Views of the roofs of the old city of Havana.
Havana is pure contrast: its luxurious hotels collide with its unhealthy alleys, with its inhabited skeleton buildings that seem abandoned or with the obvious lack of supplies in the markets, where there is only yucca, banana and flies, but everything else is scarce. Here they are used to living like this: with what there is, that every day is something different.
Once you've toured Old Havana go up to the roofs of these hotels to watch the sunset and, incidentally, to reflect from above on the diversity of this magnetic city.
Rooftop pool of the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski, in the heart of Old Havana.
HOTEL BIG APPLE KEMPINSKY
It was erected as a result of Obama's visit to Havana to attract that high-class American tourist who couldn't find hotels to match his in the Cuban capital. for their views of the Capitol, the Central Park and the Great Theater of Havana Alicia Alonso, It is worth going up to its roof terrace in the morning as well. Here you can have breakfast, lunch and then have a piña colada, because its infinity pool will catch you Until the sunset.
Relax and views, in the infinity pool of the Iberostar Grand Packard (Havana).
HOTEL IBEROSTAR GRAND PACKARD
If this is your first time in Havana, don't miss the rooftop of the Iberostar Grand Packard in Havana. You will rub shoulders with the Cuban upper class but also with many Europeans who live there or who travel for business.
From your pool you can contemplate part of the Malecón, the Lighthouse and the Morro Castle. In its menu you will find Albariño or Verdejo by the glass, but also French white or Chilean red by the bottle. If you're into classics, ask for their Dry Martini, their Negroni or their Bloody Mary. And another day, any of their signature cocktails.
Sophisticated terrace of the Paseo del Prado hotel, in Havana.
HOTEL PASEO DEL PRADO
It is a newcomer (it was the last luxury hotel to open in Havana), but the best sunset (and the only one in 360 degrees in the city) You will see it from its circular panoramic roof terrace, which functions only as a viewpoint: due to the strong gusts of wind it does not have tables, so you will have to go up expressly. The views of the Malecón from its sofas are also unmatched. One piece of advice: book a table at the hotel reception a few hours before you go.
Pink facade of the Ambos Mundos hotel and La Muñequita Azul haberdashery, in Old Havana.
BOTH WORLDS HOTEL
On the corner of Obispo and Mercaderes streets is this hotel where Hemingway lived in the 1930s. Room 511, where he slept, today it is a museum room and can be visited, since it conserves many of his belongings. He used to say that “My mojito at La Bodeguita and my daiquiri at El Floridita”, but Havanans will tell you that they are not, by far, the best in the city.
Wherever you go in Havana, you will no longer have the American writer as a bar companion, but you will be able to take a tour of those places that marked the Nobel Prize for Literature, like this hotel. On its roof, a bar, the Roof Garden, with live music and panoramic views.
Views from the roof of the Saratoga hotel in Havana.
HOTEL SARATOGA
This boutique hotel with a neoclassical façade is the favorite of international artists: Madonna or Beyoncé have stayed here. Located in front of the Capitol and the Partagas cigar factory, it also has a high-altitude swimming pool in which it is worth taking a dip.
HOTEL IBEROSTAR CENTRAL PARK
The great attraction of this hotel is the jacuzzi with views of the entire city, located in a corner of its roof. Afterward, take a dip in the pool, choose your table, ask for a Cuban beer (Cristal or Bucanero) and try their old clothes croquettes.
Delicious terrace of the Inglaterra hotel in Havana.
HOTEL ENGLAND
The Inglaterra hotel is one of the most iconic and oldest (opened in 1875), although its roof terrace is classic, quiet and intimate. Have a frozen daiquiri upstairs (with or without alcohol) and then go down to dance on its terrace, that of the Gran Café El Louvre, at street level, which is much more lively. Pay attention to us and take advantage, that when you leave Havana you will feel that everything will lack music.
Because in this atypical city nothing is planned. Not even its photogenic and colorful facades: they tell us that Here they are not painted the color that each one wants, but the one that can be, depending on the excess paint. Which, coincidentally, always combines perfectly with the one next door. Because in the Cuban capital, even if everything is left to chance, it always works out. Or at least that is what it seems.
The best sunset in Havana, from the rooftop of the Paseo del Prado hotel.