Havana: Cuba’s captivating capital city

For such a short little alleyway, Callejón de Hammel packs a huge Cuban punch of sights and sounds. Decorated with a fantastical mural by artist Salvador Gonzales Escalona depicting Afro-Cuban mystical and religious traditions, it’s also the venue for Sunday afternoon rumba parties, complete with live bands and dancing. Where better than Havana to tool around in a beautifully preserved classic 50s car? Book one at any hotel desk through Gran Car, and be sure to request a cruise down El Malecón, the city’s oceanfront promenade, to watch the sea crash up over a long stretch of wall where Habaneros and tourists alike gather beneath salt-eroded colonial and art deco buildings.

You can’t get more authentic than having dinner at somebody’s house. In the 1990s the government introduced limited private enterprise, allowing Cubans to start welcoming paying guests into their homes for home-cooked meals. The best of these paladares is La Cocina de Lilliam, where extraordinary food is served family-style in an old-fashioned back garden. Learn how much meticulous work goes into hand-making Cuban cigars at the Partagas Cigar Factory, where the scent of the best tobacco in the world fills the air.

Head up to La Terraza for a Cuba Libre in the country’s most famous hotel, the Nacional. Opened in 1930, it has not only hosted such bigwigs as Al Capone and Ernest Hemingway, but was also Fidel Castro and Che Guevara’s headquarters during the Cuban missile crisis.