Go into the foyer of the impressive Bacardi building (it is now used as offices) in Old Havana and ask for the bar. The lift operator will take you up in his ancient contraption to a perfectly preserved art deco masterpiece.

Old wood and the bat symbol is everywhere. The only drink available was a perfect mojito ($2) when I was there (1999), but who cares? Not one single other tourist, just some staff from the building who had finished for the day.
I was stuck for two hours during an horrendous thunderstorm, it was great. Beats a week slobbing in Varadero any day.

Bacardi building, old Havana

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In the country that invented three classic rum-based cocktails (the mojito, daiquiri and cuba libre) it’s no surprise that you can get one in every bar in town. The bars of the city’s many historic grand old hotels are the best places for a pre-dinner sundowner (but eat in a paladar rather than the hotels — the food is rank).

Some of the best are the elegant garden at the Nacional and the rooftop bars of the Moorish-style Sevilla (the setting for Our Man in Havana) and Ambos Mundos (where Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls). The two more famous Hemingway haunts (Floridita and La Bodeguita) are just tourist traps these days.

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