Nights out and soaking up Havana

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
1
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
8
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
9
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
7
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
9
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
82 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
31st/454
Top 10%
continent
North America
country
Cuba
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 ($50-$250 in 2019 prices)
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Bustling restaurants Live music Old town
All Tags
Big city Christian site City Walls Palaces Partying / Lash Restaurant recommendations Rooftop Bars UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐
Summary

Wandering the historic city streets of Havana, feeling at times like you’ve been transported back to the old colonial Spanish capital yet with an otherworldly feel of being in a country that went on a different tangent to the rest of the world, siping mojitos as you move from one music filled bar to the next and sampling food from restaurants that in any other city would be a highlight for their architecture alone.  When you throw in the sheer friendliness and positivity of the locals, Havana, if done the right way, is a truly unique experience and, in my opinion, the best Old Town to visit in Latin America

Highlights
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#1 Wandering the truly wonderful Old Town, and trying and succeeding to get thoroughly lost along the way

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#2 Jumping in one of the old school colourful cabs and just watching the city go by

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#3 Working your way through the mojitos and the cigars. As expected, they really are done best in Havana

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#4 Taking in some of the superb restaurants, with their at times fantastic architecture

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#5 The amazing colours! All seems so much brighter in Cuba

Travel Tips

  • Get lost in the Old Town – best tip for Havana is to let yourself get lost in the maze of streets in the historic Habana Vieja.  Its safe, atmospheric and when you get tired just drop into one of the bars or restaurants for a mojito
  • Meet as many Cubans as you can – Cubans are seriously friendly, but in the tourist areas, like anywhere in the world, there can be street hawkers trying to sell you things.  My suggestion is to engage in a conversation with some of them – sure they will be trying to sell you something, but often they are also happy for a longer chat over lunch or for a drink nearby.  Each time we visited, we met a Cuban trying to engage us in conversation on the street and ended up going for lunch with them.  Yes we paid for lunch and yes he was probably getting a cut from bringing us there, but the cost was tiny and we loved learning more about their lives in Cuba
  • Not as good off a cruise ship – I’m not so sure just how good a Havana experience you’ll have from a Cruise Ship stopover.  It may very well be fun, but there was something great about staying in a private homestay (see below) that really added to the overall experience that I fear you may miss if jumping back onboard a pristine cruise ship for the evening
  • Restaurant / bar recommendations:
    • La Guarida – do it, simply for the architecture and views across the city
    • Los Mercaderes – gorgeous food and see if you can get a table on the outside balcony
    • Ivan Chef Justo – restaurant brimming with character and very decent food
    • Hotel Sevilla – great spot to sit in the courtyard, listening to the live music and having a drink

 

  • Broad travelling in Cuba tips:
    • Cuba often feels like another world – my suggestion is try to embrace this and enjoy the experience.  Throw out the window the expectations of efficiency and how you think things should be run, and be prepared for things simply not to work.  The idea, for example, of customer service can often be very alien in certain industries and you’ll find yourself often being completely ignored in a shop when the shop attendant has found something more interesting to do
    • That being said, the Cuban people are a seriously friendly bunch who, if you engage them with the right level of friendliness and respect, can be the real highlight of your trip.  To be able to have a discussion (languages permitting) with people who look at the world so differently to you and are so proud and enthusiastic for their country, is something you’ll always remember
    • Stay in a Casa Particular – from what we saw, some of the international hotels (in particular in Havana) were super expensive.  Way better to stay in a casa particular (private homestay).  Whilst the standard won’t be high, its a better experience as it allows you to meet local Cubans (arguably the highlight of the whole trip for us) and to see more of the real side of Cuba (think living in a tropical 1950s).  To find the right homestay, I’d suggest starting with Airbnb and www.cubacasas.net (booking.com didn’t work at the time in Cuba)
    • Cash – the money situation is a funny one and one that seems to change quite often.  The best tip is just to do a 10min search on google before you go and check with your bank / credit card company as to whether your card will work for withdrawals and for spending.  Broadly when we went, anything US-aligned (eg cash and cards) didn’t work.  Euros did
    • Getting around – taxis in Havana are cheap, safe and fun.  From town to town, my suggestion is to get a local Cuban (such as in your homestay) to help you out – a driver through them will be more expensive than local public transport but save you a lot of hassle and time
    • See here for my itinerary for Going back in time for a week in Cuba
Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other Old Town Experiences

Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town
⭐⭐⭐

2 days stopover in Quito
⭐

A couple of days in Arequipa
⭐⭐

Trip to Colonia del Sacramento from Buenos Aires
⭐⭐

Exploring Grenada’s small capital of St Georges
⭐

Wandering Dubrovnik’s Old Town City Walls
⭐⭐

Zanzibar’s 5 highlights
⭐⭐⭐⭐

A few days in Penang for George Town and beaches
⭐⭐

Salamanca’s Old Town
⭐⭐⭐

Historic Seville
⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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