Four of us arrived at the Nacional on Dec.22 for four nights as part of a split package.Our room was huge but my brother-in -law and his wife had a small room, so if you stay there, ask for a room with a number ending in 25. This gives you a ocean/Malecon view to boot. Their room was 465 and the bath had a huge crack in it.

The hotel and grounds are very elegant and are steeped in history. Do take the hotel tour and don't forget to relax on the terraces in the evening supping on a few Mojitos.

We found a great little restaurant right across the street from the hotel entrance called Monseignors, Prices range from CUC 4(approx $C4) for a chicken breast dinner thru CUC6 for a whole roast chicken to CUC18 for an awesome Lobster Thermidor. The restaurant has a resident pianist who will play almost anything. I have never heard a better version of Gershwin's Summertime.He could sure play the Blues.

Two blocks east of the restaurant is a little open air bar called Sofia's. Here also the staff are really friendly and so is the resident band.In both places some English is spoken.

There is lots to see and do in that area and to get a good insight of Havana and indeed, all of Cuba and its people, get the book Moon's Cuba.

If you want to go to the old town (Vieja Havana) a taxi is cheap but the best way to see it is to jump on a horse and carriage.

Another place to go is the north side of the river. To get ther you will need to go by taxi (CUC 5). There you will find the huge statue of Jesus of Havana (carved out of marble, the sculpturor is a woman),Castle Morro (the lighthouse castle)and also the Castle of Three Kings in which you will see many interesting things including Che's HQ after the revolution.

My final tip is: the normal Cuban Peso, at this time is 25 to the $Can,but you will never see them.Tourists get the CUC , so you are basically paying 25 times the price that Cubans pay. But everything is really cheap. Mind you, the average pay of the better off hotel staff in Varadero only get CUC1 per day .If you give tips, don't give canadian coins, Cubans can't change them.

All-in-all, Havana and its people are great and we will be going back again because there is so much to see and do.

We stayed here for 2 nights. Although not our western standard of a 5 star it made up for it in history and atmosphere. We have to say this is a beautiful hotel with an amazing history. You feel like you have stepped back to another era. For Cuban standards the room was comfortable and the staff was fairly friendly.

The veranda and ball rooms were beautiful.

The breakfast buffet was decent although the coffee was not up to par. Try going to the Veranda and ordering a coffee there, it's much better!

We had dinner one night at the restaurant on site called La Barrucca. It was absolutely delicious. Truly one of our more enjoyable meals in Cuba. Staff was friendly and courteous. Beware though that fruit cocktail is actually a fruit salad and not a drink!

The tour booking agent on the main floor was very friendly and helpful as well.

Overall we would recommend this hotel if you want to experience some old world Cuban glamour.

We stayed in the Nacional de Cuba from 26-28 November. It was a dream! And a wonderful surprise after reading these reviews... Our room no. 228 was excellent (4*), breakfast was excellent and abundant, a bit crowded. Restaurants were fine, fantastic show at the Cabaret Parisien (in our case included in the room price). We checked the other hotels in the center and the Nacional de Cuba should be no. 1 on the list! It breaths history (we recommend the historical tour in the hotel) and the facilities and services are super. The people in Cuba think the same, they are really proud of this hotel. I have seen many hotels in the world and believe me, if you want to stay in Havana: do not hesitate and go to the Nacional de Cuba!

We Stayed at the Hotel Nacional in Havana from 12 Nov to 15 Nov as part of a "Twin Centre" break.

This was our Third visit to this Hotel.

On arriving the bell boys were down right away to lift our cases and then it was time to check in at the reception. I must agree with some people who do find the reception staff a bit "curt" at times, however they probably havent any real idea of customer service.

Once we had checked in we went to find our room number 232. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that we had been allocated a room that Jonny Weismuller aka Tarzan had stayed in. The room was reasonably big and very well kept.

After we had our dinner and had been out in Havana we returned to the Hotel were we went to the small quiet bar beside the Cinema cafe and the main buffet restraunt.

The barman who works there "Roig" made us the best mojito we have ever tasted...needless to say we had some more!! If you find him tell him Danny and Kirsteen from Scotland sent you for the best Mojito in the World...You will make him laugh!

We also visited the "Golf bar" which has all the portraits of the mainly famous celebrities and dignitries who have stayed at the hotel over the past 80 years or so! Its excellent to have a walk around and sip a cocktail looking at the portaits.

Breakfast was a buffet style one and altho there was some queueing required , be patient... We enjoyed everything on offer..sometimes having a continental and other times having fried eggs and bacon or an omelette. If the staff make you something to your liking then a small peso here and there will be much appreciated and certainly wont bankrupt even the most "thrify" of people.

We enjoyed the tour of Havana in the Chevvy "Coupe", The driver generally says 35 pesos for 1 hour but you can haggle. I offered him 27 and 2cds (which were free from a Sunday magazine ).

The people of Havana are generally poor and they are still on rations so if you can take some old tee shirts with you and hand them out. As well as pens and pencils for the children..YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE however small!! Our favourite trick was taking the soap and bath stuff from our room and giving it to the people on Havana...The smiles make it worth while!

Another tour worth while doing is the Hotel Tour. It is very interesting and you'll see the secret tunnels and learn about the other side of the story regarding the "October Crisis" of 1962. You'll also get to see the Winston Churchill room which is magnificent.

A few sights to see would be Castro's Railway Carriage, John Lennon at the Park, The Cemetary and the Forest as well as the Capitol building.

The only downside about this visit was the bill....Make sure you check your bill when checking out. Listed on ours was 2 beers from the fridge in the room and a telephone call. I refused to pay, and basically stood my ground with it. They agreed to "write it off".

However this has happened to me in hotels in many other countries including Scotland!

I would reccomend the hotel to anyone interested in stepping back in time for a day or 2!