This unmissable military park, included in the Habana Vieja Unesco World Heritage site, is arguably the most formidable defensive complex in Spain's erstwhile colonial empire. It's comprised of two strapping forts: El Morro (Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro), with its emblematic lighthouse, and La Cabaña (Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña), a sprawling mini-city of a military bastion famed for its sunset-over-the-Malecón views and legendary cañonazo ceremony.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
3.43 MILES
Havana's main cemetery (a national monument), one of the largest in the Americas, is renowned for its striking religious iconography and elaborate marble…
0.59 MILES
This emblematic museum is set in the former Presidential Palace, constructed between 1913 and 1920 and used by a string of Cuban presidents, culminating…
0.73 MILES
Cobbled, car-free Calle Mercaderes (Merchant's Street) has been extensively restored by the Office of the City Historian and is an almost complete replica…
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla
1.65 MILES
As important as it is diminutive, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, which sits close to the dock in Regla, has a long and colorful history. Inside on…
0.65 MILES
The Malecón, Havana's evocative 7km-long sea drive, is one of the city's most soulful and quintessentially Cuban thoroughfares, and long a favored meeting…
Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña
0.24 MILES
This 18th-century colossus was built between 1763 and 1774 on a long, exposed ridge on the east side of Havana harbor to fill a weakness in the city's…
Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso
0.95 MILES
The neobaroque Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso, erected as a Galician social club between 1907 and 1914, features highly ornate and even exuberant…
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1.06 MILES
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions')…
Nearby attractions
1. Batería de la Divina Pastora
0.13 MILES
A military emplacement that once protected Havana harbor from its position at the foot of the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña.
2. Batería de los Doce Apóstoles
0.21 MILES
A battery of 12 cannons (the 12 'apostles') set beneath the colossal ramparts of the Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro.
0.23 MILES
A military emplacement beneath the walls of the Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro, containing Krupp cannons last fired during the 1898…
4. Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro
0.23 MILES
This wave-lashed fort with its emblematic lighthouse was erected between 1589 and 1630 to protect the entrance to Havana harbor from pirates and foreign…
5. Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña
0.24 MILES
This 18th-century colossus was built between 1763 and 1774 on a long, exposed ridge on the east side of Havana harbor to fill a weakness in the city's…
6. Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas
0.31 MILES
Inside the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, this armaments museum contains weapons from bows and arrows to giant catapults and cannons.
7. Museo de Comandancia del Che
0.31 MILES
Probably the most interesting of the several museums spread around Havana's two eastern forts is this diminutive but nonetheless riveting exposé of the…
8. Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta
0.35 MILES
One in a quartet of forts defending Havana harbor, La Punta was designed by Italian military engineer Bautista Antonelli and built between 1589 and 1600…