Hotels - Conde de Villanueva

About  Conde de Villanueva

The Hotel Conde de Villanueva runs a very close second to the Hotel Santa Isabel and indeed some of our clients prefer it for its quieter location. The building is the pretty little mansion of Claudio Martínez de Pinillos, Count of Villanueva, the leader of Cuban Creole society in the nineteenth century. It was restored and is now run by the Office of the City Historian of Havana, so all its profits are reinvested in the restoration of the city’s historical centre.

The Hotel Conde de Villanueva has been designed for the special enjoyment of cigar smokers - each of the rooms is named after a famous Cuban tobacco plantation, and the very best cigar shop in the city is tucked away secretly in the mezzanine floor of the hotel. Passionate aficionados can even rent their own personal humidor there, rather like a vault in a Swiss bank.

However, you don’t have to be a smoker to enjoy the colonial courtyard full of flowers and mahogany rocking chairs, and the fact that the hotel only has nine rooms causes our more discerning clients to book the whole place for themselves and their friends when they come to Havana for special parties.

The Hotel Conde de Villanueva is on the corner of Mercaderes and Lamparilla streets in Old Havana, about 2 minutes’ walk from all the most important places to visit in the historical centre.

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San Pedro No. 262e / sol y Santa Clara, Habana Vieja, La Habana

Rum Museum

Discover part of the Cuban culture throught the history of Havana Club, the Cuban Rum, and its elaboration stages. It is not necessary to drink alcohol to enjoy this wonderful museum, because by visiting it you’ll still be able to delve into Cuban culture. This museum offers an interesting guided tour exhibiting the complex rum-making process in old machines. This tour is available in Spanish, English, French, German and Italian. It explains the entire process, from the manufacturing white oak barrels to the rum’s fermentation and ageing process, as well as a scale-model copy of a sugar mill. Ticket price includes a tasting to finish the tour in an attractive bar, where you will be able to taste also a wide variety of typical cuban cocktails, with traditional Cuban music from the 30’s in a cozy early 20th century atmosphere. The museum also contains a shop store.

San Ignacio y Empedrado, Habana Vieja

The Cathedral Of Havana

The Cathedral of Havana is an iconic work of what is known as Cuban Baroque and the most remarkable of our colonial churches. The glorious baroque facade and asymmetrical bell-towers of the late 18th-century cathedral are the square’s top attraction. Its interior is surprisingly plain, but it once held the remains­ of Christopher Columbus. Religious services are held here. It has been declared a National Monument.

Oficios, e/ Amargura y Churruca, Habana Vieja

San Francisco de Asís Church and Convent

The San Francisco de Asís Church and Convent is the current scenario of the richest cultural traditions. This is one of the most extraordinary convent and church complex of the colonial time. The construction of the current set dates from 1738, and it replaced a more modest one completed in 1591. After a restoration in the nineties, the architectural group has harbored, also, a concert hall and the Holy, Sacred and Religious Art museums. The most significant element of the Church is the Tower 42 meters of height, second in altitude at the colonial time. 

Oficios, e/ Amargura y Churruca, Habana Vieja

San Francisco de Asís Square

This square dates back to the first half of the 17th century. Its location, just a few metres from the bay, led to it becoming an important trading square over the years. It is said that around the year 1600 the first fountain of the city could be seen at this square. In 1836 it was replaced by a beautiful fountain made of white Carrara marble by Giuseppe Gaggini, under the good auspices of the Villanueva Count. This fountain is called Fuente de los Leones (Lions Fountain). On its paved area stand two noteworthy buildings: the Monastery and Basilica of San Francisco de Asís, which today houses the Museum of Religious Art and a concert hall. It is also where the Lonja del Comercio (Chamber of Commerce) is located, inspired by Spanish Renaissance architecture and topped by a dome on which a sculpture of the god Mercury stands. Among the houses built around the plaza, the house of the Arostegui family, residence of the Captain Generals until the completion of the City Hall at the end of the 18th century, was erected.

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