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!

My wife and I stayed there for 4 not-so-great nights last week.

First, the good things: The location of the hotel is very good, across the street from the malecón (seaside walkway) and very close from both old and new Havana. The La Barraca restaurant has awesome food, you should really try the roasted pig if you go there. Their breakfast buffet (complimentary) is quite good as well.

Now for the bad things: It looks like they've made attempts at maintaining the hotel's luxurious conditions but those attempts have fallen short. The bathroom in our room was moldy and the shower sprayed the wall as much as us. The elevators are quite scratched from the years of use. The corridors in the room floors are moldy and smell of humidity a lot. We went to the parisien cabaret that is located in the hotel grounds and it was a depressing experience. The dancers aren't the best they could be, the costumes are torn and look really old.

To top things off, my wife's purse was stolen the first night we were there. We had just started to have some drinks at the vista al golfo bar that is in the hotel grounds facing the malecón and she took a card out of her purse to give it to some indian guys we were talking with, not even 5 minutes passed and her purse was gone. There were 3 cubans sitting behind us that did not buy a thing and the indians tell us that they just stood up and left casually, most likely with my wife's purse. We filed a report but it is impossible to get that sort of thing back. Fotunately we had left our passports and cash in the safety box.

Lovely hotel, we were upgraded to here from the Sevilla (joke of a hotel) and stayed for 2 nights in June.

Great pools, lovely food and a hospitable atmosphere. The location isn’t great for exploring Old Havana and taxis in and out cost us around 20/25 CUC per day but the hotel itself makes up for this and the views of the sea and the garden are breathtaking.

Hi All,
I would just like to say that the Hotel Nacional is absolutely breathtaking! My girlfriend and I stayed there from the 10th through the 13th of June, and it was incredible. So many people complain about absolute rubbish and try and bring this hotel down, but I guarantee you that you will be absolutely impressed if you stay here. You could go to the pricier Parque Central, but we saw that hotel, and even went inside, and I must say that NOTHING in Havana spoke of History, Wealth and Class, like the Hotel Nacional!
We were given an amazing room on the top floor (8th) with a view of the sea! We had a king sized bed, and the entire room was old darkwood furnishings with rocking chairs and a fully stocked mini-bar (which I confirmed was not included). The elevators and doors were all old and original and made you feel really classy. The dining and lobby areas were immaculate and the food was excellent. The lobby spoke volumes of history and class, and the gardens and outdoor patio was something from a movie.
Please trust me when I say, if you are staying in Havana, do it at the Nacional. Also, the Parisiene Cabaret takes place right in the Hotel!!! We were going to do the Tropicana, but the Hotel tour desk had a special of....get this.... $35 CUC per person INCLUDING DINNER!!! It was amazing, the dancers and the show and the FOOD!!! We felt so safe in the area that we even walked to the Havana Libre Hotel, which is about 10 mins away, and went to a nice dance club that they have there at 10:30 at night. That was also fun. Also, the taxi into Old Havana was only 5 CUC and to the airport form the hotel we paid only 15 CUC total! Remember, you can always bargain with the taxis, he originally told me 19CUC, and I told him all I had was 15 and he said ok! Works with all of them, even the metered ones, as they will stop the meter at the agreed price.
All in all it was without a doubt an amazing and historic hotel. Oh, and be sure to do the tour, it is something nice to do on your last day as it is 2 hours from 10 - 12, and you get a great tour of the whole grounds and the nice little guide Estella will tell you about all the history of the hotel and all the famous guests. I know i;m rambling now but I have to tell you of the guest list.... Speilberg, Schwartzeneger, DiCaprio, Michael Moore, Naomi Campbell, Robert Redford, Jesse ventura, Sinatra had his honeymoon there....the list goes on and on.

Trust me....forget all those people who complain about this and that....you will NEVER regret a stay at this hotel.

Phillip