Havana, Cuba

Havana is one of the world's most evocative cities — a sun-bleached, salt-worn, intensely atmospheric capital where grand colonial and belle-époque architecture in every state from lovingly restored to romantically crumbling lines streets full of music, vintage cars and life lived largely outdoors. The heart is Habana Vieja (Old Havana), a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the finest colonial-era centres in the Americas: a compact grid of cobbled streets linking four beautiful plazas — the baroque Plaza de la Catedral, the leafy Plaza de Armas where the city was founded, the merchant Plaza de San Francisco by the harbour, and the colourful, restored Plaza Vieja — surrounded by old churches, fortresses, museums, cafés and the famous bars where Ernest Hemingway drank his daiquiris and mojitos. Guarding the harbour mouth stand the great Spanish forts of El Morro and La Cabaña, where a nightly cannon ceremony recalls the colonial city. Running along the seafront is the Malecón, Havana's legendary five-mile esplanade and seawall, where the whole city seems to gather at dusk to fish, flirt, play music and watch the waves crash over the wall as the sun sets — the soul of the city. Beyond, Central Havana's tenement streets and the grand, tree-lined avenues and faded mansions of Vedado (with the iconic Hotel Nacional and the Coppelia ice-cream park) show other faces of the capital, while the vast Plaza de la Revolución, with its monumental memorials, anchors the modern city. Havana's spirit is in its music — son, salsa, rumba and trova spilling from bars, plazas and music houses day and night — and in its rum and cigars, its art, and the warmth of its people. The famous fleet of brightly painted 1950s American cars cruising the streets as taxis completes the time-capsule effect. It's a city to wander slowly and soak in. The climate is warm and tropical year-round; the cooler, drier season from November to April is the most comfortable, with the risk of heat and hurricanes in late summer and autumn.