Hostal Valencia

Habana Vieja


Slap-bang in the historic core, Valencia is decked out like a Spanish posada (inn), with hanging vines, doorways big enough to ride a horse through and a popular on-site paella restaurant. One of the cheaper Habana Vieja offerings, it's an excellent old-world choice, with good service and atmosphere aplenty. You can almost see the ghosts of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza floating by.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Habana Vieja attractions

1. Casa Oswaldo Guayasamín

0.04 MILES

Casa Oswaldo Guayasamín is an old studio and now a museum for the work of the great Ecuadorian artist, who painted Fidel Castro in numerous poses. The…

2. Lonja del Comercio

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This large, box-shaped building on Plaza de San Francisco de Asís is a former commodities market erected in 1909. The building was completely renovated in…

3. Armería 9 de Abril

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An old gun shop (now museum) stormed by revolutionaries on the said date in 1958. Mercifully, the armaments are no longer for sale.

4. Casa de México Benito Juárez

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The Casa de México Benito Juárez exhibits Mexican folk art and plenty of books but not a lot on Juárez (Mexico’s first indigenous president) himself.

5. La Conversación

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Making up a trio of sculptures in Plaza San Francisco de Asís, La Conversación was added in 2012, donated by the French ambassador as a gesture of Franco…

6. Museo de Simón Bolívar

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A diminutive museum dedicated to Latin America’s great liberator, who remains a perennial hero to most Cubans. Downstairs there are panels containing text…

7. Statue of Simón Bolívar

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The corner of Mercaderes and Obrapía has an international flavor, with a bronze statue of Simón Bolívar, the Latin America liberator, in a small park.

8. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural

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An average museum that contains examples of Cuba's flora and fauna; it overlooks Plaza de Armas in a building that once served as the US embassy.