This unmissable military park, included in the Habana Vieja Unesco World Heritage site, is arguably the most formidable defensive complex in Spain's erstwhile colonial empire. It's comprised of two strapping forts: El Morro (Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro), with its emblematic lighthouse, and La Cabaña (Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña), a sprawling mini-city of a military bastion famed for its sunset-over-the-Malecón views and legendary cañonazo ceremony.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
3.43 MILES
Havana's main cemetery (a national monument), one of the largest in the Americas, is renowned for its striking religious iconography and elaborate marble…
0.65 MILES
The Malecón, Havana's evocative 7km-long sea drive, is one of the city's most soulful and quintessentially Cuban thoroughfares, and long a favored meeting…
1.06 MILES
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions')…
0.6 MILES
Habana Vieja's most uniform square is a museum to Cuban baroque, with all the surrounding buildings, including the city's beguiling asymmetrical cathedral…
Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro
0.23 MILES
This wave-lashed fort with its emblematic lighthouse was erected between 1589 and 1630 to protect the entrance to Havana harbor from pirates and foreign…
9.23 MILES
Where does art go after Antoni Gaudí? For a hint, head west from central Havana to the seemingly low-key district of Jaimanitas, where artist José Fuster…
0.94 MILES
Laid out in 1559, Plaza Vieja is Havana's most architecturally eclectic square, where Cuban baroque nestles seamlessly next to Gaudí-inspired art nouveau…
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
0.69 MILES
Spread over two campuses, the Bellas Artes is arguably the finest art gallery in the Caribbean. The Arte Cubano building contains the most comprehensive…
Nearby attractions
1. Batería de la Divina Pastora
0.13 MILES
A military emplacement that once protected Havana harbor from its position at the foot of the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña.
2. Batería de los Doce Apóstoles
0.21 MILES
A battery of 12 cannons (the 12 'apostles') set beneath the colossal ramparts of the Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro.
0.23 MILES
A military emplacement beneath the walls of the Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro, containing Krupp cannons last fired during the 1898…
4. Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro
0.23 MILES
This wave-lashed fort with its emblematic lighthouse was erected between 1589 and 1630 to protect the entrance to Havana harbor from pirates and foreign…
5. Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña
0.24 MILES
This 18th-century colossus was built between 1763 and 1774 on a long, exposed ridge on the east side of Havana harbor to fill a weakness in the city's…
6. Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas
0.31 MILES
Inside the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, this armaments museum contains weapons from bows and arrows to giant catapults and cannons.
7. Museo de Comandancia del Che
0.31 MILES
Probably the most interesting of the several museums spread around Havana's two eastern forts is this diminutive but nonetheless riveting exposé of the…
8. Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta
0.35 MILES
One in a quartet of forts defending Havana harbor, La Punta was designed by Italian military engineer Bautista Antonelli and built between 1589 and 1600…