The Best Evening Programs in Havana, Cuba

Cuba is full of facilities if it comes to entertainment. Music fills the streets day and night; this island has the most bustling nightlife in the Caribbean area.

Havana is a treasury of alternatives. Even if you travel on a reduced budget, you can still afford to go out. A good help in finding the perfect venue is the little leaflet you can find at the airport upon arrival, called Bienvenidos a Cuba (Welcome to Cuba). It lists the current events and programs and also includes all necessary addresses. Another source of information in Havana is the free magazine, Cartelera. In other towns you can ask the receptionists at the hotel or get info from posters placed on walls all around the town.

What to do in Havana then? These are the most popular programs in the capital:

Dance Lessons

Finding a dance school in Cuba is not a big challenge. Just ask the hotel staff, it’s sure there’ll be at least a couple teaching salsa right around the corner. At Casa de la Cultura de Plaza (at the corner of Calzada and 8^th Street, Vedado) concerts of modern Cuban music and traditional folk and santería music are often accompanied by dance lessons.

If you’re eager to listen to more authentic music visit Casa de la Trova (address: San Lázaro Street, between Belascoaín and Gervasio Streets). It’s a small building, but very popular among locals. It’s rare nowadays that someone plays real son and bolero, this makes the Casa more valuable. For rumba fans Callejón de Hamel is a must: performances start from noon every Sunday (Street Hamel, between Aramburu ad Hospital).

To spice the experience of music with stunning view, go climb up to the 5^th floor of the Nacional Theatre in Vedado.

Havana also has a place for those who already have rhythms of salsa in their feet, it’s called Jardines 1830 and located next to the tunnel at the corner of the Malecón and 20^th Street.

Dance Shows, Revue

If you prefer more authentic places, where locals not only teach dances, but also go there to have fun, then Casa de la Música is your solution. It’s a famous Latin discotheque where live music is played (located at the corner of 20^th and 35^th Streets in Miramar). Among the best clubs Macumba with a humble dance show (at the corner of 222^nd and 37^th Streets) or Tropical with open-air dance floor (at corner of 421^st and 46^th Avenues) also are worth a visit.

A very well-know place to enjoy the show of the professional dancers in Havana is the Tropicana. The spectacular show is held in a wonderful palm garden with a hundred beautiful Cuban girls and handsome dancer guys. The program starts at 10 pm, but if you don’t have a table reservation it’s recommended to arrive at least an hour earlier. They offer three different entrance tickets all including a welcome drink, a refreshment, ¼ bottle of Havana Club Rum (age is different in case every ticket category) and some salad or snack. Best and second category tickets also provide table reservation, while cheapest tickets don’t cover it. With the most expensive tickets you’ll get a table in the first three rows, closest to the stage. I prefer 2^nd category tables, these are in the middle three rows and you don’t have to look up and won’t get a pain in the neck. From the last rows it’s a bit hard to see everything that happens on stage.

Almost similar performance can be seen at the Parisien Cabaret. It’s located inside the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.

 

Cabaret-Tropicana-Havana

Cinema

The seventh art, cinematic art is still flourishing in Cuba. Locals are huge fans of films, maybe because of the ridiculously cheap cinema tickets. Only in Havana more than 200 cinemas are waiting for the hungry eyes. One of the biggest motion-picture theaters is called Yara. It always operates with a full house at weekends. It’s easy to find as it’s located opposite to one of the most famous Havana hotels, the Tryp Habana Libre in Vedado. Another popular cinema is the Payret at Prado, corner of San José.

Theater and Ballet

The Cuban ballet is world-famous and currently Cuba is known for having several dancers of the highest emotional and technical ability. Most of them found fame and work with leading world companies. It’s amazing, but they can thank it all to their legendary artist, Alicia Alonso. She found the Cuban National Ballet with her husband and brother-in-law in 1948. One of the big achievements of the revolution and Fidel Castro was to make arts available for everyone. This helped ballet, classical music and theatre to be enjoyed by more and more Cuban people.

The most versatile venue in Havana is the Teatro Nacional de Cuba (Cuban National Theatre), which is a complex hosting different cultural events and art festivals.

The Gran Teatro de la Habana (Great Theatre of Havana) is the home of the Cuban National Ballet and  Opera. It is located in the hearth of the city at the corner of Prado and San Rafael Street.

For concerts of the best national and international philharmonic orchestras visit Amadeo Roldán, a beautifully renovated concert hall in Vedado (at the corner of Calzada and Street D).

 

Alicia-Alonso