Havana is the most cinematic city in the Americas — a place where nothing has changed architecturally since 1959, 1950s American cars roll down crumbling baroque avenues, and the Malecón seawall at sunset is one of the great urban experiences on earth. This post accompanies a real havana walking tour filmed in 4K, specifically the narrated video HAVANA, CUBA — Walking Tour (Voice Narrated) 4K, which guides viewers through the beauty and history of the Cuban capital along the Malecón and into the lanes of Old Havana.

About This Walking Tour

This narrated 4K tour explores Havana’s exotic character — described in the video as revealing the city’s beauty and unusual atmosphere. The route covers the Malecón, the 8-km seafront boulevard and seawall that stretches from El Vedado through Centro Habana to the Old City, serving as Havana’s public living room where residents fish, socialise, and watch the Caribbean sunsets over the Straits of Florida.

The walk moves into Old Havana (Habana Vieja), the UNESCO World Heritage core of the city, passing through Parque Central (with its controversial baseball debate corner and the Grand Teatro’s ornate facade), the four colonial plazas — Plaza de Armas (the oldest, dating from 1519), Plaza de la Catedral with its asymmetric Baroque cathedral (1748), Plaza Vieja, and the lanes connecting them. The pedestrian street Obispo, lined with bookshops, bars, and crumbling neoclassical buildings, leads to La Bodeguita del Medio — the bar where Ernest Hemingway reportedly perfected his mojito recipe.

Highlights of Havana

The Malecón is Havana’s defining public space — a broad roadway and seawall where the Caribbean waves crash in dramatic spray during the wet season and where residents gather at every hour. The 1930 Hotel Nacional de Cuba, built in the Spanish Renaissance style on a cliff above the Malecón in Vedado, hosted Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, and the Mob’s Havana gambling operations in the 1950s; its terrace bar offers one of the best views of the city.

Plaza de la Catedral is widely considered the most beautiful colonial square in Havana — its asymmetric Baroque cathedral (begun 1748, completed 1777), whose towers are different heights because the land subsided during construction, stands at one end while 18th-century palaces converted to restaurants and a colonial art gallery fill the other three sides. La Bodeguita del Medio on Calle Empedrado has been serving mojitos and ropa vieja since the 1940s; Hemingway’s handwritten note (“My mojito at La Bodeguita, my daiquiri at El Floridita”) has become the city’s most quoted piece of graffiti. The almendrones — 1950s American cars preserved by necessity since the US embargo prevented new car imports after 1961 — serve as shared taxis throughout the city and are one of Havana’s most photographed features.

A Brief History of Havana

Havana was founded by the Spanish in 1519 and grew into one of the most heavily fortified cities in the Americas — its harbour, protected by the Castillo de la Real Fuerza (1558), El Morro (1589), and La Cabaña (1774), made it the assembly point for the annual Spanish treasure fleets. The city was briefly occupied by the British in 1762 before being returned to Spain. Cuba gained nominal independence after the Spanish-American War of 1898 but remained under strong US influence until the Revolution of 1959.

Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1960, writing The Old Man and the Sea (1951) at his Finca Vigía farm outside Havana. The Cuban Revolution of January 1, 1959 brought Fidel Castro to power; the US trade embargo imposed in 1962 effectively froze Havana’s architectural development, which is largely why the city’s colonial and early 20th-century building stock survives largely intact — and largely in advanced decay. UNESCO and the Cuban government have been undertaking restoration work in Old Havana since the 1990s.

Practical Tips

Cuba uses the Cuban peso (CUP); foreign visitors should obtain Cuban pesos. Spanish is the official language. José Martí International Airport is approximately 25 km from Old Havana. Travel from the United States to Cuba requires specific authorisation under current regulations — check requirements before planning travel. Credit cards issued by US banks do not function in Cuba; bring sufficient cash. Old Havana is walkable; the Malecón is a pleasant 2-hour walk from El Vedado to the old city. Photography is generally permitted but ask before photographing individuals or military installations.

Best Time to Visit

November through April is the dry season with temperatures in the low-to-mid 20s Celsius — the most comfortable time for walking. June through October is the hurricane season and also the wettest period. July and August are hot and humid. The Havana Jazz Festival takes place in January.

Watch & Explore More

Watch the narrated 4K Havana tour above and discover why this city is unlike anywhere else in the world. For more Caribbean and Latin American walking tours, see Cartagena: Walled City to Getsemaní and Trinidad, Cuba: Colonial Town Walk. Subscribe to @walkingtoursvideoscom for walking tour films from extraordinary cities.