I was plesantly suprised by this hotel as my general opinion of all hotels in Cuba before I left was not to expect too much! Rooms were clean and of reasonable size and location was perfect. Only issue was the lift (elevator) - it takes forever to get to the ground floor - my friend and I were located on the 3rd floor so generally resorted to using the stairs - not so easy if you are on the 9th floor, disabled or have a push chair though! Leave plenty of time to get up and down from your room if you need to use the lift - you could seriously be waiting for about 20 minutes!

This hotel is located right in the centre of Havana and you are near all the major cultural points of interest.Most within walking distance of about 20 minutes and others a 5 minute taxi ride away.

We stayed for 3 nights in this hotel before heading to Varadero beach and I am really glad we did - whilst Varadero beach is stunning and the perfect place for a relaxing holiday - Havana is real Cuba.

On our second day we went on one of the organised city tours (booked through our travel rep when he came for a welcome meeting at the hotel) which was the perfect way to orientate yourself and get an idea of where all the key cultural places of interest were. The following day we spent the the day exploring the streets by ourselves. I can recommend having your photo taken with a 105 year old camera outside the Capital Building for 1CUC (about 60p) - pictures came out as old style back and white and looked really good.

We only ate breakfast in the hotel which was of a reasonable standard - lovely fresh bread and eggs cooked to order but aside from that the fruit was limited and everything else was a pastry! We did have dinner in the terrace bar on our first night - don't bother - food was not good and was very expensive for Cuba. Instead I can recommend a fantastic restaurant called Los Nardos just opposite the capital building (10 minute walk). Portions were enormous and food was beautiful, as were the settings of the restaurant. Average price was about £4-£6 for a main meal (including fillet steak!). There are also several other restuarants located near to this hotel - just ask at the PR desk in the hotel for recommendations and directions.

One word of warning - Cubans are generally very nice people but they are out to get whatever they can from you. Walking along the streets of Havana we were bothered every few minutes by someone wanting to show us a really good place, take us to a bar or sell us something. A polite no thank you seems to work though! Apart from one night when myself and my friend (2 girls in our 20's) were going to a bar just around the corner from this hotel and 2 Cuban men followed us in and invited us to sit and have a drink with them. My friend and I did not really want to but decided to just sit and have one drink and then leave - before we could leave after our first drink the 2 Cubans had ordered another round of drinks and asked us to stay - we said we wanted to pay for our drinks then and there and the bar man said no pay at the end this is how we do it in Cuba. ANyway - long story short - we stayed for a few more drinks and when it came time for us to leave we tried to pay for the drinks we had been drinking and the bar man also tried to make us pay for the drinks the 2 cuban men had been drinking. The Cuban men had told the barman up front that we had invited them in and asked them to sit and drink with us and that we would be paying the bill. The total bill was about £90 for the evening and my friend and I had agreed to pay about £60 of it but the Cuban men said they did not have the rest of the money and a big argument ensued where I had to threaten to call the police as they would not let myself or my friend leave the bar. A man actually stood in our way and refused to move. After several attempts at reasoning I then had to get really angry and start shouting for the police through the door before they would let us leave. SO BE WARNED!!!! Pay for your drinks as you go when you are in a bar and by all means get to know the locals but make sure you don't fall into the same trap as we did!

All in all, Havana is an amazing place not too be missed when you are in Cuba and this hotel is in a perfect location for exploring the city!