What can I say that hasn't already been said? The Sevilla is in a fantastic location in old Havana where you can do all your sightseeing of the old city on foot - including a visit to Havana Club rum museum with tasting of a 7 year old rum (very nice!) and a guided tour (10 pesos, approx £6 each) of the Partagas cigar factory (no tours on a weekend) to see the locals at work producing some of the most famous brands. The Museum of the Revolution is less than 2 minutes walk from the hotel and 5 pesos entrance to this includes a look through a glass building of the ship, Granma, in which Castro and Che Guevara sailed to Cuba. The hotel is only just a short (5 peso, approx £3) taxi ride away from Revolution Square - a must see. The decor of the hotel itself is lovely - Andalusian with hint of Moorish style with tiled public areas, statues and inner courtyard with a bar serving snacks and drinks 24 hours a day. Good friendly service in the bar, mediocre service in downstairs restaurant. We appeared at the rooftop restaurant on our first morning for breakfast and were told that it was only for honeymooners at breakfast time and we were not given the option of paying extra, perhaps they didn't like the look of us!!! We were pleased with the food in the downstairs restaurant anyway with far more choice than we expected in Cuba with cold buffet, hot buffet, freshly baked bread and a selection of sweet pastries and meringue and plenty of fresh tropical fruit. The hotel has its own mini shopping street with travel agency, foreign exchange office and reasonably priced shop selling cigars, Cuban coffee, etc. Our rooms were on the 8th floor and we had fantastic views over the city - even a sea view!!! Both rooms were really spacious, one was more like a suite and both were very clean. The antique style furniture in the rooms was beautiful, very old-worldy yet with mod cons like fridge and big telly!!! The only thing we were disappointed with at the Sevilla is the swimming pool - the setting was lovely - but the water looked very cloudy so none of us took a swim which was disappointing in a way but on the other hand we would have struggled to fit in a swim because there is just so much to see and do in Havana - 2 and a half days is not enough - we shall definitely go back and will definitely stay at the Sevilla mainly because of its location, wonderful decor and indoor courtyard bar open 24/7. I would recommend the Sevilla to anyone who is looking for accommodation in Havana but I would be careful in recommending Havana itself to people - the 4 of us loved it but one minute you are gazing at wonderful old buildings and incredibly old cars still in use then the next minute you feel sadness when you see the living conditions of some of the locals in dilapidated dwellings that barely look safe to house any living thing. Knowing the lifestyle and poverty you can't blame the locals for trying to get money from tourists - in their position we would be the same - but we never found their approaches hostile nor too persistent and in some busy streets just had to keep moving. Since we were on a package holiday, after 3 nights at the Sevilla we had to transfer by coach to Varadero but I would have preferred longer in Havana.

We stayed at the Sevilla as part of a twin centre holiday for 3 nights and thought it was great. It's location is perfect for sight seeing and within walking distance of most of the attractions, whilst being far enough out to get you away from the bustle. The hotel itself is full of the 1950's gangster style charm I had hoped and there were reminders everywhere of the olden days! The decor in the rooms was quite grand and traditionally cuban. We stayed on the 6th Floor which is renown for Al Capone's stays back in the day. The reception area is airy with a nice open air bar area, where there is more often than not a cuban band playing the local music with great enthusiasm. The downstairs breakfast restaurant is quite poor, but we chose to pay 5 peso's extra and enjoy the tranquility of the 9th floor restaurant, with great views, some relaxing music and a good variety of breakfast food. There is a pool area if you get time to sit and relax for a while, but this tends to get very busy at certain times of the day. Havana was very cool, there is a lot to see and a real beauty to the place, but just be a bit weary... The locals are generally very nice people but there are the odd scams going on and you do get pestered, so if you get approached on the street just politely but firmly say no thank you and walk on - they leave you alone. We took the Lonely Planet guide with us and it was great, but also booked onto an afternoon tour when we first arrived and that was very informative and helpful in getting our bearings. Tropicana is worth a visit, but is expensive and we also went for an evening at a restaurant called La Bodegeta which was very traditional and enjoyable. If you want to experience Havana properly I would recommend this hotel as a good superior option!

stayed at the sevilla for 3 nights, may 20-22 bed and breakfast as part of our package holiday deal. food in the breakfast room was o k but nothing special. we ate at local restraunts at night, the food was good value ( we got a starter, main course and ice cream, 2 mojitos each and a coffee for 20 pasos for 2 at one just of the prado ) just a little bland in taste. hotel is a great location just 5 minutes walk to the park central and the main pedestrian street with all the bars and restraunts on .great character if a little shabby, good bar with live local bands just about all day. no problem walking round during the day or at night, we found a small bar half way down the main pedestrian street with a live band playing and spent the night drinking local beer and watching the band play after they played they came round offering you ther cd, we just declined and put a few pasos into there hat for the show ( all the bands do this ). just one word of warning about the hasslers who usualy hang about outside the hotels mainly offering cheap cigars, salsa or jazz festivals the cigars are crap and the festivals dont exist! if the hasslers do aproach you just a simple no thanks will do and they will leave you alone.

Rooms: We stayed at the Sevilla as part of a Havana/Varadero package and were delighted with the old world character of the Sevilla. The rooms are dated but charming and they are generally clean. The bathroom is a bit of a challenge (shower temp and flushing - one quick flush then a long one seemed to do the trick!) but we quickly got used to both. The housekeepers were wonderful ... I'm still not sure how they made two elephants out of our bath towels. The pool provides a very welcome respite, especially in the heat and humidity of May and the exercise room has some decent equipment when it works.

Location: Just off the Prado, the Sevilla provides excellent access to Old Havana, the Malecon, the Museum of the Revolution, and the Capitolo. Ambitious (foolish) types can also walk to New Havana, though I wouldn't recommend this on a steaming hot day in May. There are tonnes of places to eat in this area - go for the smaller restaurants for more authentic food and better service.

Restaurants: Food at the Sevilla was okay. We ate at the buffet, the lobby bar, and the roof-top restaurant. The roof-top restaurant serves decent Cuban food, but is quite pricey (we didn't try the European food). That said, the view is fantastic!!! especially at night and the staff will open the massive windows to cool down the room and expand the view. The view alone made the price justifiable and the service was very good. The lobby bar and buffet provide adequate food, though many of the choices in the buffet seemed under-ripe and less than tasty. Still, the situation in Cuba must make it very difficult to get fresh food. Service in both the bar and buffet are typically communist.

Negatives: The wait for the elevators (lifts) is horrendous even when the hotel isn't busy. There seems to be no logic whatsoever to how the elevators work. The front desk staff weren't very helpful when we ran into problems with our tour company, but the concierge, Dania, was great. Because the hotel is in a very tourist oriented area, be wary of people offering deals that are too good to be true. Nonetheless, we felt very safe, even at night.