Cuba: Havana – Hotel Inglaterra
If you want to truly experience old Havana, there is not other place to stay at then Hotel Inglaterra. This is Cuba’s oldest hotel, it opened 1895, and has a long celebrity guest list of the likes of José Martí, and Winston Churchill. The once grand building show quite a lot of wear and tear. Unlike several other hotels in Hanava, taken over by large global hoteliers and completely renovated to modern standards, Hotel Inglaterra is still government-owned and truly communist Cuban. Rooms are fairly basic and non-luxury, squeaky floors, uncomfortable beds, crappy showers, and everything on the edge of falling apart. But this is all part of the experience – you are in one of the most historic hotels in the world and your balcony takes you to views of Parque Central and Gran Teatro. The hotel’s Gran Cafe el Luvre is also famous as is its rooftop. For WiFi, you need to buy hourly cards and scratch for numbers.
