Explore Cuba

Irene Rodriguez on the Malecón In Cuba, dance and music are inseparable. To visitors, it seems as though every Cuban is born with an innate rhythm, impeccable footwork and endless energy for smooth, sensual and complex movements. Like Cuban music, the traditional dance forms are a combination of African and Spanish-European influences with strong roots in African religious rituals. Ballet is held in high esteem in Cuba. The Cuban National Ballet Company, led by former American Ballet Theatre dancer Alicia Alonso, has won international acclaim for its repertoire which includes classical and modern pieces, many choreographed by Cuban masters. The Cuban Folkloric Ballet performs ritual dances and chants from Afro-Cuban cultures, and is but one of several groups dedicated toward maintaining the heritage of African culture on the island. The well-respected Contemporary Dance Company performs avant-garde and traditional choreography, and run courses for interested students through the Teatr...

Old Havana - Castles and Fortresses Castillo del Morro - Cabaña Historical Military Park Whoever is master of this hill will be master of Havana was the assessment made of the location of the Morro - La Cabaña fortress complex more than 400 years ago by Antonelli, the engineer who designed the defense system of Colonial Havana. The English, following Antonelli's appraisal to the letter, took Morro Castle by storm in 1762, and proceeded to occupy Havana, and when the Spanish regained possession of the city they ensured that would never happen again by building the most powerful fortress in the Americas: San Carlos and San Severino de la Cabaiia, whose construction was concluded toward the end of the 1700s. This fortress, together with Morro Castle (Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro), make up the Morro - Cabaña Historical Military Park, the most extensive museum in the country. Morro Castle is, in itself, a museum piece revealing the solutions of renaissance architecture applied t...

El Capitolio Opened May 1929, constructed in a local Capellania limestone, the Capitol is a small scale replica of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. At the center of its floor is set a 24-carat diamond, zero for all distance measurements in Cuba. The interior has large halls and stately staircases, all most sumptuously decorated. It served as home to Cuba's Chamber of Representatives and Senate. The loft cupola rises 62 meters and it is topped by a replica of Florentine sculptor Giambologna's famous bronze Mercury in the Palazzo de Bargello. A massive stairway, flanked by neoclassical figures in bronze representing Labor and Virtue - lead steeply to three tall bronze doors sculpted with 30 bas-reliefs depicting important events of Cuban history. The stunning Salon de los Pasos Perdidos is made entirely of Marble, with bronze bas reliefs all around and massive lamps on tall carved copper stands. Facing the entrance door is the third largest indoor statue in the world, a Cuban maiden ...

Plazas, Cathedrals, Palaces & Convents Plaza de la Catedral The Cathedral Construction of a church on this site was begun by Jesuit missionaries at the beginning of the 18th century. After the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, the church was later converted into a cathedral. On either side of the Spanish colonial baroque facade are bell towers, the left one (west) being half as wide as the right (east). There is a grand view from the latter. The church is officially dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, however, is better known as the church of Havana's patron saint, San Cristóbal, and as the Columbus cathedral. The remains of Christopher Columbus were sent to this cathedral when Santo Domingo was ceded by Spain to France in 1795; they now lie in Santo Domingo. It was later discovered the bones were in fact those of another Columbus. Open Mon-Tues and Thur-Sat 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, Sun 8:30 am - 12:30 pm, Mass at 10:30 am. Several days a week there is a handicraft marke...

Miramar Miramar is some 16 km due west of the capital, and easily reached by bus. To get a good idea of the layout of the city, and its suburbs, visit the Maqueta de la Ciudad (scale model of Havana) on Calle 28 113 entre 1 y 3. Open Tues-Sat 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, $3 USD. Opened in 1995, this is fast becoming a great attraction. The model covers Havana and its suburbs as far out as Cojìmar and the airport. Colonial buildings are in red, post-colonial pre-Revolution buildings in yellow and post-Revolution buildings in white. Some of the model is difficult to see, especially in the middle, however, there is an upper viewing gallery with two telescopes. Good fun, every building is represented, recommended for the end of your stay in Havana so that you can pick out the places you visited. Playas del Este Located 18 km from the capital, the East Havana beaches have a long strip of white sand along a good area of Havana's northern coast. Easily reached by way of the Via Blanca highway, it's ...

The Museum tour: 1-day passes for $9 USD; you can purchase a 1-day ticket at the Museo de la Ciudad allowing you entrance to this museum and its Casa de la Plata and the following: Casa de los Arabes (with restaurant, Al Medina) opposite, on Oficios between Obispo and Obrapía. A lovely building with vines trained over the courtyard for shade (open daily 9:30 am - 6:30 pm, $1 USD). Casa de Africa, on Obrapìa 157 between San Ignacio and Mercaderes (Mon-Sat 10:30 am - 5:30 pm, Sun 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, $2 USD), a small gallery of carved wooden artifacts and handmade costumes. Vintage Car Museum, Oficios y Jústiz (just off Plaza de Armas, open daily 9:00 am - 7:00 pm, $1 USD), there are a great many museum pieces, pre-revolutionary U.S. models, still on the road especially outside Havana, in among the Ladas, VWs and Nissans. Casa de Guayasimìn, Obrapìa entre Mercaderes y Oficios, exhibition of works donated to Cuba by Ecuadorean artist Oswaldo Guayasimìn (paintings, sculpture and silk...

The island of Cuba, 1, 250 km long, 191 km at its widest point, is the largest of the Caribbean islands and only 145 km south of Florida. The name is believed to derive from the Arawak word "cubanacan," meaning central. Gifted with a moderate climate, afflicted only occasionally by hurricanes, not cursed by frosts, blessed by an ample and well distributed rainfall and excellent soils, it has traditionally been one of the largest exporters of cane sugar in the world. Geologically at least, Cuba is part of North America; the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates runs east-west under the Caribbean Sea to the south of the island. Along the plate margin is a deep underwater rift valley, which runs between Cuba and Jamaica. This feature is quite close to the Cuban coast to the south of the Sierra Maestra, with water plunging to 6,000m deep only a few miles offshore. Click to Enlarge The northern coastline is gradually emerging from the sea. Old coral reefs have bee...

Due to its location at the crossroads between Europe and the Americas and its unique cross-cultural history, Cuba has long been one of the Western hemisphere's most important cultural centers. Early colonial wealth allowed upper-class Cubans to build museums to house their collections of visual and decorative arts, and eventually establish academies for teaching. However, it was not until the first half of the 20th century, when Cuban artists such as Wilfredo Lam and Rene Portocarrero began to eschew rigid academic art forms and promote more avant-garde techniques and themes to better reflect their country's history and personal perspectives, that Cuban art began to blossom. Since the revolution, there has been an aggressive program of cultural reforms that has tried to enhance and promote artistic expression on the island. The creation of various artistic institutes and councils, and the establishment of the National Art Schools in Cubanacan outside Havana have all served t...

Cubans are passionate movie goers, and the island is dotted with cinemas, including many of pre-revolutionary art-nouveau grandeur. The Cuban regime has devoted more attention to film than to any other art form since the revolution. In 1959, Castro created the Cuban Institute of Film Art and Industry (ICAIC) to make documentaries, films and newsreels that would promote the regime's ideologies. Also, in 1986, Castro and writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez founded the International Film School in San Antonio de los Baños, outside Havana. Today, all movies -- their making, importation/exportation, and distribution -- are controlled by the ICAIC. Despite the censorship imposed by the ICAIC, some directors have managed to work around it and retain some autonomy tackling important social issues head on. Undoubtedly the most respected and well-known Cuban filmmaker is Tomas Gutierrez Alea, whose 1994 hit “Fresa y Chocolate” won a Berlin Film Festival award and an Oscar nomination in 1995. Stil...

Thanks in part to history and ideology, Cuba -- and especially Havana -- is a treasure trove of architectural styles spanning six centuries. With buildings dating from the 16th through the 19th centuries, Havana is perhaps the most authentic colonial city in the Americas. Since 1982, when the city became a UNESCO World Heritage site, the government has embarked on an ambitious preservation and restoration program concentrated in the Old City. However, a severe lack of funding and materials has hampered efforts.  Therefore, the decay and neglect of the past 40 years coupled with the destructive tropical weather continues to claim buildings every year. Most of the architectural styles imported from Europe -- including renaissance, baroque, neoclassical, neo-gothic, the Moorish mudejar and even art deco -- are well represented in Havana and other cities in Cuba in ecclesiastical and civic buildings, and large private villas. Similarly, the Spanish emphasis on urban planning as a compleme...

Despite the fact that Cuba is officially an atheist country, and proselytizing is illegal, it is estimated that over half of the population are believers of some sort. La Milagrosa Christianity has never had a strong influence in Cuba partly due to history: the Church had sided with the Spanish during the war for independence, causing the government and the church to officially separate with the birth of the Republic in 1902. Thanks to a visit from John Paul II in 1998, a re-institution of Christmas as a holiday, and on-again-off-again dialogues between the government and Catholic and Protestant groups, Christian observance has enjoyed a renaissance, at least in terms of public observance. Afro-Cuban religions and saint worship, of which santeria or Regla de Ocha is the most well-known, have been deeply entrenched in Cuban culture for three centuries. Santeria is a classic religious syncretism in which aspects of Catholicism (saints) have been fused with aspects of the Lucumi religio...

Despite restrictions on individual liberty, Cuba has sought to maximize its collective human potential, and since the Revolution its education system is without a doubt one of its greatest success stories. Prior to the Revolution, over one quarter of the population was illiterate, teachers were unemployed, 70% of the rural population had no schools, and there was not a single state-supported library in the country. Beginning with the great literacy campaign in 1961, the government followed up by establishing thousands of new classrooms in the countryside, introducing traveling libraries and making education free to everyone. The result today is that the average Cuban has completed nine years of school, 4% or 400,000 people hold university degrees, and another 1.3 million have degrees from technical schools. For the visitor, these statistics translate into everyday conversations with educated and evocatively philosophical people, who are highly knowledgeable and intellectually inquisiti...

Pre-revolutionary healthcare in Cuba, while advanced, was mainly accessible only to the urban rich. When over half of the country's medical staff fled the island in the early years of the Revolution, the government embarked on an ambitious program of public health policies to reverse some of the most appalling health standards in Latin America. Today, Cuba boasts 21 medical schools that churn out 4,000 doctors each year (a ratio of 1 doctor per every 200 inhabitants nationwide), a network of hospitals, polyclinics and mobile laboratories that extend to all corners of the island, and a system that provides medical care -- regardless of the care required -- to all citizens for free. In addition, Cuba's biotechnical and pharmaceutical research and development industries have made notable leaps in molecular immunology and organ transplants, and has made the country the acknowledged leader in orthopedics. These amazing accomplishments are partly due to the government's emphasis on preventat...