I have been to Havana 5 times but have never stayed at the HL until this time. I wanted to stay mainly because of the history of the place and some pleasant memories I have of hanging out near La Rampa with its many coffee shops and people watching opportunities.

The Havana Libre is an old, famous but neglected hotel in a less desirable part of Havana. The views from the upper floors are the best in Havana, the rooftop restuarant is terrific and the rooms tend to be big. We had a nice time hanging out by the hotel pool which has sporadic drink service

On the negative side the hotel is rundown and neglected. The elevators are slow and unpredictable. The AC went off one night and made sleeping impossible. The neighborhood has gone downhill in recent years and is definitely not the best place to be in Havana.

Make sure you avoid the dreaded "12th floor" where a horrible stench makes staying impossible (we demanded to be moved after being assigned a room on this floor).

The Hotel Nacionale is a quick 10 minute walk away and is nice to have drinks and relax on the terrace if you get bored with the bars in the HL.

On balance, there are many nicer places to stay in Havana (ie the Florida hotel or the Hotel Nacionale). The HL is an aquired taste and it helps if you understand the history of the hotel and the neighborhood. If it is your first trip to Cuba or Havana I would probably avoid the HL unless you have a specific reason to stay there.

Every is saying that this is one of the worst hotels ever, and I find this hard to believe. Our room WAS clean, the food at the breakfast buffet was suprisingly good for the food found throughout Havana. Service at the front desk was given without a smile, but who cares. The check in went fast and smooth.
This is no 5 star hotel for sure, but I've been to Cuba many times and this is on hotel I will come back to without reservation.
I'm 35, and have been to many 3rd world countries before, and perhaps I'm not used to real 5 star hotels, but this one deserves much better reviews than it's recieved.
Perhaps the average reviewer's age is 60 - 70 and are used to real world hotels, staying at places like the W , so, yes, maybe they are horribly dissapointed.
I've stayed at the Woldorf Astoria in NY and, aside from the front desk smiles it was no better.
Hope this helps
P. S. Remember, your on holiday, hotels should be for sleeping in only, go out and see the country your in. It's why your there after all.

We stayed in the Tryp Havana Libre for one night as part of an overnight trip to Havana booked through First Choice (accomodation assigned on arrival to Havana). It is listed in the First choice brochure as a 4* hotel which is more than a stretch on the imagination. We were warned by our cuban holiday rep that it was national 4* as opposed to international standards. This became very clear when we got to our room.

The positives first of all
- great views over the city, we were on floor 13 and the views from the balcony were fantastic.
- good location for exporing and walking to the sea front although in new havana
- buffet evening meal and breakast were of a decent standard
- lobby bar service efficient and made great mojitos
- poor area appeared clean and well maintained

The negatives
- Air conditioning not working in ours or our friends rooms
- poor standards of cleaning eg dirty towels left for us in the bathroom, dubious stains next to the bed on the floor, dirty bed linen stained with blood??
- poor quality furnishings with stains and broken furniture
- shower did not work properly
- corridors were stale and smelt of smoke
- the air from the airconditioning unit smelt of smoke in the bedroom and the bathroom
- opening the window meant the room was very noisy
- extra fee needed for the safe in the room
- no hotel information provided in the room

Our tour guide had to change rooms as his hadn't been cleaned at all and another member of our party had to move rooms due to water coming through the ceiling. We hunkered down and tried to make the best of a bad job.

I have attached some photos so you can decide for yourself if the positives outway the negatives.

In all, I'm glad we were only staying for one night but it is not the standard of accomodation that I would expect from a 4* hotel.

just back from a wonderful holiday in cuba when i was in havana i stayed in a great b&b (casa particular) in vadado district close to the university and havana libre hotel lady of the house is "nidia" who is a great cook and knows all the places of intrest in havana.The open top tourist bus stops outside her house so great place to stay when in havana. You can telephone and book [---]