Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Four quarters, each a different city. The question in Havana is not really which hotel — it is which neighbourhood, how many flights of stairs you are willing to climb, and how far you want to be from the sea wall at six in the evening. Here is the honest comparison.
This page carries no booking buttons, and that is deliberate. Our booking partner sells no accommodation in Cuba at all — we checked, city by city, and the searches returned properties in Florida, Panama, Chile, Slovenia and Colombia. We will not point a button at the wrong country to earn a commission, so this is a guide to where to stay rather than a shop. Book through a casa particular directly, or through an agency that specialises in Cuba.
American readers: U.S. law does not permit tourism to Cuba, and travel must fall within an OFAC licence category. Under the widely used Support for the Cuban People category you are expected to stay in privately owned casas particulares rather than state hotels. The State Department’s Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List separately bars U.S. persons from lodging at, paying for lodging at, or booking a listed property, wherever the booking is made — and it covers many of the best-known hotels. See the full Cuba chapter, and confirm the current position with OFAC and the State Department.
Havana runs west along the sea from the old walled town. The further west you go, the greener, quieter and more spread out it gets — and the more you will use taxis. Ratings below are ours, and we have tried to be candid about the drawbacks as well as the charm.
The four great squares, the cathedral, the restored colonial streets — and where nine visitors in ten want to be.
The dense, unrestored middle between the old town and Vedado. Cheapest, most Cuban, least polished.
The leafy 20th-century grid west of Centro: wide streets, big trees, the Hotel Nacional above the Malecón, and the best live music in the city.
Embassy country across the tunnel — mansions, gardens, sea air and space. Peaceful, and a long way out.
Twenty to thirty minutes east: Santa María del Mar and Guanabo, where Havana goes to swim.
A licensed room or small apartment in a private home, and for most visitors the best stay in Havana by a distance. Your money reaches a Cuban family directly, breakfast is usually excellent and cheap, and your hosts will find you a driver, a table, a plumber or a doctor faster than any concierge. For American travellers under Support for the Cuban People, this is effectively required rather than optional.
The single most useful question in Havana, and almost nobody asks it. A great many casas — particularly the beautiful ones in Habana Vieja and Centro — are on the second or third floor of an old building with a steep, narrow staircase and no lift. Ask how many flights, and whether there is a lift that actually works. In Vedado, ground-floor and lift-served apartments are far easier to find.
With blackouts routine, a casa with its own generator or a battery backup is worth paying more for — it usually means lights, a fan and a phone charge through an outage. Ask directly: “¿Tienen planta?”
Havana’s grand hotels are state-owned, and several of the best-known are on the U.S. Prohibited Accommodations List, which bars U.S. persons from lodging there or booking on anyone’s behalf, wherever the booking is made. On top of that, Meliá, Iberostar and Barceló all wound up their Cuban operations in mid-2026, so the international management those hotels once had has gone. Check the current list before you consider one.
Habana Vieja is compact and endlessly rewarding on foot — the four squares are within ten minutes of one another — but the surfaces are the catch. Cobbles, broken kerbs, missing paving slabs and the occasional open hole. Sensible shoes, and take it slowly in the middle of the day.
Vedado is the easiest walking in Havana: a flat grid of wide, tree-shaded streets with named avenues that are simple to navigate. If steady footing matters to you, base yourself here and take taxis into the old town.
The Malecón itself is a level, uninterrupted promenade of about seven miles. You will not walk all of it, but the stretch below the Hotel Nacional at sunset is the finest free hour in the city.
Havana taxis come in three kinds. Private taxis and the classic American cars are for visitors and are negotiated before you get in — always agree the fare first, in a currency you both name aloud. Colectivos, the shared fixed-route cars, are how Cubans move; cheap, crowded and a genuine experience. Coco-taxis, the yellow three-wheelers, are fun and not for anyone with a bad back.
From the airport, arrange the transfer through your casa in advance. It is the single easiest thing to get right and it saves a negotiation at the end of a long flight.
A hired car is unnecessary in Havana and, given the fuel situation, a nuisance. For a day out — Cojímar, the beaches, Viñales — hire a car with a driver. It costs little more and removes every problem.
Havana rewards slowness. Pick two things a day and leave the afternoon alone.
Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja, Plaza de San Francisco and the cathedral square. Start early, before the heat and the tour groups, and finish with coffee in the shade of Plaza Vieja.
Seven miles of sea wall and half the city out on it — fishermen, families, courting couples, someone with a guitar. Free, and the most Cuban hour you will spend.
Two buildings, and the Cuban one is outstanding — a national art collection of real depth that most visitors walk straight past. Cool, quiet and a fine refuge from an afternoon.
The jazz clubs and the Casa de la Música draw genuinely serious musicians. Ask your hosts what is on this week; the good nights are not advertised anywhere you will find.
Vast, stark and unmistakable, with the Che and Cienfuegos portraits on the ministries. Go early or late; there is no shade at all.
A few minutes across the harbour on a working commuter boat, for the price of nothing, with the best view back at the old city there is.
Power. Blackouts are routine. Havana is prioritised over the rest of the island, but plan on losing power at some point. Bring a torch and a large power bank, and ask your hosts on arrival what the outage pattern is that week — they will know it to the hour.
Water. Drink bottled or filtered water, and use it for cleaning teeth. Supply is intermittent in parts of Centro and Habana Vieja; most casas keep a tank, which is another reason they are the easier stay.
Internet. Patchy and slow. Buy an ETECSA card or an eSIM before you need one, expect it not to work sometimes, and tell people at home in advance that you may be quiet for a day.
Money. Cash only, in practice. Since 6 June 2026 Visa and Mastercard have not been processed anywhere in Cuba, for any nationality. Bring euros or Canadian dollars in clean notes, change what you need at a bank, a CADECA or through your casa, and never in the street.
Eating. The private paladares are where the good food is, and Havana’s best are genuinely very good. Book the popular ones a day ahead; supply shortages mean the menu you are given is a suggestion, and the daily specials are the real menu.
Asking for help. Cubans are extraordinarily helpful and will walk you somewhere rather than point. A little Spanish goes a long way; almost nobody outside the hotels speaks much English.
For a first visit, Habana Vieja if atmosphere matters most and you do not mind noise and uneven ground; Vedado if easy walking, quiet nights and live music matter more. Centro is the best value and the most unvarnished. Miramar is peaceful and needs a taxi for everything. Many visitors split a week: three nights in the old town, three in Vedado.
A casa, in almost every case. It costs less, the breakfast is better, your money goes to a Cuban family, and your hosts solve problems no front desk can. For American travellers under the Support for the Cuban People category a casa is effectively required. And Havana’s state hotels have had a difficult year — several are on the U.S. Prohibited Accommodations List, and the international chains that ran many of them wound up their Cuban operations in mid-2026.
Yes, by the standards of large cities, and violent crime against visitors is genuinely rare. What you should expect is persistent street hustling in the tourist parts of the old town — offers of cigars, restaurants, taxis and company — which is wearing rather than dangerous. Keep your phone out of sight, do not carry all your cash, agree taxi fares in advance, and walk with purpose after dark in Centro.
Three or four. Two is enough to see the old town and feel cheated; a week is very pleasant if you use it to slow down rather than to add sights. If you are touring the island, Havana at the start and one night at the end before your flight is a good shape.
Not usually, but they will shape it. Expect to lose power at some point. A casa with a generator is worth the extra, a torch and a power bank are essential, and the cooler months from December to April are markedly more comfortable when the air conditioning stops. Nothing about this is dangerous; it is simply a thing to plan for rather than be surprised by.
Our full Cuba guide covers the legal position for American travellers, the money situation and how to get around the island; the best time to visit page takes the year month by month.