Hostal Valencia
About
Everyone needs a place to lay their weary head. For travelers visiting Havana, Hostal Valencia is an excellent choice for rest and rejuvenation. Well-known for its romantic environment and proximity to great restaurants and attractions, Hostal Valencia makes it easy to enjoy the best of Havana.
Rooms at Hostal Valencia offer a flat screen TV, air conditioning, and a refrigerator providing exceptional comfort and convenience.
Free breakfast will also help to make your stay even more special.
While staying at Hostal Valencia Hotel, visitors can check out Plaza de Armas (0.1 mi) and Camera Obscura (0.2 mi), some of Havana's top attractions.
Havana has plenty of cafes. So when you’re here, be sure to check out popular spots like El Café, Cafe Solás - Cafe De Los Artistas-, and El Dandy, which are serving up some great dishes.
If you are interested in exploring Havana, check out some of the nearby attractions, such as Museo Hemingway Finca Vigia (0.3 mi) and Old Square (Plaza Vieja) (0.2 mi), all of which are within walking distance of Hostal Valencia.
Hostal Valencia Hotel is sure to make your visit to Havana one worth remembering.
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The hotel is lovely. The rooms are accessed via two beautiful internal courtyards. Our room consisted of an old wrought iron bed (queen size), a dark wood wardrobe, an old wooden writing desk, and an antique vanity with sink. The bathroom was dark (no windows and bad lighting!) with an old pulley toilet and a lovely claw footed tub with an European shower. The room had a large patio door/window with blue wooden shutters that overlooked a quiet sidestreet. It's not the Ritz but it made me feel like I was in Havana in the 30's rather than 2003 - very romantic.
The restaurant was exceptionally good. I understand the Hostal is operated by a Spanish family hence the fantastic paella. I lived in Spain and I know that good paella is rare. Havana was the last place I expected to find it! Of course, it IS Havana so when we ordered the cheese, they didn't have any. When we chose our wine, they didn't have any. Never mind though, it was a great meal. By the way, the Meson de la Flota (also Spanish operated) also has fantastic Spanish cuisine.
The area surrounding this hotel bustles with tourists throughout the day. At 5:00pm, all the tourists go home and everything slows down. We unwinded with a few cold beers at a sidewalk cafe. We watched kids play in the street and enjoyed the lively conversation around us. Once it gets dark, the old city goes silent. We decided to treck up calle Obrapia to Av. de las misonaires to have a traditional drink at La Floridita. Two drinks and $20.00 USD later, we moved on to the Monserrate Bar for cheaper drinks and some live music. Walking back to the hotel was interesting. There are no street lights so the crumbling sidewalks can be harzardous. Of course, God favours fools and drunks. Being a bit of both, we made it back safely!
This is a great hotel for an authentic experience. Romantic rooms than transport you to a differnt time, a quality restaurant that doesn't break the bank, and easy access Havana's exciting nightlife.
Would we stay there again? Absolutely.
The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful (which we found very unusual in Cuba), the night porter even walking with us for about an hour before dawn through the empty streets of Havana trying to find a taxi for us to get to the airport when phoning one didn't work.
The only reservation I had about this hotel is that the bathrooms are only seperated from the bedroom by short louvred wooden doors. It didn't bother us, but for some it might be an issue. If total bathroom privacy isn't a problem for you then this is a fanatastic hotel at a really good price.



When we enquired about rooms, we were shown two huge double rooms, one with bath & one with shower, both for 120 pesos per night. We chose the one with shower that was on the front corner and had an "L" shaped balcony over two streets. It had a partition between the bed and the lounge area and really felt like being in Havana in the thirties (apart from the TV & aircon). I used to work for Hilton Hotels and have stayed in numerous Hiltons (and other hotels) around the world and this is now my favorite hotel room!
The hotel is set around a wonderful courtyard that has open air eating and drinking for guests. The staff were all really friendly and it is amazingly convenient for all of the sights.
We tried the paella and it was really good and, despite what our guidebook had said, big portions.
The bar is nice (but small) with glazed tiles signed by everyone famous whos stayed in the last 10 years and there's also a small picture gallery there.
I would REALLY recommend this hotel for anyone visiting Havana!
All of the staff



I think the mistake that some reviewers have made here has been to compare the food to the British and American tourist food available in many parts of the world. In fact the westernised Cuban food available at Hostal Valencia is much better quality than even the average Cuban could expect to find in their local restaurant.
The hotel made the perfect base for us as we checked out Havana Vieja's incredible sites, and the perfect refuge after nights out at its crazy bars and clubs!
And if this is budget I need never upgrade.
If I had any criticism at all its that the new lifelong friends we made in Cuba - who were neither criminals nor jinteros - were not allowed to join us in the hotel. We thought this was the case for all visitors, however, an Australian friend of ours who coincidentally was travelling through Cuba at the same time we were there was permitted to join us on several occasions. Cubans are used to this kind of tourist apartheid but I must admit the Brit in me feels quite adamant that the only person that should be allowed to discriminate between these friends is me.
Anyway, the smallest of gripes outweighed by a memorable experience - I will never forget my stay in this beautiful hotel.
The room was clean, it had a window, and it was large. It was also attractively decorated with ceramic vases and well air-conditioned. I suspect it represented an upgrade for us (from an ordinary double to what they referred to as a 'suite'), but I would probably have been disappointed with it if I had specifically booked a suite - it was one (large) room plus bathroom but no more. The only real complaint about the room was that the shower tended to feel like quite brutal acupuncture given how hard and focused the jets of water were. I think the room name was Suega, if you particularly like to enjoy your showers and want to avoid it. The rooms on the top floor looked like they had balconies and even bigger windows. We were too exhausted to find out.
Apart from the man at reception, the rest of the staff were very nice, particularly the maid who cleaned the room and the bell hops. You should be aware that payment of the balance of the room price is payable in cash to a guy who sits at a desk in the lobby from time to time. In case you are suspicious of handing over a large amount of cash to someone in casual clothes, he looks a bit like Hank Azaria and seems like a nice and helpful guy.
I'm not sure that I would stay in Habana Vieja again. It is very touristy and full of mostly very uninspiring shops. Still, it is quite busy and central and for the first time visitor probably best unless you are prepared to shell out for the Hotel Nacional in Vedado and the necessary taxis to and fro (the posh hotels in Park Central which we did actually look at one day to get an idea mostly looked overpriced - the sort of luxury they would have had to provide to justify their prices just doesn't really exist in Cuba on any kind of general basis).
For that reason, despite the above, I would probably still recommend HV to first time visitors on a budget. But be prepared.
Nearby, the best places to eat were La Dominica, an Italian restaurant which did good pizza and La Lluvia which also did some reasonable pizza and good live music. By and large we found the state-controlled restaurants (especially El Patio in Plaza Catedral – have a drink in the evening for the ambience of the plaza, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend eating when La Dominica is around the corner) hugely disappointing. The only way to go in Cuba is paladars - the privately-run restaurants. The difference between them and the state restaurants is like night and day and I would hardly eat anywhere else if I went back. La Guardia in centro is unmissable - the seafood paella was particularly memorable. La Cocina de Lilliam in Miramar was also excellent. Its best to make reservations, but its not always essential. Taking a taxi to a decent paladar, wherever it may be, is the only way to eat well in Havana.
Given our experience with the private restaurants, I would abandon state-controlled hotels entirely next time and book a room in a private residence. If the difference is as great as with restaurants, it would be better than Hostal Valencia. Plus it would probably provide breakfast, which we found very difficult to come by. We were always too late for the HV breakfast (ends at 10 ish), so can’t really comment on it – we saw the tail end on one day and it looked a bit fly-infested, but I can’t say what it would have been like at the beginning. The best breakfast we found consisted of pastries from Francesca’s near Hotel Telegrafo in centro. It’s mediocre at best, but that was a good result in the circumstances.
We also went to the beach at Santa Maria del Mar - its a bit touristy but we found it easy enough to escape the crowd and find beautiful empty stretches of beach. Swimming in the warm blue sea was great and if I stayed in Havana again I would make a short beach trip part of most days. Particularly during daylight, Havana does not have so much to do/see that this would be over-indulgent. A taxi to Santa Maria costs max CUC15 each way.
One thing that’s worth knowing is that there is a small supermarket in a block on the south-east corner of the junction of Neptuno and Agramonte (to the north east of park central) which sells genuine Coke, Sprite, Fanta and Nestle chocolate biscuits as well as bottled water. We stocked up well a few times – we found that comfort foods and drinks were quite important in Cuba, particularly when breakfast was hard to find. Best to bring a plastic bag because they sometimes run out and the walk from there to HV with a heavy cardboard box in midday heat is not pleasant.
The rate went up to $ 110 but it was worth it. The room #14 was spacy, quiet, very clean, the breakfast very good and the staff very friendly and helpful. The location is absolutey great in Havana vieja. The next time we will certainly start there. It was hard (unfortunately impossible!) to rent a room directly via internet) but when we went to the desk at the beginning of our exciting trip (Havana - Bay of pigs - Playa Giron - Cienfuegos - Trinidad - Sancti Spiritus - Santa Clara - Havana) we had no problem to get a room for our last night in Havana.
Hasta luego!
"Review rooms before paying anything!! There are many good cases available for a much cheaper price"Read full review
"If you want full length window ask for a street room, check if it has leaked when there is heavy rain."Read full review
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