Ten things to do in Havana

There are ten things every traveler ends up doing in Havana, and another ten the city quietly arranges for you on top of those. The first list looks like the guidebook. The second list is the one that matters. Both deserve their day.

Here's our version of the first list — not in any order, because Havana is not a checklist.

— 01 — Walk the Malecón at golden hour

The five-mile seawall is the city's spine and its public living room. Go an hour before sunset, walk west from the Hotel Nacional toward Vedado, and watch the city change color. Bring small bills if a fisherman offers you one of his catches.

— 02 — Take a Chevy down Quinta Avenida

The vintage convertibles are not a tourist trap — they're a working part of the local economy and an honest way to see a city built before traffic. Negotiate the price before you climb in. Bring a scarf if the wind matters to you.

— 03 — Eat at a paladar that took advance booking

The best paladares — privately owned restaurants — are family kitchens scaled up. La Guarida, San Cristóbal, El Cocinero, La Vitrola. Reserve in advance; the day-of seats go to friends-of-friends who happened to be passing.

— 04 — Hear live music in Vedado

Live music is not a category in Havana; it's a default state. Spend at least one night in Vedado at a small jazz room or a casa de la música. The kind of musicianship you'll see at the door price of a coffee elsewhere is, here, half the dinner.

“Do the first list, by all means. But leave wide enough margins for the second to find you.”

— 05 — Cross the bay on the Casablanca ferry

The little ferry across Havana Bay leaves every twenty minutes, costs less than a candy bar, and gives you the view of the old city you came for. Take it in the morning, walk up the hill on the far side, and come back at lunch.

— 06 — Spend a slow morning in the bookseller market

The Plaza de Armas market is open most days. Old Cuban posters, faded copies of Hemingway in Spanish, occasional gems of revolution-era graphic design. Bring cash. Bargain politely. The booksellers know what they have.

— 07 — Take a salsa class — even badly

You will be terrible. So will the other tourists in the class. The teacher will be patient and the music will be better than you expected. After an hour, your trip's photographs will be measurably better, because you'll know where to put your shoulders.

— 08 — Visit Fábrica de Arte Cubano

F.A.C. is the cultural center the city was waiting for — galleries, performances, music, food, and a crowd of locals and visitors mixing on the same dance floor. Open Thursday through Sunday. Get there early; the line is real.

— 09 — Cigar and rum at sunset

Find a rooftop. Order a daiquiri. Light a cigar (we wrote a whole post on the technique). Watch the sun set. Don't take a picture unless you can take a good one — but do remember it.

— 10 — Just walk Centro Habana for an afternoon

Centro is rougher, louder, and more honest than Habana Vieja. Walk it slowly between four and six, when the heat breaks and the porters drag chairs out onto the sidewalks. Don't plan a destination. Half of our favorite photographs were made in the unplanned hour.

— And the second list

The afternoon you sit on a doorstep talking to someone's grandmother. The hour after a thunderstorm when the city smells like wet stone and cooking oil. The salsa that breaks out unexpectedly in a courtyard you weren't looking for. The conversation with a taxi driver that lasts twenty minutes after you've already paid.

Do the first list, by all means. But leave wide enough margins for the second to find you. It always does.