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NOT ALWAYS YOU FIND YOURSELF IN FRONT OF AN INSTITUTION THAT DAZZLES FOR ITS BEAUTY AND FOR HAVING WITNESSED PASSAGES OF CUBA’S HISTORY IN SO MANY DIFFERENT MOMENTS.

It was back in 1930 when one of the country’s most bustling areas was about to see an architectural gem rise under the name of Hotel Nacional de Cuba.
Building such a majestic hotel barely took 14 months at a cost of approximately $7 million, broken down in $5 million chipped in by Cuban banks and the remaining $2 million loaned by U.S. banks.
On December 30, 1930, the main ballroom –today the Parisien Cabaret- opened in a grand ceremony. Boldface names from Havana’s elite society, including government officials, local oligarchs and ambassadors stationed in the capital, attended the big-ticket event.
Eighty five years later, the Nacional is considered the country’s flagship lodging, and no doubt one of the most visited around the globe. The five-star establishment, run by the Gran Caribe Group, boasts 439 guestrooms, (single, double, triple, plus a presidential suite and a royal suite).
It has three restaurants, five bars, a cafeteria, the cabaret, two swimming pools, a gym, a tennis court, a beauty salon, a business center, Wi-Fi, customized executive service, stores and large partition-ready halls to host events, banquets and parties.
With each passing day, the hotel awes guests for its ability to conquer the most demanding visitors. Good cases in point are the quality certifications bestowed on the hotel for complying with the ISO 9001 Standard. Since 2003, the hotel has grabbed the World Travel Award as a leading lodging facility in the Caribbean.
Personalities of Cuba’s culture, like Ernesto Lecuona, Rita Montaner, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo and Bola de Nieve, and a bevy of world-class stars, presidents, scientists and sportspeople have stayed there.
There’s a large number of rooms, labeled as historic, that treasure mementos from those figures that have stayed at the Nacional over the course of eight decades. That explains why it’s so pleasant for many guests to share the same place where Maria Felix, Winston Churchill, Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, Errol Flynn, Walt Disney, Nat King Cole, Alexander Fleming, Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Naomi Campbell and many others once stayed, beautiful people you can learn about in the hotel’s Hall of Fame.
Declared National Monument in 1998, the Nacional entered the World Memory Registry back in 2010, preserving part of the World Heritage since two cannons from the olden Santa Clara battery –deployed on the premises during the colonial rule- are preserved in the hotel’s lavish garden.
One praiseworthy element is the “Cuban, Cuban” show staged at the Parisien Cabaret, led by maestro Rafael Hernandez. In roughly a couple of hours, dancers and musicians put together a performance that recreates the very best of Cuba’s cultural scene by means of a blend of local rhythms and others from around Latin America.
The institution also stands out for being the only hotel that includes historic tours.