Havana

Commercial cruise ships berth at Sierra Maestra Terminal in Habana Vieja, just off Plaza de San Francisco.

A printable map to bring with you.

Old Havana is formed of historic streets, cobbled plazas, castles, cathedrals and classical mansions from Spain's heyday. Its core is unrivalled in the Americas for its legacy of historic buildings, many now serving as Havana museums, hotels and restaurants.

Outside Havana's old core, the 20th-century Vedado enclave is full of hotels and nightclubs retaining a 1950s atmosphere, alongside gracious century-old mansions built for the city's former wealthy residents. Plaza de la Revolucion contains government buildings. Further out are Museo de Hemingway and Playas del Este's glorious beaches.

Many attractions levy an extra CUC$2 to CUC$5 for photos, and video recording can cost as much as CUC$25.

Havana has many places to hear live music.

Next to the vast Almacénes de San José souvenir market is new European-style beer hall Almacén de la Madera. Harbour sights also include several churches, Havana Club rum museum and the muscular 16th-century Castillo de la Real Fuerza fort, home to a shipwreck and treasure museum.

Havana is a very good city for walking: it is almost completely flat and very safe.

Havana's bus system is a disaster, so a bike-taxi is the better choice.

Tourists have little reason to hire a car for Havana. Taxis are plentiful and comparatively cheap, while poorly marked streets make the city confusing to navigate.

Major tour agencies all run city tours lasting 4 to 8 hours, priced between CUC$15 and CUC$50 per person.

On the city's outskirts, the Botanical Garden, known as Havana's 'lung', offers a chance to study plants generally and Cuban specimens in particular. Its 600 hectare grounds contain greenhouses for cactuses and tropical plants, a vast palm garden and a Japanese Garden with a vegetarian restaurant. Most hotel tourist desks arrange visits, and the garden is only 25 minutes from Havana by car.

Havana's annual February cigar festival (habanos.com) attracts connoisseurs worldwide. At Plaza de Armas, just off the port road, visit the second-hand book market, then San José shopping warehouse south of the cruise terminal.

As in any third world country, much merchandise is aimed at tourist souvenirs. Rum, cigars and coffee are Cuba's main visitor exports and are sold in government-owned shops or on the streets. To obtain genuine items, pay the official price in legal stores.

Be alert to the following:

Because every restaurant is government-owned and staffed by underpaid employees, Cuban food is notoriously bland. The best meals are generally found in a casa particular or paladares, locally owned restaurants in private homes.

• Street touts offering realistic-looking discount cigars of doubtful authenticity.
• "Friendly" locals inviting visitors for a drink, normally a Mojito, or to a restaurant; the visitor may be billed two to three times the usual price, with proceeds divided between venue and "friend".
• Short-changing in bars and taxis, or receiving national pesos (CUP) instead of convertible pesos (CUC) as change.

CUC is the currency most visitors use in Cuba, for hotels, official taxis, museum admission, restaurant meals, cigars, rum and more. Exchange into CUC at exchange houses, known as casa de cambio or cadeca, found in many hotels and around cities. The Euro is widely accepted; unfortunately, the US$ is not.

Cuban ATMs are rare, and credit cards are not widely accepted.

Spanish is Cuba's official language.

Cuba's emergency number is 116.

In many cities, tourists can access the internet only through government communications centers ( ETECSA ). It is not cheap, and there is a good chance someone is "watching" activity on the PC.

Havana port has an Internet Desk: currently 21 pence buys one hour, valid for 24 hours. It is payable only by credit card, and paperwork takes a few minutes.