Wednesday 27 April 2011

Havana Holiday Guide - Insider

If this is your first holiday in Havana, headed straight beautiful restored Old Havana (La Habana Vieja). Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the region's many lovingly restored to its former glory. Is the colonial question, festival of color and full of atmosphere, a pleasant mix of architectural styles endlessly fascinating.

The area is a treasure to go around and Vedado, liveliest part of town during the day. It has four beautiful places 16th century. View sleepy Plaza Vieja (right). There are numerous museums and galleries in the area and many of Havana's most impressive sights.

Impressive Handicrafts Market Frías ARTESA just behind the Iglesia de la Calle San Pedro de Paula, not to be missed. It sells every conceivable Cuban boat is equipped with CADECA, fruit vendors, kiosks and a lively lounge, where you can relax with a drink and enjoy the view over the port (Note, but closes on Mondays).

Wander off main drag, Calle Obispo, instead of the old town and see the well-established residential area home to about 70,000 people. Coffee Cafes will take a break from El Escorial Plaza Vieja. Avoid the tourists and head to another La Barrita an impressive art deco Bacardi building in the Avenida de los Misiones. At the Parque Central, a bustling main square, watching the world go by from the porch of England Hotel. Pop a small café Telgrafo Hotel, a quiet escape from the water fountain with a waterfall running with a colorful mosaic. Or enjoy one of the best mojito in Havana's Hotel NH. Culture, check out the Museo de Bellas Artes, Havana excellent international art museum, just outside the Parque Central and just a few meters away from the Calle Obispo. Pop in a hotel room, where Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his world-famous Ambo Mundo literary work, standing at his desk, to visit.

Visit the colorful quirky Corte Arte barbershop that serves the gallery-cum-art gallery. He has a nice selection of antiques and some interesting paintings Cuban artists, including a number of owners, Pepito. Calle Aguiar # 10, between the Pena Pobre, and Avenida de las Misiones.

When walking around infected with the appetite, which is now the best restaurant for food safety, the Café del Oriente. This is a nice, air-conditioned oasis of elegance and service to match the interior. Calle Oficios # 112, corner of Calle Amargura. Tel. 860 6686.

Havana's weathered-8-km-long promenade is by far the most popular hangout in town. Overlooking the expanse of water from Cuba, Florida, the area is a famous place for dreamers, lovers and friends. It is the spiritual heart of the city and the nerve of his social life, round-the-clock phenomenon. Most nights, people crowd the air ocean warming during the day is another post. One of the best prospects for the Malecon elegant garden terrace Hotel Nacional.

If you want an impressive sight to watch, check out the La Torre. View from Floor 33 of the highest residential building in Havana, is breathtaking. Why is this so special is that you can walk right around the building, through the restaurant, Bar, and enjoy 360 degree views over the bay and the city. Edificio FOCSA, Calle 17, corner of Calle M, Vedado. Tel. 832 2451.

The environment itself, Vedado, Havana, is perhaps the most interesting. No holiday in Havana is complete without paying them a visit. This is a funky, different and alternative. You could easily lose the charm of his more lively option, Avenida 23, La Rampa aka, if you will only see the lower end of a rather bleak reaches of scenic Malecon Yara cinema. Situated in the most cosmopolitan city connections, Yara is a cultural institution in Havana.

La Rampa heart began to beat Western Yara. Here, and only the landscape, tourists will find some welcome change from the rest of the city. The overall mood is giddy 1970th From mulatta dressed in white (the exponents of Afro-Caribbean religion Santer), reggaeton the hustlers of massive sunglasses, is a cornucopia of colors and personalities of the area. Watch the world go by on the sidewalk with the locals is a popular bar, La Rampita.

It is a very hot day in Havana feel pressure cooker. So instead of suffering the driver dead heat at the beach. Havana's best beaches are Tropicoco (also known as Santa Mara del Mar) and related Megano. They are about 20 km east of the town of Playa del Este (East Coast) area.

The area is very popular with both local and visitors looking at your environment and the turquoise Atlantic Ocean, chilled-out vibe. Tropicoco are two of the most touristy. Megano is a lot less people quiet. Tropicoco NAUTICO Branch Club, you can rent snorkeling gear, pedal and banana boats, canoes and catamarans.

The magic is still relatively undeveloped in this area, except in a seemingly random group of villas, hotels and places for gay grim Soviet-style 'n' cheap. A few meters along the coast and you will always find your little piece of sandy beach in solitude.

This is a 30-minute drive from downtown. 20CUC and are willing to pay more than the price in advance. A special tourist bus runs every 30 minutes from 9:00 to 07:00 every day. It stops right opposite Hotel Parque Central England and take passengers as far Megano (choice of three stops on the beaches, is the first Tropicoco). Return ticket costs 3CUC. Children under six ride free.

Situated in Centro Habana is the dust, is the spiritual home of the Afro-Cuban culture in the capital. This little street, where every Sunday from about 03:00 hours. Fever sessions free live music bands are leading more and more popular rumba. The event attracts large crowds and to take all the white Afro-Cuban (Santer) religion spread to include the exotic color. The area itself is a strange city, and alternative-art project with a flashy painted houses, a prominent street murals, weird and wonderful shops and impressive images created by the waste. Check out the beautiful color the house opposite the entrance. Between the Calle Calle San Lazaro Hospital and the Aramburu.

Only five minutes walk from the Parque Central, Havana's Capitolio Nacional is a replica of the Capitol dome in Washington. This is the most extravagant buildings in Havana and the extraordinary. A bright marble and gold, was completed in 1929 after a construction crew of more than 5000 three years working under the supervision of Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado. 11-meter bronze statue of the shape of the Republic is the third largest in the world. His legs are scratch marks in the diamond, where the distances from the road Havana Cuba, the rest is measured. The entrance is on Calle Industria and 3CUC.Corner Calle Barcelona, ??La Habana Vieja.

more wealthy Havana suburb of Miramar offers a fascinating look at the life of upwardly mobile direction Habanero. Fifth Avenue is a wonderful race (although the traffic syringes), the city, while the third is a tempting avenue parallel to the quiet, cozy neighborhood feel, and relatively few tourists. One of the most popular haunts for the middle class is thriving Havana Centro de Negocios Miramar.

The mixture of office buildings and shopping in a crowded hallways tiled exterior, with a few five-star hotels in Havana, Habana So this is an excellent area for a few hours away. Some of the amenities are four cafe / restaurant (all called "Amelia"), a cool new wine bar called "Halo's" supermarket, pharmacy, boutiques and shops selling clothes, shoes, sporting goods and jewelry. For the younger ones in the corner Comodoro Center, paying particular attention to clothing and perfume and jewelry.

A large salt water pool and the beach Copacabana Hotel Miramar is something well-kept secret. The Week is still a pleasant, typically only a handful of tourists and their Cuban friends and / or loved ones. Friday is full of wealthy Cubans and guests at the hotel.

10CUC access to non-residents. You spend 8CUC credit at the pool bar for food and / or drink. First Avenue between Calle 44 and Calle 46, Miramar.

University of Havana is a beautiful, shady place to wait for a dream provider dilapidated streets below. Art is a surprisingly neglected by tourists, and the best of him. The library consists of a series of rooms. Main Library, Martnez Rubner Ville, from the 1936th This cozy place for a long, brown tables for reading, and a colorful tiled floors.

Sit for a while through the window of a very hot day. Feel the wind leaves and hissed, and then you tend to wish you were a student again. (Just do not ruin the experience of the courtyard is the use of toilet!). Calle O, between Avenida 23 and Calle 25, Vedado.

Soviet-style government buildings surrounded by asphalt square, Plaza de la Revolución, he is a political nerve in Cuba. The best time to check this place gauntly impressive at night when most of its prominent feature, and two bronze silhouette of a revolutionary icon, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, ironically, "he stressed. Another major attraction is the Museo y Jos Mart n Memorial, tribute to the seminal revolutionary Cuba. North Western Plaza is home to El Teatro Nacional, Cuba's National Theatre. In the same building is one of the most popular city places, live music, cafe cantante Mi Habana. Avenida Paseo Corner, and Carlos Manuel de Cspedes, Vedado.

This was before Castro, the largest Asian communities in Latin America is now a small handful on the streets of Centro Habana. This is El Barrio Chino, China Town. Incompatibility is delicious, and just a few minutes walk from the Parque Central Bank. Those who love Chinese food restaurants to check pedestrian Calle Cuchillo Ten Tan, probably the best Asian restaurant in the area. And if you have a particularly sweet tooth, this dulceraon corner of Calle Calle and San Nicol Zanja (these rules) for a sample of the tastiest meals in Havana.