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Plaza de Armas
Havanas oldest square was laid out in the early 1520s, soon after the citys foundation, and was originally known as Plaza de Iglesia after a church – the Parroquial Mayor – that once stood on the site of the present-day Palacio de los Capitanes Generales. The name Plaza de Armas (S
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Museo Finca el Abra
On October 17, 1870, the teenage José Martí spent nine weeks of exile at this farm before his deportation to Spain. Legend has it that the revolutionarys mother forged the shackles he wore here into a ring, which Martí wore to his death. Set below the Sierra de las Casas, the old h
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Centro Cultural Cinematográfico
To see a different side of Havana, hang out with the arty crowd at the Centro Cultural Cinematográfico in Vedado, a hive of talented creativity and youthful energy. The HQ of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (Icaic), the center hosts film premieres, discus
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Laguna Baconao
At the Laguna Baconao, 2km northeast of Los Corales, youll find a restaurant, rowboats for hire and several short lakeside hikes, plus a folorn-looking zoo with crocodiles and the like. The lake supposedly contains five resident wild dolphins. Various trails ply the lakeshore inclu
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Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
Santiagos most important church is stunning both inside and out. There has been a cathedral on this site since the citys inception in the 1520s, though a series of pirate raids, earthquakes and dodgy architects put paid to at least three previous incarnations. The present cathedral
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Universidad de la Habana
Founded by Dominican monks in 1728 and secularized in 1842, Havana University began life in Habana Vieja before moving to its present site in 1902. The existing neoclassical complex dates from the second quarter of the 20th century, and today some 30,000 students follow courses in
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Parque de la Fraternidad
Leafy Parque de la Fraternidad was established in 1892 to commemorate the fourth centenary of the Spanish landing in the Americas. A few decades later it was remodeled and renamed to mark the 1927 Pan-American Conference. The name is meant to signify American brotherhood, hence the
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Parque Vidal
A veritable alfresco theater named for Colonel Leoncio Vidal y Caro, who was killed here on March 23, 1896, Parque Vidal was encircled by twin sidewalks during the colonial era, with a fence separating blacks and whites. Scars of more recent division are evident on the facade of mi
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Señora Amelia Goyri Tomb
Necropolis Colóns most celebrated (and visited) tomb is that of Señora Amelia Goyri, better known as La Milagrosa (the miraculous one), who died while giving birth on May 3, 1901. The marble figure of a woman with a large cross and a baby in her arms is easy to find, due to the man
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Sendero Arqueológico Natural el Guafe
About 8km southwest of Las Coloradas is this well-signposted 2km-long trail, the parks headline nature/archaeological hike. An underground river here has created 20 large caverns, one of which contains the famous ĺdolo del Agua , carved from stalagmites by pre-Columbian Indians; th
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Río Toa
Ten kilometers northwest of Baracoa is the third-longest river on the north coast of Cuba and the countrys most voluminous. The Toa is also an important bird-and-plant habitat. Cocoa trees and the ubiquitous coconut palms are grown in the Valle de Toa. A vast hydroelectric project
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Hacienda Cortina
A grand crenellated entry gate a few kilometers west of San Diego de los Baños announces the surreal, long-abandoned grounds of Hacienda Cortina. The brainchild of wealthy lawyer José Manuel Cortina, this rich-mans-fantasy-made-reality was built as a giant park during the 1920s and
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Museo de la Ciudad
Filling the whole west side of Plaza de Armas, this museum is housed in the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales , dating from the 1770s. Built on the site of Havanas original church, its a textbook example of Cuban baroque architecture hewn out of rock from the nearby San Lázaro qua
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Los Aquáticos
A kilometer beyond the turn-off to Dos Hermanas and the Mural de la Prehistoria, a dirt road twists up to the mountain community of Los Aquáticos, founded in 1943 by followers of visionary Antoñica Izquierdo, who discovered the healing power of water when the campesinos of this are
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El Barrio Chino
One of the world’s more surreal Chinatowns, Havana’s Barrio Chino is notable for its gaping lack of Chinese people, most of whom left as soon as a newly inaugurated Fidel Castro uttered the word ‘socialismo. Nevertheless, it’s worth a wander on the basis of its novelty and handful
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Criadero de Cocodrilos
At the Laguna Baconao, 2km northeast of Los Corales, you’ll find the Criadero de Cocodrilos , a dozen crocodiles kept in pens below a restaurant, plus other caged animals such as lizards and jutías (tree rats). Horses are (supposedly) for hire here, as well as boats to ply the lake
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Plaza de San Francisco de Asís
Facing Havana harbor, the breezy Plaza de San Francisco de Asís first grew up in the 16th century when Spanish galleons stopped by at the quayside on their passage through the Indies to Spain. A market took root in the 1500s, followed by a church in 1608, though when the pious monk
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Hotel Nacional
Built in 1930 as a copy of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, the eclectic art deco/neoclassical Hotel Nacional is a national monument and one of Havanas architectural emblems. The hotels notoriety was cemented in October 1933 when, following a sergeants coup by Fulgencio B
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Alejandro Robaina Tobacco Plantation
This is the only real opportunity in Cuba to tour a working tobacco plantation – take it! The famous Robaina vegas (fields), in the rich Vuelta Abajo region southwest of Pinar del Río, have been growing quality tobacco since 1845, but it wasnt until 1997 that a brand of cigars know
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Parque Natural Majayara
Southeast of town in the Parque Natural Majayara are a couple of magical hikes and swimming opportunities plus an archaeological trail in the grounds of a lush family farm. Its a very low-key, DIY diversion. Passing the Fuerte Matachín, hike southeast past the baseball stadium and
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