Cuba Museo De Las Bellas Artes Bar and Museum

(Image credit:

Elisabeth Pollaert Smith/Getty

)

I of the most iconic and romanticised cities in the world, Havana reveals many varying faces when you scratch beneath the surface and hang out with the Habaneros.

Havana is one of the most iconic and romanticised cities in the earth. Located just 145km southward of Florida, spiritually and socially information technology is a million miles abroad. Famous for salsa, jazz, colonial architecture and the about famous revolution of modern history, it is a urban center that reveals many varying faces when you scratch below the surface and hang with the Habaneros. "Every Dominicus afternoon there is a live rumba bear witness at [Callejon de Hammel](http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g147271-d318995-Reviews-Callejon_de_Hammel-Havana_Cuba.html) in central Havana," said Joan Alvarez Aguilar, a local English teacher. "The quality of the music and dancing is incredible, and the atmosphere generated is quite but electric." (Phil Clarke-Hill)

Alvarez Aguilar said he too likes to stroll around the shady Placa D'Armas in Havana Vieja, the Old Town. "There'southward a daily book market, and musicians play in the various corners of the square, but the best thing almost it is people watching." (Phil Clarke-Hill)

"A good addition to a Sun stroll around town is the [art market place on the Prado](http://www.tripadvisor.co.united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland/Attraction_Review-g147271-d280842-Reviews-Paseo_del_Prado-Havana_Cuba.html)," said Alain Gutierrez, who works at [Centro Pablo Torriente Brau](http://www.centropablo.cult.cu/), a government-run digital arts and exhibition centre in Havana Vieja. "You can purchase affordable work or just soak upwards the atmosphere." The market place takes place every weekend, with around 50 artists showing piece of work of varying styles and prices. (Phil Clarke-Hill)

"One of the nigh popular places for families, students and water ice foam lovers, [Coppellia](http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g147270-d311145-Reviews-Coppelia_Park_Parque_Coppelia-Republic of cuba.html) is a Havana institution," Gutierrez said. It is one of the largest ice-cream parlours in the world, serving fantastic and inexpensive ice cream, with flavours like mango, coconut, pineapple and riza de chocolate (chocolate with a vanilla swirl). (Phil Clarke-Hill)

"The Malecon is the essential identify for whatever Habanero, old or immature, local or visitor," Gutierrez said. "Drink a bottle of rum and mind to the sounds of the street with friends, or enjoy some vino with a lover, it is an indispensible Havana location." (Phil Clarke-Loma)

[Taller de Experimenta Graphica](http://ucglobalcuba.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/el-taller-experimental-de-grafica), a studio side by side to the [Cathedral of The Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Formulation](http://www.sacred-destinations.com/cuba/havana-cathedral.htm) in the centre of Havana Vieja is, co-ordinate to Gutierrez, "the place to see the real pulse of immature, cut edge Cuban graphic art and printmaking, for auction directly from the artists." (Phil Clarke-Hill)

"Where do all the locals go when they demand some breathing infinite from hectic city life? Playa del Este," Gutierrez said. The seemingly endless beach is but 18km eastward from central Havana, easily reachable by bus. "On weekends it is a veritable melting pot of Cuban culture." (Phil Clarke-Loma)

"With regularly changing exhibitions plus evening shows and events, the city's main art gallery [[Museum de las Bellas Artes](http://world wide web.museonacional.cult.cu/)] is worth revisiting time and over again," Gutierrez said. (Phil Clarke-Loma)

"The all-time place to allow off some steam and swear equally much every bit you want – even if they're winning – is an [Industriales](http://www.industrialesdecuba.com/) baseball game game!" Gutierrez said. "The stadium is always busy which gives it a buzzing atmosphere." (Phil Clarke-Hill)

"It may be full of tourists and sometimes celebrities, simply that's because the [Hotel National](http://www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com/en/home.asp) is an important historical site, with beautiful Art Deco compages inside and out," Gutierrez said. You practise not demand to be a guest to explore the property though; have a look around the lobby or relax with a drink in the extensive gardens that overlook the harbour. (Phil Clarke-Colina)

"The queue puts some people off, but that's part of the beauty of [Los Nardos](http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g147271-d1175610-Reviews-Los_Nardos-Havana_Cuba.html)!" Alvarez Aguilar said. Located on the second flooring of a grand colonial building, the Spanish-influenced cuisine, such as ropa vieja, which translates every bit "old apparel" merely is made of shredded beef, and pescado de ajo, fish in garlic sauce; the large portions; and the reasonable prices make it worth the wait, which is non as long as it looks from the exterior. (Phil Clarke-Colina)

"The nearly famous jazz bar in town, the Zorra y el Cuervo [La Rampa, enter between street N and O; 537-833-2402] has barely changed since the days Chano Pozo and Featherbrained Gillespie played in this modest basement bar," Alvarez Aguilar said. Translated as The Play tricks and Raven, the bar "still attracts the finest jazz musicians from around the globe". (Phil Clarke-Loma)

"Ernest Hemingway had the right idea to have a house out in this quiet fishing village [Cojimar] where he based his book The Old Man and the Sea," Alvarez Aguilar said. "Even though it's but a few kilometres eastward of the city centre, information technology seems similar another world altogether." (Phil Clarke-Hill)

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