There are at least four reasons that you should incorporate this community-driven back alley into any serious Havana outing: 1) it’s the unofficial HQ of Havana’s Afro-Cuban community; 2) it’s replete with inspired street art, much of it executed with recycled materials (this is where your old bathtub gets a new life); 3) it’s an essential stop for anyone trying to understand Cuba’s complex syncretic religions; and 4) the denizens put on hypnotic live rumba shows every Sunday.
Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±'s must-see attractions
1.86 MILES
Havana's main cemetery (a national monument), one of the largest in the Americas, is renowned for its striking religious iconography and elaborate marble…
0.95 MILES
The ²Ñ²¹±ô±ð³¦Ã³²Ô, Havana's evocative 7km-long sea drive, is one of the city's most soulful and quintessentially Cuban thoroughfares, and long a favored meeting…
1.02 MILES
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions')…
1.51 MILES
Habana Vieja's most uniform square is a museum to Cuban baroque, with all the surrounding buildings, including the city's beguiling asymmetrical cathedral…
Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro
1.42 MILES
This wave-lashed fort with its emblematic lighthouse was erected between 1589 and 1630 to protect the entrance to Havana harbor from pirates and foreign…
7.65 MILES
Where does art go after Antoni Gaud� For a hint, head west from central Havana to the seemingly low-key district of Jaimanitas, where artist José Fuster…
1.62 MILES
Laid out in 1559, Plaza Vieja is Havana's most architecturally eclectic square, where Cuban baroque nestles seamlessly next to GaudÃ-inspired art nouveau…
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
1.15 MILES
Spread over two campuses, the Bellas Artes is arguably the finest art gallery in the Caribbean. The Arte Cubano building contains the most comprehensive…
Nearby Havana attractions
0.2 MILES
This tiny watchtower was built by the Spanish in the 18th century and quickly fell to British troops during the invasion of 1762. You can admire it from…
0.21 MILES
Lying in the shadow of Hospital Nacional Hermanos Ameijeiras, a 24-story Soviet-era hospital built in 1980, is this bronze representation of the mulato …
3. Convento & Iglesia del Carmen
0.21 MILES
This little-visited church’s bell tower dominates the Centro Habana skyline and is topped by a huge statue of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, but the real…
4. Monumento a Julio Antonio Mella
0.35 MILES
At the bottom of the Universidad de la Habana steps is a monument to the student leader who founded the first Cuban Communist Party in 1925. In 1929 Cuban…
0.36 MILES
Opposite the Monumento a Julio Antonio Mella outside the Universidad de la Habana are black-and-white Mella portraits permanently mounted on the wall in…
0.4 MILES
Without a doubt one of the best museums in Havana and thus in Cuba, this magnificently laid-out collection of 7000 objects associated with the life of…
7. Museo de Historia Natural Felipe Poey
0.45 MILES
Inside the Universidad de la Habana, this is the oldest museum in Cuba. It was founded in 1842 by the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural…
0.45 MILES
Founded by Dominican monks in 1728 and secularized in 1842, Havana's university began life in Habana Vieja before moving to its present site in 1902. The…