Four centuries of Spanish colonial architecture survive inside the old walls, from a Baroque cathedral to harbour fortresses and a tree-lined promenade. The street pattern laid down after 1519 still organises daily life, while 1950s American cars share the streets with son cubano and rumba.
At a glance
Old Havana covers the walled city, its fortifications and the Paseo del Prado, roughly two square kilometres in all. The original walls were demolished in the 1860s, but the street pattern survives. Five main plazas give the district its structure: Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja, Plaza de la Catedral, Plaza de San Francisco and Plaza del Cristo. Around them stand some 900 colonial buildings.
Restoration is led by the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, founded in 1938, which uses revenue from restored properties to fund social services for residents.
Key facts
- Five plazas: Plaza de Armas is the oldest and was the seat of Spanish authority; Plaza Vieja opened in 1559 and mixes colonial, neoclassical and Art Nouveau facades.
- Castillo de la Real Fuerza: built 1558–1577, claimed as the oldest fortification still standing in the Americas, though San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz has a competing earlier date; its tower carries the 1632 bronze La Giraldilla.
- Cathedral: the Cathedral of San Cristóbal de La Habana (1748–1777) has a Havana Baroque facade with two asymmetrical towers.
- Harbour fortresses: Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro (1589–1630) guards the eastern harbour entrance; Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña (1763–1774) is the largest Spanish fortification in the Americas.
- Night cannon: soldiers in eighteenth-century uniform fire the cañonazo from La Cabaña nightly at 9pm.
- Cars: 1950s American cars, called almendrones, work on the streets; after the 1962 embargo they were kept running with Soviet and locally made parts.
History
San Cristóbal de La Habana was founded in 1519 on a natural deep-water harbour. Through the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries the city became the assembly point for the Spanish treasure fleets returning to Spain; the wealth of that trade and of the sugar economy paid for the fortifications, plazas, cathedral and palaces that define Old Havana today.
The British occupied the city for eleven months in 1762–63 during the Seven Years War. Spain responded by building the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña. In the nineteenth century Havana was a major slave-trading port and the centre of the island’s sugar economy.
After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the Republic lasted from 1902 to 1958. The 1959 revolution and the US trade embargo of 1962 froze much of the building stock and car fleet, helping preserve the urban fabric.
What you see
Along the Paseo del Prado, a tree-lined promenade runs about 800 metres from the Malecón to Parque Central, with bronze lions, marble benches and nineteenth-century houses on either side.
Behind it, the old city rises in ochre, pale green, faded blue and terracotta pink, the colours of lime-washed facades built before concrete. The Plaza de Armas holds the Castillo de la Real Fuerza and La Giraldilla; the Plaza de la Catedral faces the Baroque cathedral, and Plaza Vieja combines colonial, neoclassical and Art Nouveau fronts.
At the harbour stand El Morro and La Cabaña, where the evening cannon is still fired. American cars of the 1950s, known locally as almendrones, move through the same streets.
Practical information
- Entry: The old city is freely walkable; individual museums and fortresses set their own admission arrangements, so confirm locally or through the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana.
- Guided visits: Walking tours and classic-car tours are available around the plazas; arrange through your accommodation or an official guide.
- Access: The district is compact and best covered on foot, but colonial paving is uneven in places.
- Restoration sites: Some buildings are under restoration and may be closed; check current conditions on site.
Getting there
Old Havana sits beside the harbour and is linked to the Malecón by the Paseo del Prado. The historic centre is compact enough to enter on foot from central Havana; taxis and classic-car tours gather near the main plazas.
Nearby
- Malecón — immediately north of the old city; the seafront promenade where the Paseo del Prado begins.
- Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro — at the eastern side of the harbour entrance; the main fortress guarding the channel.
- Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña — across the harbour from the old centre; largest Spanish fortification in the Americas and site of the nightly cannon.
- Parque Central — at the southern end of the Paseo del Prado, marking the edge of the old district.
Sources
- UNESCO
- Office of the Historian of the City of Havana
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