Hotel Paseo Habana

I liked the outlook of the hotel, it's located in a quiet neighbourhood. The reception staff were very kind and helpful, they helped with taxi booking to the airport. Breakfast was served fresh and very fast. The overall environment was warm and nice

I stayed at the Hotel Paseo Habana for a week in April 2024. The hotel is run by Islazul Hoteles, a relatively cheap state-owned hotel chain owned by the Ministry of Tourism (note that most high-level hotels are owned by Gaviota, part of the business unit of the armed forces). This was my third visit to Cuba - I decided to stay here for the first time as I got a very good rate that included breakfast and wanted to stay in Vedado. The location was excellent for me. Vedado is leafy, quiet and beautiful, full of mansions that were built by the creme de la creme of Cuban society in early-mid 20th Century. The Paseo is no exception, the lovely front building sitting proudly on the corner of 17 and A. The rooms are located in an attached taller building that's clearly a later addition, but it doesn't spoil the aesthetics. I was happy to be away from the craziness of Habana Vieja, and took taxis around using the app La Nave (Havana's best Uber equivalent). I arrived on an early flight, so got to the hotel before 10AM. Naturally I couldn't quite check in then, so I dropped my bags at reception and came back about 1PM, when they allowed me to check in. The hotel has been recently refurbished. The refurbishment significantly improves the experience judging from older photos online, but do note that Islazul does not have access to any significant resources or any financing, so please do not expect any Islazul hotel to be at the level of international hotels. Having said that, I was more than happy with my room for the price I paid. The air conditioning was brand new and excellent, the fridge was good, the bed was comfortable and the bathroom was clean and smart. The iron didn't work, so I took it down to reception and they told me housekeeping would replace it the next day (unsure why that takes a day to walk to a cupboard, but the new one worked). The only thing missing really was the toilet seat, but housekeeping kept the loo roll stocked, which isn't always reliable in Cuba - they took small old rolls and wound them together, creating new full rolls. Excellent stuff, no waste. I slept very well in quiet Vedado on the comfortable beds. The room was perfectly clean when I checked in, and turned down daily to a good standard. Somewhat surprisingly, there was hot water. I couldn't quite get it to be 'hot' hot every day, but also I didn't want to run the water for too long to see if it became hot due to how water-stressed Havana is in the dry season. Often it did get hot part way through the shower. Pressure was decent. When turning off, the head did fall out of the holder, dropping it to the floor - this will break soon. The hairdryer did work. Quite a lot of the lighting did not have light bulbs. There was a smart TV, but smart functions were not possible, due to the internet connection being via a portal. This was no issue as I didn't go all the way to Cuba to watch TV. WiFi was available in the room and common areas. This was charged at 50 CUP per