Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana

Rooms and decor

Picture a Spanish colonial department store that was a Havana landmark a hundred years ago — the Manzana de Gómez, completed in 1917, took up a whole block of the old town and counts as the first department store in Havana and in Latin America. After decades sitting empty, Kempinski restored it with the Cuban government and reopened it in 2017 as the group's first 5-star flagship in Cuba and the Caribbean. All 246 rooms, including 50 suites, sit inside the historic building, which still keeps its original detail — 3.2-metre ceilings, original arches, Andalusian-style tiles, and big timber windows that open onto the busy square. The decor leans cream, gold and warm brown against heavy curtains and classic-pattern rugs, more classic-European comfort than sharp modern. Many rooms let you choose between a Capitolio view (the gold dome in full), a Parque Central view (the square with classic 1950s cars rolling past), or a pool view. Beds are soft kings with good cotton sheets, and select suites add marble bathrooms with a soaking tub. If you like a warm classic style that tells the old town's story, the rooms here will land well.

Food and amenities

The heart of the hotel that every review agrees on is the 5th-floor rooftop, with a long infinity pool looking out at the gold dome of El Capitolio and the terracotta roofs of the old town stretching to the horizon. It is the spot people pay this room rate to reach, soaking with a cold Mojito in hand. Beside the pool is Constante Bar, the rooftop bar named after Constantino Ribalaigua Vert, the bartender who invented the original Daiquiri — the Cuban cocktails here follow the original recipes and reviews rate them among the best in Havana. Around 18:30 at sunset the light turns the dome gold, a hard image to forget. Two floors down is the Albear Spa, roughly 1,800 square metres, with several treatment rooms including a couples room, a sauna, steam room, Turkish-style hammam, and a fitness center open 24 hours — a level of facilities you barely find anywhere else in Cuba. For food there are four restaurants: El Surtidor serves contemporary Cuban dishes with local ingredients, El Vista is the rooftop for dinner over the old town, La Cervecera del Mercado brings an easy beer-hall feel, and a lobby café handles strong Cuban coffee in the morning. The breakfast buffet earns praise for quality and range — fresh tropical fruit, pastries, eggs to order, and freshly squeezed juices — a strong start to the day.

Location and getting there

Location is the trump card here — the hotel sits in the heart of Habana Vieja, the UNESCO World Heritage old town, directly across from Parque Central. Step out the door and you hit the square, busy with brightly colored classic 1950s cars parked in rows, musicians playing live son cubano, and locals walking past all day. Cross the street and in 2 minutes you reach El Capitolio, the gold-domed old parliament building that is the city's icon, and a little farther is the Gran Teatro de La Habana, the most beautiful ballet theater in Latin America. Walk east about 8 minutes to Plaza Vieja, the baroque square ringed with coffee shops and cafés, while Plaza de la Catedral and Plaza de Armas are a few minutes more. The narrow stone lanes of this district are full of paladar restaurants (home kitchens), small cafés, and shops selling renowned Cohiba and Montecristo cigars — you can walk all day without a car. From José Martí airport (HAV) it is about 25-30 minutes by taxi, and if you book a classic Chevrolet or Cadillac tour through the hotel concierge, it picks you up at the door for the classic trip-opener photo everyone takes in Cuba.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide — the first thing to weigh is price. This is the most expensive hotel in Cuba, from about $386 a night and climbing past $800 for suites, matching or beating many 5-star hotels in European capitals. Some reviews feel the same money buys plusher room materials and service in another city — the value here is the central World Heritage old-town location and the building's history, so if you judge mostly on room materials it may feel like a stretch. Second, Cuba's Wi-Fi is slow and unreliable nationwide, and even in a Kempinski reviewers still grumble that pages take ages, photos won't load, and the signal drops often — that is Cuba's infrastructure, not the hotel. Download offline maps in Maps.me and buy an ETECSA SIM at the airport as backup, or flip your mindset and treat Cuba as a digital detox. Third, some rooms are smaller than the price suggests, and a few finishes show wear from the tropical humidity; a few reviews hit a low-pressure shower head or a noisy air conditioner — tell the front desk and ask to move rooms, and most sort it quickly. Last is payment: Cuba still limits US-issued credit cards, so bring euros or Canadian dollars in cash to change at the CADECA in the hotel.

Our take

From the several hundred real reviews our team read, Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana fits luxury travelers and couples who want to stay in the heart of Old Havana without compromising on service and facilities. If your mental picture of a Cuba trip is waking up to the gold Capitolio dome through the window, soaking in the rooftop pool over the terracotta roofs, sipping an original-recipe Mojito at sunset, and stepping straight from the lobby into colonial stone lanes, this place delivers the full set. Kempinski-standard service in a country where that level is hard to find is the value you pay more for and get back. But if you are a backpacker or you travel to soak up Cuban life like a local, the price may be too high — look at a boutique hotel or a casa particular in the same district for better value. Overall we give it 8.6/10, a Kempinski flagship doing its job well in a country that challenges renowned service — choose it for the location and the building's history, and you will leave with an image of Havana that is both plush and full of stories.