Sway to the Salsa Beat: The Best Times to Visit Vibrant Havana
Sway to the Salsa Beat: The Best Times to Visit Vibrant Havana - Stay in a Casa Particular for an Authentic Experience
One of the best ways to dive into the real Havana is to stay in a casa particular. These family-run guesthouses are scattered throughout the city and provide an authentic, affordable way to experience Cuban hospitality. Staying in a casa particular offers a local perspective you just won't find at one of the big hotels catering to tourists.
When you stay in a casa particular, you'll likely interact more with regular Cubans going about their daily lives. Expect to see kids playing ball in the streets, old timers chatting on the corner, and families gathered on their front patios. Your host will share insider tips on the best places to sample street food, hear live music, or hunt for treasures in dusty antique shops. They'll suggest which classic car drivers give the smoothest rides and know the most intriguing stories and history.
Meals at a casa particular offer a delicious taste of homestyle Cuban cuisine. Many casas offer breakfast and dinner for a small additional charge. Dig into staples like rice, beans, roasted pork, and fried plantains. Tropical fruits and juices are always on hand. Meals are often served family-style so you can swap stories and laugh over rum cocktails with fellow guests and your hosts.
Most casas have just a handful of rooms, so you'll also forge friendships with other travelers. Solo guests will appreciate the built-in community. Families will love the communal atmosphere and interacting with local kids. Couples can trade date night recommendations with other pairs looking to enjoy Havana's romantic charms.
Staying in a Cuban family's home lets you see their daily reality. Peek inside the ration book that dictates what basic foods every household receives. Learn about the chores, careers, and hobbies that occupy their time. Discover which American pop culture has infiltrated through the years. Discuss their frustrations and hopes for the future of Cuba. These personal interactions create understanding that cable news soundbites can't convey.
While casa particulars used to be mostly word-of-mouth finds, it's now easy to book one in advance online. HavanaCasas.com curates charming options like La Rosa de Ortega with its rooftop terrace and Conde de Ricla Hostal with a stunning interior courtyard. Feel good knowing most of your rental fee goes directly to the owners instead of corporate coffers.
Sway to the Salsa Beat: The Best Times to Visit Vibrant Havana - Indulge in Cuban Cuisine from Restaurants to Street Food
Havana offers a smorgasbord of culinary delights, from upscale nueva cocina restaurants to hole-in-the-wall paladares serving homestyle classics. Exploring the city’s varied flavors provides a tasty education in Cuban culture and history.
For a fine dining experience, book a table at one of Havana's nueva cocina restaurants. Chefs at hot spots like El Cocinero fuse traditional Cuban ingredients with modern techniques and international influences. The garden setting of El Cocinero in a converted peanut oil factory highlights fresh organic produce. Menu standouts include roasted pumpkin soup with crunchy ham croutons and breaded hake with black rice. Portions are artfully presented instead of heaping. Save room for the guava cheesecake with cornmeal crust.
No visit to Havana is complete without stopping for a mojito or daiquiri at La Bodeguita del Medio. Allegedly a favorite watering hole of Ernest Hemingway, the divey ambiance is part of the appeal. The bartender may serenade you while mixing the legendary rum-and-lime cocktails. Then sign your name alongside decades of other celebrity patrons on the graffiti-covered walls. Despite the tourist mobs, don't miss La Bodeguita's laid-back charm.
For a quintessentially Cuban meal, make a dinner reservation at a local paladar. Thanks to relaxed regulations, these family-run restaurants are cropping up across Havana. Paladares serve homestyle classics like ropa vieja (shredded beef), moros y cristianos (rice and black beans), and tostones (twice-fried plantains). Highlights at Doña Eutimia include their ropa vieja and malanga fritters with garlic mojo dipping sauce. Snag a table on the pretty covered patio of San Cristóbal. Their seafood stew bursts with prawns, lobster, and whitefish in a tomato broth.
Street food sizzles on every corner in Havana as cigar-smoking vendors dish out snacks from makeshift grills. Locals flock to these curbside operations for cheap, freshly made bites. Grab a cone of chicharrones (fried pork belly) or a pan queso empanada hot from the oil. For less than $1, enjoy a juicy ham sandwich known as a bocadito. Wash it down with guarapo, sweet sugarcane juice poured from a pitcher.
Scout out the food stands near Parque Central for savory empanadas and sandwiches. Or head to Plaza de la Catedral for tostadas topped with tomato sauce and cheese. Plaza Vieja offers everything from hot dogs to shrimp skewers. Wherever you wander, keep an eye out for mobile vendors hawking homemade peanut brittle and coconut nougat. Getting lost in Havana leads to the tastiest discoveries.
Sway to the Salsa Beat: The Best Times to Visit Vibrant Havana - Tour the Streets in a Classic Car for Retro Charm
Cruising through Havana's steamy streets in the backseat of a 1950s convertible provides a transporting trip back in time. Vintage American cars from the pre-revolution era prowl the roadways as taxis and tour vehicles. Their gleaming paint jobs, bold colors, and tail fins evoke feelings of nostalgia. Touring the city this way allows you to soak up the retro vibes that still permeate Havana's neighborhoods.
Gliding by in one of these well-preserved beauties makes you feel like you've been cast as an extra in The Godfather orDirty Dancing. Stick your arm up to catch the breeze while snapping selfies and pictures of locals going about their days. Many of the classic car drivers are a highlight themselves, sporting newsboy caps, aviator shades, and guayabera shirts. They'll happily play salsa, jazz, or Buena Vista Social Club tapes to enhance the old-school atmosphere.
Most visitors book a ride in advance through their hotel or casa particular. About $25 per hour gets you a driver and personalized city tour in a 1956 pale blue Ford Fairlane, cherry red Desoto Firefly, or canary yellow Chevy Bel Air. But you can also flag down one of the vintage taxis and negotiate a rate on the spot. The cars congregate in popular tourist zones like Parque Central, outside Hemingway haunt El Floridita, and in Plaza de la Revolucion.
Having a camera ready is a must as these cars present endless opportunities for Instagram-worthy shots. Frame the Capitol building or Museum of the Revolution through an antique convertible's open window. Capture your travel companions smiling with vintage gas pumps and neon signs behind them. The Malecón seaside boulevard, lined with pastel art deco buildings, makes a particularly scenic background.
In addition to photo ops, cruising by classic car lets you cover a lot of ground and see main attractions. Standard routes go along the Malecon past Colon Cemetery. They'll likely swing through Old Havana's cobblestoned core and pass Revolution Square. Many also drive through Miramar, Havana's most upscale district. If you have specific sights you want to visit, just share them with your driver.
While some tourists only take quick spin, devote at least a couple hours to a Havana classic car tour. Extending your excursion provides a better sense of the sprawling city's distinct neighborhoods. It allows you to experience Havana as a local would, going about errands or visiting friends across town. Given the cars' leisurely pace, you'll also have more time to appreciate little details other tours might zip past.
Sway to the Salsa Beat: The Best Times to Visit Vibrant Havana - Experience Cuban Music and Dance at Nightclubs and Cabarets
Havana comes alive when the sun goes down, with infectious rhythms spilling onto the streets from late-night clubs and cabarets. Live Cuban music and sensual dancing make these venues must-visit nightlife experiences. Grab a drink, loosen up, and let the driving beats move your feet.
Few musical genres evoke the passion of Cuba like salsa. Watching professional salsa dancers perform is impressive, but for the full immersion, head to open-air La Jardin in Vedado. The large dance floor fills up around 10pm as patrons pair off to spin and shimmy. Even novice dancers will pick up the basic steps as the live band gets the crowd's hips swaying. The festive atmosphere and mojitos encourage shedding inhibitions. By midnight, just about everyone is on their feet, surrendering to the rhythms.
For a dazzling spectacle, snag tickets for the Tropicana cabaret, Havana's iconic showgirl review. Open since 1939, the outdoor club captures the decadence of pre-revolution Cuba. Elaborate production numbers feature feathered, bejeweled dancers and rollicking rumba rhythms. With drinks and cigars flowing freely, the mood is indulgent and carefree. The $100+ ticket price buys you a front-row glimpse into Havana's glamorous musical heyday.
Late nights at open-air bar Casa de la Musica overflow with informal revelry. Head to the Miramar location to experience timba, a rapid-fire musical hybrid birthed in Havana. The bands pack multiple percussionists for complex overlapping rhythms. Watch for call-and-response with the vocalists and improvised dance breaks. Soak up the jubilant energy as celebratory crowds keep the party pumping until 3am.
For a uniquely Cuban genre, catch a performance of Buena Vista Social Club style son cubano. This rootsy music evolved from African drumming and Spanish guitar, transforming into a forerunner of salsa. Shows at Café Taberna feature guitar, trumpet, percussion, and sweet harmonies from seasoned son musicians. The music evokes Havana's vintage vibe and transports you to an earlier era in an intimate setting.
Jazz also courses through Havana's musical veins, evidenced by nightly shows at La Zorra y El Cuervo. Dim lighting sets the mood as crooners belt out tunes in Spanish and English backed by a tight four-piece band. Sets start around 10pm but the real action is the late night jam session. That's when visiting musicians join the roster, experimenting over Cuban beats into the wee hours. With its iconic jazz history, Havana delivers top-notch talent and improvisation.
Sway to the Salsa Beat: The Best Times to Visit Vibrant Havana - Shop Local Crafts and Cigars at Cuban Markets
Hunting for treasures in Havana's markets offers a chance to chat with local artisans and practice your haggling skills. Browsing stalls filled with handmade souvenirs, antiques, and of course Cuba's famed cigars proves that some of the best travel purchases can't be found online.
At the sprawling, open-air San Jose Market, you'll rub elbows with Havana residents as you wind through corridors packed with produce and household goods. But head upstairs for the real prizes: hand-carved wooden statues, painted ceramic pots, and chipped porcelain knickknacks from decades past. Sift through stacks of old books, postcards, revolutionary posters, and vinyl records. This is vintage shopping at its grittiest. Barter with vendors over minor imperfections to secure the best deals.
For a curated selection of local art, duck into the shaded Mercado de San Ignacio. Stalls showcase tropical landscape paintings, elaborate wood marquetry, and vivid papier-mâché folkloric masks worthy of displaying on your walls back home. You'll also find eye-catching jewelry crafted from traded-away silverware and carved coconut shells. Prices aren't fixed here, so employ your best poker face when negotiating.
To experience cigar shopping at its finest, visit La Casa del Habano in Miramar. Walk humbly through the woody, hallowed halls and chat (in Spanish if possible) with the knowledgeable attendants gently cradling these coveted stogies. Cigar aficionados will think they died and went to heaven exploring the floor-to-ceiling, cedar-lined displays. Even if you don't have an extensive cigar vocabulary, the staff will guide you through tastes and strengths to match your preferences. Sniff unlit samples to detect woody, nutty, or spicy hints. Once you've made your selection, enjoy it fresh at their in-house smoking bar.
For a totally authentic Cuba shopping experience, head to Almacenes San Jose in residential Santo Suarez. There's no signage at this cavernous state-run department store catering strictly to locals. Drab linoleum floors belie the bounty inside. Look for straw hats and guayabera shirts on the clothing floor. The home goods department brims with pressure cookers, blenders, and other coveted small appliances. You'll find everyday essentials most visitors don't associate with glamorous Havana. But exploring the no-frills shop reveals much about daily life that swanky hotel gift shops don't.