we stayed overnight in this hotel whilst visiting havana.
the lobby and reception are quite impressive displaying
original decor. the restaurant offers a menu to suit all.
unfortunately our room was not of the same sandard.
it smelt and felt damp. the air conditioning unit was leaking
and the carpet was stained.
I would not recommend this hotel.

Here is my opinion about this hotel.
I've stayed 3 days in Hotel National de Cuba and 4 days in Cayo Largo.
Havana is a wonderful city, very different from i've seen in my life. It is a very poor city, so dont expect anything else. Although, it is a very safe city and with a very different culture and great architecture buildings!
The city, the people, the buildings, the culture, the cars, all unique!

First advice: Don't take USD to CUBA! Dont make the same mistake as i did.
All manuals and guides i've saw told me the main currency in CUBA was USD. This is wrong! USD is banned from CUBA, as all other american things! They apply a 20% penalty for changing USD into their currency, called "Peso convertible". This is the only currency you will use in CUBA. I advise you to take EUR0 and then change it into their local currency.

About the hotel itself.
This hotel probably has been one of the best of the caribean in the beginning of the earlier century. The architecture from outside is amazing and the location is great. Its a GREAT monument! But that's it. Should be a 3-star hotel, NEVER a 5-star.

NEGATIVE Stuff:

1) Took 1 hour to make the check-in. We were tired and this is not acceptable.
2) The staff is not friendly, nothing really!
3) ordered a security box, and they took 24 hours to activate it
4) on the third night, i saw a cockroach (barata, cucaracha) in the bathroom!!!! It was about 10cm lenght !!!!! IT IS NoT ACCEPTABLE! Need to kill it myself!
5) second night i was without toilet paper in the bathroom. Called to reception and nobody answers. Went down to reception, she was sleeping in the chair! Asked her for toilet paper. She replied: "just use the public bathroom, i can't help you!" - WHAT IS THIS ?????
6) The rooms are old fashioned. The hotel has 70 ears old.

You will find a much better hotel in havana, just search it. "Hotel sevilla", "Hotel ambos mundos" or "Hotel Florida" are great choices!


ADVICES:

Besides taking EUR0 instead of USD, dont forget to visit "EL FL0RIDITA", the bar where hemmingway used to go, and drink their "daiquiri". It's the best daiquiri in the country! Don't forget also to use the "Coco-TAXI", very popular moto-taxi in the city. Never forget to discuss prices before going on the taxi, and try to use government taxis to avoid getting cheated.
Go to RUM Factory called "botoy" (Fabrica de RUM Botoy).
Be careful when giving you the change when you pay in "Convertible Pesos". There is another currency in CUBA called just "Pesos". It doesn't worth nothing to us.


Have a nice holliday! :D

My understanding from Cubans I met is that they see this hotel as Havana's flagship hotel.

The architecture is outstanding. It is like stepping into the past. Many of the hotel's original features, such as the mechanical floor indicators on the lifts have remained unchanged, which is so unusual in a hotel of this age.

Unfortunately much of the rest of the hotel is unremarkable. The rooms are large and we had a pleasant view of the sea, but compared to luxury hotels in Europe, North America and elsewhere, they are little above average.

We ate dinner and breakfast in the buffet restaurant and although there was plenty of choice and fruit and fruit juices were excellent, the food generally was of an average to poor standard. It must be borne in mind that this is in the context of sanction ravaged Cuba and probably this is as good as it gets in Cuban hotels, but for the sake of fairness, this assessment is again given in a worldwide context.

In the evening we visited the Parisien caberet in the hotel. I understand that the format is similar to the Tropicana, but is only one third of the cost. The performance is professional, but is a throwback to forms of entertainment which were popular 40 or more years ago in Europe and one hour was enough for us.

Location of the hotel is reasonable, being about a 3 cuc taxi ride from Old Havan and the gardens are very pleasant with views over the sea.

I also discovered an excellent Presidente cocktail in the scruffy basement bar. White rum with white vermouth. Similar to a dry martini, a must for people who like their drinks bone dry.

In summary I think in the context of Cuba this hotel is probably very good, but by worldwide standards it is going to disappoint anyone expecting a top class place to stay.

Booked Sandals Varadero and Nacional de Cuba in Havana through TheHolidayPlace London (I would never recommend this travel agent due to the immensity of troubles I have encountered with them: holiday price changes, troubles in getting the correct invoices, etc) however they are the only one that organise dual centres where you can choose the hotels. Also they organise the transfers from Havana-Varadero, Varadero-Havana, Havana-airport included in the price (£20pp - advantageous) and visa to Cuba (£15).

Another thing that amuses me is, all UK and US weather sites that I checked throughout the last 2 months for Cuba, constantly mentioned scattered showers and thunder storms. We had constant sun shine, so make up your mind!

Nacional de Cuba is located on top of a hill with good views towards east old Havana that has once extremelly beautiful Spanish colonial buildings (now just tired looking, in need of painting and restaurantion - and I discovered people do live in there!!!!) Reminded me of Beirout after the war, but again the whole country is like that and the road from Varadero to Havana is something out of this planet. Thank God for the sun!!!!!

We have requested a room on a low floor with good views over the sea (and they kept our requests) however, our room 321 was located between the maid's room and some Spanish loud guy that came home at 4am slamming his door and talking very loud. People run on the hallway, sing, shout so we had a very disturbed sleep. My recommendation: ask for a similar room but towards the end of the building. The room has basic, old furniture (more like a 3 star hotel) and amuses me when now I remember of the reviews on TA that said: you are a jealous type if you give this hotel less than 5 stars..... Our room was mouldy and could hear everything through the walls. You can see the mould on the hallway and they do a strange thing: wash their carpet/walls with some very stiff brooms soaked in water???????

The breakfast covered my tastes, however is very crowded with party delegations, mexican delegations, etc as is included in the price. Just pathetic.

Conclusions:
- you will have to put up with this if you want a better than worse Cuba experience
- ask for a room towards the end of the building
- have a tour of the hotel/bunkar underneath the hotel if a strange accent from a retired University professor does not give you headache
- sit in the gardens in the evening, listen to the sound of live music in the restaurant or chase their birds. Ha ha
- all the taxis are around 5CUC from Nacional to the Revolution museum (interesting building but almost nothing inside), Cigar factory (lots of things to learn), Cathedral Square (the old building is about to fall appart and therefore closed).
- have dinner at Cafe de Oriente in San Francisco square (probably the most expensive in Havana/European standards, good service from a fussy old guy) together with wines will easily reach over 100 pounds or lunch at Casa Guerida (family run restaurant) that has a scary entrance and first floor but very good cheap food. Checked their pictures and discovered some TV action heroes on their walls - if they can fight the scary part, so can you
- book your shows on the ground floor at Nacional, you get discounts for the Parisien show (entertaining but does not have a build up) or Tropicana which is some 10CUC/one way and 15 min drive (smashing costumes, water falls, singers and some Venezuelan group afterwards that made all the Venezuelan delegation sing). Rum, rubbish snack and cigar are included in the 80CUC/pp but ask for the magic extra and get a better table where you sit with no one else, have excellent view - they know they will get their tip. Magic word - tip!!!!!
- go to the Bacardi building and see a 360 degrees great view of Havana - nothing can beat this as there is no shopping to be done there, unles you are into paintings buying. Building painters should become easily multi milionaires in the future here!
- go to Floridita but don't stay near Hemingway even if the restaurant is full. You will be in hundreds of pics of tourists that have nothing better to do than to take photos of their drinks/themselves with Hemingway and your hair/walls etc

This place was too fun not to return, I just learned from the room mistake!