the city changes character at every boundary between them.
All 5 neighborhoods →
Habana ViejaHabana Vieja

Habana Vieja

Colonial core · UNESCO listed in 1982

The restored colonial core, walkable end to end in half an hour, holding the four plazas and most of the museums. Quiet once the day trippers leave.

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Centro Habana

Centro Habana

Residential · Between the old city and Vedado

Dense, unrestored and the most lived-in part of the city, between the old town and Vedado. Several of the best paladares are here, and the streets are darker at night.

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Vedado

Vedado

1950s grid · Hotels, jazz and the Plaza de la Revolución

The mid-century grid: the Hotel Nacional, the university, the jazz clubs, and the Plaza de la Revolución. The best base if you want evenings out rather than monuments.

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Miramar and PlayaPlaya

Miramar and Playa

Embassies and mansions · West of the Almendares

West across the Almendares, where the embassies and 1950s mansions are. Fifth Avenue runs through it, and Jaimanitas sits at the far end.

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Regla and CasablancaRegla

Regla and Casablanca

Across the bay · Reached by the harbour ferry

Across the harbour on the lanchita, five minutes and a different city: a working port town, the shrine of the Virgen de Regla, and the white Christ above.

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Playas del Este

Best beaches in Havana

Three beaches within an hour east of the city, in the order most people should try them.
All 3 beaches →
Santa María del MarPlayas del Este

Santa María del Mar

Playas del Este · About 25 km east

The long white strip of Playas del Este, 25 km east, with loungers, beach bars and the most reliable water. Busiest at weekends.

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Guanabo

Guanabo

Playas del Este · Town beach

A small town at the eastern end of the same strip, beach in front and peso restaurants behind. The sand is coarser and the day feels less like an excursion.

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Bacuranao

Bacuranao

Playas del Este · Cove with a reef

The nearest of the eastern beaches, in a sheltered cove with a reef close in, which makes it the pick for snorkelling rather than swimming lengths. Quiet on weekdays.

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Out of the city

Best day trips in Havana

Five trips, from the tobacco valley two and a half hours west to the reef where the Bay of Pigs landings happened.
All 5 day trips →
Pinar del Río

Viñales

Pinar del Río · 180 km, about 2.5 hours

The tobacco valley 180 km west, listed by UNESCO in 1999 for a landscape still farmed by hand between limestone mogotes. Better as an overnight if you can spare one.

↗ UNESCO listingMap
Artemisa

Las Terrazas

Artemisa · About 75 km, 1.5 hours

A 1960s reforestation settlement inside a UNESCO biosphere reserve 75 km west, with a ruined coffee plantation and a river to swim in. The easiest half day out.

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Playa Girón and the Bay of PigsMatanzas

Playa Girón and the Bay of Pigs

Matanzas · About 180 km, 3 hours

Roughly 180 km southeast, where the 1961 invasion landed. There is a museum, and the shore drops into clear water, which makes it the best diving near Havana.

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VaraderoMatanzas

Varadero

Matanzas · 140 km, about 2 hours

The resort peninsula 140 km east, with 20 km of beach and the clearest water on the north coast. Go for the sand and come back the same evening.

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Matanzas and the Yumurí valleyMatanzas

Matanzas and the Yumurí valley

Matanzas · About 100 km, 1.5 hours

The provincial city on the road to Varadero, with the restored Sauto theatre and the green Yumurí valley behind it. The trip most visitors skip.

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What's on

Festivals & annual events in Havana (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
25 January to 1 February 2026

Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza

Concerts across Havana with parallel programmes in Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara and Holguín.

Late February

Festival del Habano

The cigar world's week in Havana: factory visits, tastings and an auction of humidors. Confirm dates before booking.

Early March

Fiesta del Tambor, Guillermo Barreto in Memoriam

A percussion festival and competition founded in 2001, with concerts across the city and dancing at the Salón Rosado.

1 May

Primero de Mayo

The May Day march crosses the Plaza de la Revolución from first light, the one morning the square is full.

10 to 16 August 2026

Feria Internacional del Libro de La Habana

The Havana book fair, moved out of the Cabaña fortress for the first time since 2000, to the Estación Cultural de Línea.

August weekends

Carnaval de La Habana

Comparsas, drum sections and floats along the Malecón over successive weekends. Dates are announced late.

15 November 2026

Marabana

The Havana marathon, starting at 06:00 on Avenida Independencia, with a half marathon and a 10 km alongside it.

3 to 13 December 2026

Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano

The Havana film festival, running in cinemas across the city. Tickets are cheap and the queues are long.

Getting around

Havana transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
HAV

José Martí International Airport

About 15 km southwest of the centre. There is no train and no practical bus, so take a taxi from the rank outside arrivals, roughly half an hour into town.

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Taxi

Taxis and almendrones

Three overlapping systems. State and tourist taxis charge hard currency. Almendrones, the pre-1960 American cars, run fixed routes for pesos. The fare is always agreed first.

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Bus

Buses and the harbour ferry

There is no metro. City guaguas are cheap, crowded and paid in pesos. The lanchita from Muelle Luz crosses to Regla in five minutes and is the cheapest view of the skyline.

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Intercity

Víazul long-distance buses

How most visitors cross the island, with coaches from Nuevo Vedado to Viñales, Varadero, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santiago. Seats are reserved online and paid in person in hard currency.

↗ VíazulMap
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Havana, Cuba

The classics to order before you leave.

Ropa vieja

Beef flank simmered until it shreds, then finished with peppers, onion, tomato and cumin.

Congrí

Rice and red beans cooked together in one pot with pork fat, bay and cumin, so the grains take the colour.

Lechón asado

Whole pig marinated in sour orange and garlic and roasted slowly over charcoal in the open.

Tostones

Green plantain cut thick, fried, flattened and fried again, salted and served with garlic mojo.

Ajiaco criollo

The old creole stew: several meats with malanga, yuca, boniato, corn and plantain cooked down for hours.

Frita habanera

A street burger of seasoned beef and chorizo in a soft roll, under a nest of shoestring potatoes.

Tamal en cazuela

The tamal taken out of its husk and cooked as a soft corn porridge with pork. A working lunch.

Pan con lechón

Roast pork with raw onion and mojo in a bread roll, sold from doorways all over Centro Habana.

Havana fact sheet

Havana at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Cuba
Region
Province of La Habana, on the north coast of western Cuba
Population
Under 2 million, down from 2,132,183 in 2020 as emigration accelerated (ONEI)
Founded
1514 on the south coast, moved to this harbour in 1519 as San Cristóbal de La Habana
Nickname
La Llave del Nuevo Mundo, the key to the New World
Language
Spanish
Currency
Cuban peso (CUP). A cash economy: euros and US dollars are widely accepted
Time zone
UTC-5, and UTC-4 under daylight saving from March to November
Calling code
+53 7
Airports
HAV
Power
110V, 220V in some hotels · Types A & B, occasionally C & L
Emergency
106 police, 104 ambulance, 105 fire
Ideal length
4 days
Getting around
Walking, taxis & almendrones
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • Old Havana and its fortifications went on the UNESCO list in 1982. The restoration has been run by the Office of the City Historian.
  • The cannon fired at La Cabaña at 21:00 survives from a colonial routine: it once announced the closing of the city gates.
  • The Malecón was begun in 1901 and took half a century to reach its present 8 km. Salt spray is why the buildings behind it decay.
  • Almost every classic American car on the street predates 1960. New US vehicles stopped arriving with the embargo.
  • The Colón cemetery covers 56 hectares and holds roughly 800,000 graves on a street grid with its own addresses.

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