Gran Caribe Plaza Hotel Havana

In Havana we stayed in Hotel Plaza in the centre of this city. This beautiful, old colonial style building dates from the 19th century, and became a hotel in 1909. In 2009 this hotel will celebrate it 100-years excistance!
Albert Einstein once stayed and dined at a banquet here, and the long guest list includes luminaries such as Isidora Duncan and Babe Ruth (whose former accommodations, suite 216, are today a kind of museum of nostalgia for baseball lovers, complete with El Bambino’s bat and ball).
Rooms at the Plaza are spacious and sober and a number of them have a private balcony (not my room unfortunately). If you’re looking for a view, however, the rooftop Bar Solarium is the place to go at this hotel, especially if you would like a look at the impressive Bacardi Building. In the rooftop we had breakfast, it really is impressive with that view. In the 2nd floor is a patio for an afternoon tea. Only a block away from the Prado in Old Havana, the Plaza is ideal as starting point for explorations of this part of town. The Capitolio and Grand Teatre are virtually across the street.