• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Taberna de Dolores (Map; 62-39-13; Aguilera No 468) Classic local place on Plaza de Dolores that serves light food but is much better for its beer and rum. The patio tables are the best.

Entertainment

For what’s happening, look for the bi-weekly Cartelera Cultural. The reception desk at Hotel Casa Granda usually has copies. Every Saturday night Calle José A Saco becomes a happening place called Noche Santiagüera, where street food, music and crowds make an all-night outdoor party; beware of pickpockets.

FOLK & TRADITIONAL MUSIC

Calle Heredia is Santiago’s Bourbon Street, a musical cacophony of stabbing trumpets, multilayered bongos and lilting guitars. For the more secretive corners, prowl the streets with your ears open and let the sounds lure you in.

Casa de la Trova (Map; 65-26-89; Heredia No 208; admission from CUC$2; 11am-3pm & 8:30-11pm Tue-Sun) Nearly 40 years after its initial incarnation, Santiago’s shrine to the power of traditional music is still going strong and continuing to attract big names such as Buena Vista Social Club singer, Eliades Ochoa. Warming up on the ground floor in the late afternoon, the action slowly gravitates upstairs where, come 10-ish, everything starts to get a shade more caliente. Arrive with a good pair of shoes and prepare to be – quite literally – whisked off your feet.

* * *

FOLKLóRICO DANCE GROUPS

Santiago de Cuba is home to more than a dozen folklórico dance groups, which exist to teach and perform traditional Afro-Cuban bailes (dances) and pass their traditions onto future generations. Most of the groups date from the early 1960s and all enjoy strong patronage from the Cuban government.

A good place to find out about upcoming folklórico events is at the Departamento de Focos Culturales de la Dirección Municipal de Cuba (Map; 65-69-82; Los Maceos No 501 btwn General Bandera & Pío Rosada), which acts as a kind of HQ for the various cabildos (Afro-Cuban brotherhoods) and dance groups, most of which are bivouacked nearby. Another good nexus is the Casa del Caribe in Vista Alegre.

Ballet Folklórico Cutumba (Map; 65-51-73; Teatro Galaxia, cnr Avs 24 de Febrero & Valeriano Hierrezuelo; admission CUC$2) This internationally known Afro-Cuban-Franco-Haitian folklórico dance group was founded in 1960 and currently appears at Teatro Galaxia (while its home base, the Teatro Oriente, is being renovated). You can pop in to see the group practice between 9am and 1pm Tuesday to Friday or attend an electrifying café teatro at 10pm every Saturday. The 55-strong troupe perform such dances as the tumba francesa, columbia, gagá, guaguancó, yagüetó, tajona and conga oriental. It’s one of the finest programs of its kind in Cuba and has toured the world from New York to New Zealand.

Foco Cultural El Tivolí (Map; Desiderio Mesnier No 208; 8pm Mon-Fri) Carnaval practice for the Sarabanda Mayombe happens weekly at this Tivolí Foco (a show that takes place in Tivolí). Saturdays at 5pm it performs a mágica religiosa program of orishas (Afro-Cuban religious deities), bembé (Afro-Cuban drumming ritual) and palo monte (Bantu-derived Afro-Cuban religion) at the nearby Casa de las Tradiciones (below).

Also worth seeking out are the Conjunto Folklórico de Oriente (Map; Hartmann No 407), the Carabalí Izuama (Map; Pío Rosado No 107) and the Foco Cultural Tumba Francesa (Map; Pio Rosado No 268), a colorful group of French-Haitian drumming masters who can be seen in their rehearsal rooms on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8pm.

* * *

Casa del Estudiante (Map; 62-78-04; Heredia No 204; admission CUC$1; 9pm Wed, Fri & Sat, 1pm Sun) Grab a seat (or stand in the street) and settle down for whatever this spontaneous place can throw at you. Orchestral danzón, folkloric rumba, lovelorn trovadores or rhythmic reggaetón (Cuban hip-hop): you never know what you’re going to get. See also Courses, Click here.

Patio ARTex (Map; 65-48-14; Heredia No 304; admission free; 11am-11pm) Art lines