I get this question all the time and I always try to get as much
information as possible from my clients in order to recommend the best
hotels for them. As I am not going to be able to do this now I will be
as fair as I can be and I will leave down to you which hotel to go for.




In this article I am going to focus on the hotels located in the Old
Town area or Havana Vieja which is the way everybody in Havana knows
it. One thing that makes the hotels in this part of Havana
different from the rest is the fact that very few of them were
originally built to be hotels. Each of them has a very unique
architecture style and some of them date back 200 years ago.





I have to start with Santa Isabel Hotel,
located in the very heart of Habana Vieja right next to the place where
the city was founded. Originally built for the governor of Cuba more
than 200 years ago; this building is one of the most representative
examples of the Spanish-Moorish colonial architecture. It only counts
27 rooms, most of them with fantastic views. This four stars plus hotel
really transport you back in time. Santa Isabel hotel needs to be
booked well in advance. In spite of being an expensive one; the fact
that it has few rooms makes it a difficult one to get, especially in
high season.





My next favorite hotel has to be Saratoga Palace. The Hotel Saratoga
is a very elegant, eclectic styled building. It is located right in
front of the Capitol building in one of the most popular promenades of
Havana, Paseo del Prado. It is probably one of the few hotels in Havana
that deserve a 5 star category. From the roof top swimming pool you can
admire the splendor of the Old Town while relaxing on a sun bed. This
hotel has 96 rooms divided in suites, junior suites and deluxe patio
rooms. I definitely recommend the junior suites as these ones do have
balconies overlooking the streets of Havana.




NH Parque Central is another 5 star hotel in the old town that I like
to recommend particularly for its high standard of service and
excellent food. This hotel is also located in Paseo del Prado Promenade
and it was erected over the ruins of a collapsed building about 10
years ago. Its façade is not an architectural jewel but its beautiful
lobby has been decorated following the colonial style guidelines. It
also has a roof top swimming pool with fantastic views of the old town.




There are lots of very good hotels in the Old Town that I also like to
recommend like Florida, Condes de Villa Nueva and Raquel Hotel and
little but very cozy hostels like Valencia, Comendador and Beltran de
Santa Cruz.




I am going to leave now hoping to help you make up your mind and decide
which hotel is better for you. You can find detailed information at
http://www.quest2cuba.co.uk.