Some interesting things to do in Havana are ... walk about a lot ... go to one of the 'agro mercados' to see buy some fruit, see just how little food there is about and what it costs to Cubans (the largest is in a place called Cuatro Caminos, there are others scattered about too) ... definitely take a stroll around Old Havana to see some of its lovely Plazas (Plaza Vieja is lovely, Plaza de Armas even nicer) ... watch the baseball-crazy men yelling at each other in the "hot corner" of the Parque Central ... take a short ride on a rickshaw (aka bici-taxi) or the ridiculous coco-taxi, which let you see the city at less speed ... walk down a bit of the Malecon, Havana's famous sea wall ... and above all talk and talk and talk until you can't stand it any more (Cubans are close to being the world's yappiest people.)
WHERE TO GET A DECENT FEED IN HAVANA
Food is often a bit of a problem, not because it’s dirty or dangerous but because it’s often just really poorly prepared, and paradoxically, ESPECIALLY in big or grand state-owned restaurants. You will nearly always eat better in a casa particular, and they will often ask if there’s anything you really want to eat and try to get it for you. Do try Cuban avocados (if you like them) – they are the best in the world – and the mangos, pawpaws, etc are great too. Alternatively there are ‘paladares’ or privately-run restaurants which are usually miles better than state-run ones.
If you are a vegetarian you're more or less out of luck, but there are 2 options I know of:
Firstly there's a vegetarian-only restaurant called El Babu (geddit?) which is in the city's Botanical Gardens - the catch here is that the gardens are miles out of the centre of town, more than halfway out south towards the airport. Some beautiful planting, there, though, so if you are into botany/gardening it would be worth a day trip anyway. Go early - they only serve lunch, and stop when the beansprouts run out. Secondly, there is one of a chain of bog-standard government-run vegetarian restaurants on the corner of Infanta and San Lazaro streets, near the university campus - this is a Cuban peso-paying joint where it will be vanishingly cheap but possibly gagworthy. It definitely won't have any meat in though.
For omnivores the picture is a lot more promising. For really Cuban food in huge portions - best value for money and best place to invite people is the FLOR DE LOTO: in Centro Habana: Salud 313, entre Gervasio y Escobar (7) 863 5450. This is a state restaurant not a paladar but it's got a good variety of food and really good (rather than mediocre) Cuban cooking in VAST portions – I warn you one main course here will feed 2 people.
A couple of very swanky, by Cuban standards shockingly expensive (CUC 10-30 a head)places :
Le Chansonnier, Calle J entre Linea and 15 or 17. Elegant, beautiful,gracious, delicious - NO signs to tell you that this big house is a paladar (private restaurant) .
LA GUARIDA is one of the best paladars in the city - and also one of the most fashionable places to go - Pedro Almodovar always eats here when he's in Havana and it was featured in a famous Cuban film called Strawberry and Chocolate. Amazing surroundings in a grand house which has decayed into a tenement. Calle Concordia No. 318 entre Gervasio y Escobar. Centro Habana. Tel: 537- 624940
EL ALJIBE - big, open-sided place with a thatched roof - lots of Cuban celebs and musicians hang out here. They have one special dish of the house - roast chicken with orangey sauce - which is famously delicious; most of the other stuff on the menu isn't worth the trouble. It's out west in the swankier district - you'd need a cab there. Should be about CUC 20 a head. Avenida 7ma y Calle 26, Miramar, Tel: (7) 204 1583.
A nice bar with often rather good music from old geezers, and suprisingly edible food, is "La Taberna de Beny More" in Plaza Vieja - Calle Mercaderes y Teniente Rey, La Habana Vieja Tel: (7) 861 1636.
For a relief from pork, rice & beans: an excellent and not too dear tourism-oriented Italian restaurant called A PRADO Y NEPTUNO, which as the name implies is on the corner of PRADO and NEPTUNO streets, right on the Parque Central … even has rocket salad and al-dente pasta (NOT EASY TO FIND IN CUBA…) and shouldn't be more than 15CUC a head maximum for food if you stay off the lobster.
MUSIC AND DANCING
Your best reason to be there - forget about eating out or shopping (both are a bit depressing in Cuba) and spend your money on keeping the world's finest live musicians alive...
First, have a look at this page if you have the chance for a good general explanation of what it’s like:
http://yemayasverse.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-get-lot-of-questions-from-people.html
This lass is an Australian who is also a Cuban music fanatic who goes to Havana every year just for the dancing, so it is worth nosing round her blog if you are interested.
There is also a new sort of freesheet which has more info, especially on less tourism-focused events:
www.kewelta.cu (may take ages to load, and will show you sheets in .pdf format)
On places to go out, it moves around a lot, especially if you want to find more underground stuff or modern electronica but here are some hints....
EL CALLEJON DE HAMEL - Callejon de Hamel e/ Aramburu y Hospital, Centro Habana. No phone cos it's not a venue, just an alleyway which has been painted with murals of AfroCuban religious motifs by a local artist. Every Sunday from noon to about 4 there is live and excellent rumba (percussion+voice) music played here to a crowd of about 75% cubans, 25% foreigners, and some brilliant dancing. Watch your wallet and for hustlers who want to be your true friend, but it's a great place to go.
SALON ROSADO DE LA TROPICAL Ave.41 esq. 46, Nicanor del Campo. Times: varies wildly. Cost: No idea. They used to have a separate area and entrance for foreigners - should be no more than CUC10 unless there's an exceptionally good band on. Legendary, legendary venue - more for the working class /roughneck crowd and plagued with beery fighting, so don't go on your own, but this is like the Apollo Theatre or something - THE venue for bands to test out their material on a demanding Cuban public - and some of the most amazing dancing in the universe.
LA PIRAGUA/TRIUNFO - El Malecon, Vedado - one-off, occasional bands on at 10-ish. Free gigs in central Havana are held at these two spots which are a couple hundred metres apart from each other on the main seawall. Just turn up, get your rum in a brown paper cup, and away you go.
CASA DE LA MUSICA, CENTRO HABANA - e/Neptuno y Concordia Tel: 862 4165/860 8296
Matinees: 4pm-8pm Entrada CUC5/CUC10. Probably the top venue in Havana for the music that young Cubans are actually into rather than the old fart brigade. The matinees are much more fun than the night sessions - cheaper, more Cubans about, and it's so decadent to be emerging from a club knackered, only to find it's only 7pm! Nights: Main band on between midnight and 1.30 (weekends). Often has cheesy floor show and moronic MC beforehand. Entrada: CUC5-CUC25 (unknowns will be 5, mega-bands like Los Van Van will be closer to 25)
CASA DE LA MUSICA, MIRAMAR/EL DIABLO TUN TUN - 20 y 35, Playa Tel: 204 0447/202 6147
The posher more upscale older brother of the place above. Freezing airconditioning and rude staff, but often great music. The Diablo Tun Tun, upstairs, is a piano-bar place where a lot of cuban musicians hang out to gossip and pose. Matinees: 5pm-9pm Nights: Main band on between midnight and 1.30 (weekends). There is sometimes a dismal comedian on first. Entrada: CUC5-CUC25
CAFE CANTANTE "MI HABANA" - Paseo y 39, Plaza Tel: 873 5713/879-0710 Matinees: 4pm-9pm Entrada: CUC5/CUC10
Nights: Main band on around 11 or midnight Entrada: CUC5-CUC15. Sort of a groovier, underground nightclub like venue, again with a younger Cuban audience. Might have closed down or been 'remodelled' recently.
DELIRIO HABANERO Address as above, but upstairs. More of a sort of jazzy piano-bar sort of place but can be good for a laugh. Matinees: 4pm-9pm. Entrada: CUC5/CUC10 Nights: Midnight-ish-4am.
LA MACUMBA Calle 22 y 37 La Lisa Tel: 330568; 330569 Good place, though it's a fair way out and can be expensive to get to. If you can get out there, it's worth it, especially for the Saturday matinees which feature big bands like Paulo FG or Charanga Habanera, for CUC10 - but don't be fooled by the term matinee - they probably won't play until about 9.30 or 10. Slicker, slightly more prosperous, slightly whiter Cuban kids go here.
JAZZ CAFÉ - best place to hear really good jazz, although the airconditioning is savagely cold - bring a cardigan! On the top floor of a shoping mall, bizarrely. 1ra esq. Paseo, Galerías Paseo - entrance should be CUC 10 with some of that re-claimable in drinks once you're in.
JARDINES 1830, Malecon y 20, Vedado, beautiful outdoor setting. Tel: (7) 334521 - they sometimes have concerts here and also offer decent food.
GATO TUERTO: hysterically camp cabaret venue, terrific cocktail bar, the music tends to be more oldfashioned but is often brilliant anyway. If you feel like being discombobulated by a 20something black Cuban singing note-perfect Elvis numbers this is the place to go. Just down the hill from the Hotel Nacional: Calle O e/ 17 y 19 Vedado (7)662224
LA ZORRA Y EL CUERVO - Basement Jazz Club, but often has very good live music.On Havana's main nightlife drag, Calle 23, which is very frequently called "La Rampa" in conversation - it's all the same road. Calle 23 e/ N y O, Vedado. (53 7) 66-2402
..
