Narrow, chockablock Calle Obispo (Bishop's Street), Habana Vieja's main interconnecting artery, is packed with art galleries, shops, music venues and people. Four- and five-story buildings block out most of the sunlight, and the swaying throng seems to move in time to the beautiful din of competing live music that wafts out of every bar.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
3.23 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…
0.7 MILES
The Malecón, Havana's evocative 7km-long sea drive, is one of the city's most soulful and quintessentially Cuban thoroughfares, and long a favored meeting…
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0.61 MILES
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions')…
0.11 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
0.84 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…
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9.05 MILES
Where does art go after Antoni Gaudí? For a hint, head west from central Havana to the seemingly low-key district of Jaimanitas, where artist José Fuster…
0.24 MILES
Laid out in 1559, Plaza Vieja is Havana's most architecturally eclectic square, where Cuban baroque nestles seamlessly next to Gaudí-inspired art nouveau…
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
0.39 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 Habana Vieja attractions
0.04 MILES
The block behind Plaza de Armas was the original home of Havana's university, from 1728 to 1902. The university was once part of a convent. The office…
0.05 MILES
Herein lies a 1:500 scale model of Habana Vieja, complete with an authentic soundtrack meant to replicate a day in the life of the city. It's incredibly…
0.06 MILES
Cobbled, car-free Calle Mercaderes (Merchant's Street) has been extensively restored by the Office of the City Historian and is an almost complete replica…
0.07 MILES
One of the more muscular sights around Calle Mercaderes is this typical Havana aristocratic residence, constructed around 1648 and rebuilt in 1780…
0.07 MILES
Casa de Asia exhibits a minor cache of paintings and sculpture from China and Japan.
0.07 MILES
A simple museum that exhibits some beautifully restored original frescoes in the Casa del Mayorazgo de Recio, popularly considered to be Havana's oldest…
0.08 MILES
The Casa de África houses sacred objects relating to Santería, including Abakuá masks, collected by ethnographer Fernando Ortíz.
0.08 MILES
The corner of Mercaderes and Obrapía has an international flavor, with a bronze statue of Simón Bolívar, the Latin America liberator, in a small park.