Havana, Cuba
Travel Notes
Havana, the capital city of the nostalgic, forbidden isle of Cuba, was founded in 1514 as a strategic location for the Spanish conquest of the Americas by the explorer Diego Velásquez. Its low-lying colonial architecture is melded in with towering Brutalist structures that are both often aging in beautiful decay. Havana is sensory overload. Its colorful character, that of the city and of the people, and the music that fills the dance halls into the streets carry an optimistic spirit that is as refreshing as it is puzzling given the scarcity on the island. Those who take the chance to visit before inevitable change comes to call will forever romanticize the moment when Cuba was both a glamorous time capsule and Cold War relic.
Peso CUP \ CUC
Time Zone
Eastern Standard
Spanish
Local Cuisine
Latin, Caribbean
December - May
Dress Code
Bright Prints, Washed Linen
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel Florida
Calle Obispo nº252
Habana Viejo, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 862 4127
Hotel Inglaterra
Paseo del Prado nº416 y San Rafael
Havana, Cuba
+53 7 338 593
Hotel Nacional De Cuba
Calle 21 y O, Vedado
Havana, Cuba
+53 7 836 3564
Palacete del Vedado
Calle D nº154 entre Línea y Calzada Vedado
Havana, Cuba
+34 64 959 0449
WHERE TO DINE
Paladar La Cocina de Lilliam
Calle 48 nº1311
Playa, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 209 6514
La Guarida
Calle Concordia nº418 entre Gervasio y Escobar
Havana Centro, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 866 9047
El Floridita
Calle Obispo nº557 esq. a Monserrate,
Havana Vieja, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 867 1299
WHAT TO DO
Boxing
Gimnasio De Boxeo Rafael Trejo
Calle Cuba nº815
Havana, Cuba
+53 7 862 0266
Dance
La Casa de la Música
Calle Galiano entre Neptuno y Concordia
Havana Centro, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 862 4165
Tropicana Club
Calle 72 y Linea de Ferrocarril
Mariano, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 267 17 17
Fábrica de Arte Cubano FAC
Calle 26 equina 11
Vedado, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 83 82 260
WHAT TO VISIT
The Malecón
Centro Habana, Havana, Cuba
Havana Vieja [Old Havana]
Havana, Cuba
Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña
Havana, Cuba
The Objects
Exclusive Edition 002 CIGARRO PURO
This farm-rolled cigar is made from tobacco grown in the Vuelta Abajo, the celebrated farming region of Pinar de Río in Cuba. Many of the farmers who continue the tradition of cultivating the plant come from a long line of ancestors who settled in the area from the Canary Islands of Spain. The Spanish fascination with tobacco began some five hundred years ago after Christopher Columbus discovered the island and dispatched emissaries to the interior of the island where they found the native Taíno participating in smoke rituals to communicate with their idols. Whereas today a Cuban cigar is seen as status symbol or for celebrations, in Cuba all classes of men and women enjoy the cigarro puro as a daily ritual. Available exclusively on Stories + Objects, the cigarro puro is a limited edition memento rolled in Cuban newspaper and presented in a hand-planed Spanish cedar and stone clay humidor.
The Story
AN HOMBRE HABANO
Hector Luis Prieto was thirty-six years old in 2007 when he was awarded the prestigious honor of Hombre Habano, an annual award for the best quality production of tobacco in the cigar industry.As the youngest Hombre Habano in history, having won the award multiple times ever since, Prieto’s San Juan y Martinez plantation provides Cuba’s Habanos S.A. with one of the most exceptional tobacco blends, grown exclusively for the country’s premium cigar brands Cohiba, Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta.
The Story
THE LEGACY OF TOBACCO
Hirochi Robaina is a fifth-generation tobacco farmer in Vuelta Abajo, Cuba’s illustrious, tobacco-growing region situated in San Luis, Pinar del Río.
Following the traditions of his ancestors, and most notably of his grandfather Don Alejandro Robaina, Hirochi is at the helm of La Finca El Pinar Robaina, perhaps the most famous tobacco farm in the region, if not the world. Initially known for the high yield of quality tobacco for the wrapper, which is the most difficult to produce, the plantation now focuses its tobacco production on the Vegas Robaina premium cigar brand, exclusively distributed by Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
