Cuba - Lonely Planet [94]
Hotel St John’s (Gran Caribe; 833-3740; Calle O No 216 btwn Calles 23 & 25; s/d incl breakfast CUC$56/80; ) A fair to middling Vedado option, the St John’s has a rooftop pool, clean bathrooms, reasonable beds and the ever-popular Pico Blanco nightclub Click here on the 14th floor. If wall-vibrating Cuban discos aren’t your thing, you might get more peace at the identically priced Hotel Vedado half a block down the road. Ask for one of the western-facing rooms with killer views over the Malecón.
Hotel Vedado (Gran Caribe; 836-4072; Calle O No 244 btwn Calles 23 & 25; s/d CUC$63/80; ) Ever popular with the tour-bus crowd, the Hotel Vedado is a tough sell. Granted, there’s an OK pool (rare in Havana), along with a passable restaurant and not unpleasant rooms. But the patchy service, perennially noisy lobby and almost total lack of character will leave you wondering if you wouldn’t have been better off staying in a local casa particular – for half the price.
Hotel Victoria (Gran Caribe; 833-3510; Calle 19 No 101; s/d incl breakfast CUC$80/100; ) A well-heeled and oft-overlooked Vedado option, the Victoria is a diminutive five-story hotel situated within spitting distance of the larger and more expensive Nacional. Deluxe and compact, though (due to its size) invariably full, this venerable Gran Caribe establishment housed in an attractive neoclassical building dating from 1928 contains a swimming pool, a bar and a small shop. A sturdy midrange accommodation option (if you can get in).
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Hotel Riviera (Gran Caribe; 836-4051; cnr Paseo & Malecón; s/d incl breakfast CUC$91/130; ) Meyer Lansky’s magnificent Vegas-style palace has leapt back into fashion with its gloriously retro lobby almost unchanged since 1957 (when it was the height of modernity). It isn’t hard to imagine all the old Mafia hoods congregating here with their Cohiba cigars and chauffer-driven Chevrolets parked outside. The trouble for modern-day visitors are the rooms (there are 354 of them) which, though luxurious 50 years ago, are now looking a little rough around the edges and struggle to justify their top-end price tag. You can dampen the dreariness in the fabulous ’50s-style pool, good smattering of restaurants or the legendary Copa Room cabaret Click here, far cheaper than Tropicana. The location on a wild and wave-lashed section of the Malecón is spectacular, although a good bus or taxi ride from the Old Town.
Hotel Presidente (Gran Caribe; 55-18-01; cnr Calzada & Calle G; s/d CUC$90/140; ) Fully restored in 2000, this art-deco influenced hotel wouldn’t be out of place on a street just off Times Square in New York. Built the same year as the Victoria (1928), the Presidente is similar but larger, with gruffer staff. Unless you’re a walker or fancy getting some elbow exercise on Havana’s crowded bus system, the location can be awkward.
Hotel Nacional (Gran Caribe; 836-3564; cnr Calles O & 23; s/d/tr CUC$120/170/238; ) The cream of the crop in Cuban hotels and flagship of the government-run Gran Caribe chain, the neoclassical/neocolonial/art-deco (let’s call it eclectic) Hotel Nacional is as much a city monument as it is an international accommodation option. Even if you haven’t got the money to stay here, chances are you’ll find yourself sipping at least one minty mojito in its exquisite oceanside bar. Steeping in history and furnished with rooms with plaques that advertise the details of illustrious occupants past, this towering Havana landmark sports two swimming pools, a sweeping manicured lawn, a couple of lavish restaurants and its own top-class nighttime cabaret show, the Parisién Click here. While the rooms might lack some of the fancy gadgets of deluxe Varadero, the ostentatious communal areas and the erstwhile ghosts of Winston