Where to Stay in Cuba: Hotels and Casas by City

A casa particular is a licensed private guest room in a Cuban home — a category that has grown into one of the country's real strengths. At its best it means a restored townhouse room steps from a colonial plaza, a host who knows the neighbourhood, and a home-cooked breakfast on a rooftop terrace. Casas are the standard way to stay in the cities and towns, generally cheaper than hotels, and the surest route to meeting people rather than just passing through.

Hotels come in two main flavours: historic and boutique properties in the old-town cores of the cities, and the all-inclusive resorts that line the beaches. The resorts are about the sand and the convenience of everything on tap; the city hotels are about location and character. As a rule, favour a casa in the colonial cities and a resort on the beach — and let the specific city, rather than a blanket preference, decide.

In Havana, the casa particular is the classic stay, and where in the city you choose matters as much as the room. Old Havana (Habana Vieja) puts you among the plazas and the restored heart of the city; Centro Habana is grittier and more local; Vedado is leafier, spread out and home to much of the nightlife and the grand mid-century hotels. All three are walkable within themselves and well connected by the vintage collective taxis.

Trinidad, Cienfuegos, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba tell a similar story: stay central, in a casa near the main square, and the town opens up on foot. Trinidad in particular is a warren of cobbled streets best explored from a base right in the old quarter. These cities reward staying in the historic core, and the map shows how tightly the good stays cluster there.

Varadero, the northern cays and Guardalavaca run on all-inclusive resort hotels lined along the sand. Here the choice is less about neighbourhood and more about which stretch of beach and which resort tier — and, at Varadero, whether you want to be near the town at the peninsula's base or out among the big resorts at its tip. The Hotels layer plots them along the coast so you can match a hotel to the exact beach you want.

The cays — Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Santa María, Cayo Largo — are almost entirely resort islands: you choose a property and largely stay put, which suits a pure beach holiday but less so a touring trip. If you want to combine beach with exploring, a base like Trinidad (for Playa Ancón) or Guardalavaca gives you sand and a real town nearby.

Book the first night or two ahead, especially in high season (roughly December to March) and around Havana, then feel free to arrange casas as you go — hosts routinely phone ahead to a colleague in your next town. Come prepared with cash, as cards issued by US banks generally do not work in Cuba and connectivity for online payment can be patchy; budget accordingly and keep some reserve.

Casas are required to register guests, so bring your passport, and expect breakfast to be offered for a small extra charge — it is usually excellent value and a good way to start the day. Standards vary more than in a chain hotel, which is exactly why seeing a casa's location on the map, relative to the sights and the restaurants, is worth more than a star rating.

Open the Hotels layer, or a city page such as Hotels in Havana or Hotels in Varadero, to see stays plotted where they actually are. Then add the Restaurants and Things-to-do layers to judge a base by what surrounds it, not just by its own listing — the single most useful thing the map does for lodging is show you whether dinner and the sights are a stroll away or a taxi ride. Stack in the Beaches layer for a coastal trip, and you can plan a whole week's worth of nights in a few minutes.