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Castillo de San Carlos de la Cabana

Havana, Cuba
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Ranked #10 of 88 attractions in Havana
Type: Historic Sites
Description: An enormous fortress that fires its cannon every night.
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176 reviews from our community

Visitor rating
    94
    61
    19
    2
    0
Date Rating
London, United Kingdom
Top Contributor
117 reviews 117 reviews
62 attraction reviews
Reviews in 32 cities Reviews in 32 cities
52 helpful votes 52 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed May 11, 2013

Took the ferry Casablanca & walked to the statue of Jesus, then round to the fort. It's 6CUC to get in during the day, 9 at night, but other than nice views of the harbour (which you can see from the statue for free) there isn't much to see. All the museums were closed. So I would say skip it... More

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See 12 more reviews by Tina H for Havana
Sydney, Australia
Contributor
19 reviews 19 reviews
8 attraction reviews
Reviews in 8 cities Reviews in 8 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed May 10, 2013

Make sure you are there late in the afternoon, best sunset we've ever seen. Pay the additional fee for the balcony, you get a free drink upstairs and you can watch the 9pm Canon display from there.

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See 5 more reviews by diegoaustralia for Havana
Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom
Top Contributor
74 reviews 74 reviews
45 attraction reviews
Reviews in 28 cities Reviews in 28 cities
52 helpful votes 52 helpful votes
4 of 5 stars Reviewed May 4, 2013

A good place to get an excellent view of Havana across the water. See also the nearby cigar shop. A few locals plying their wares.

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Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, Israel
Top Contributor
53 reviews 53 reviews
32 attraction reviews
Reviews in 33 cities Reviews in 33 cities
18 helpful votes 18 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed April 5, 2013

We came to see the canon firing ceremony at San Carlos del la Cabana citadel and were a bit disappointed- it seems that this is a ceremony for tourists, performed by amateurs (not soldiers). The citadel seems impressive, but it's still not properly organized to show exhibits.

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See 6 more reviews by Danny S for Havana
Bilbao, Spain
Senior Contributor
31 reviews 31 reviews
10 attraction reviews
Reviews in 14 cities Reviews in 14 cities
16 helpful votes 16 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed April 2, 2013

Nice and quiet place to see the dusk over the Malecon while you wait the Cañonazo ceremony to begin.

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See 4 more reviews by Oiane S for Havana
Haifa, Israel
Senior Contributor
31 reviews 31 reviews
25 attraction reviews
Reviews in 9 cities Reviews in 9 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
4 of 5 stars Reviewed March 17, 2013

Every day at 2100 there is the canon ceremony fire which is preformed by soldiers wearing custome of 200 years ago,and restoring you to the old time as the comends and custome refers to past images nice show, and the port itself also nice.

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See 17 more reviews by sharonobono for Havana
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
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19 reviews 19 reviews
16 attraction reviews
Reviews in 6 cities Reviews in 6 cities
15 helpful votes 15 helpful votes
4 of 5 stars Reviewed February 27, 2013

We spent several hours exploring this fortress. There were very few tourists, as it's not offered on most tours, and we had some great views of the harbor and Old Havana across the harbor. It is being restored so a few parts were not accessible.

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See 4 more reviews by TeenyMc for Havana
Nokia, Finland
Senior Reviewer
8 reviews 8 reviews
4 attraction reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
3 of 5 stars Reviewed January 27, 2013

This fortress sure wasn't designed in 18th century to be a tourist sight. Nice walk trough the big fort but not much to see. It least during the day time. Every evening the old canon is fired, also the entrance fee is more expensive. Of course it is a propaganda museum but in Cuba, which isn't?

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Senior Reviewer
8 reviews 8 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
2 of 5 stars Reviewed January 10, 2013

We, a family with two young boys, understood that this fort is the place to be, due to its views on Havanna Vieja and the well-preserve fort. It was a bit of a disappointment. Two of the three musea were closed. And the one wich was open was another propaganda museum for the sake of Che. It is a nice... More

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See 2 more reviews by jmdeur for Havana
nederland
Contributor
12 reviews 12 reviews
3 attraction reviews
Reviews in 8 cities Reviews in 8 cities
6 helpful votes 6 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed December 11, 2012

We visited the site where you can find a lot of rockets, airplanes . Some of them from Russian origin.

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See 3 more reviews by vkxNederland for Havana

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