Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Haban, Havana, Cuba
One of the most beloved buildings in the historic heart of UNESCO-crowned Old Havana, and on the best street in the entire city.
Kempinski have taken the storied Manzana de Gómez building – once Cuba's first European-style shopping arcade – and turned it into an absolute showstopper of a hotel.
The crisp, white-washed structure takes up a whole manzana (block), looks like it was built yesterday, and envelops 246 spacious rooms and suites with Louis XV-inspired furniture and Schiaparelli-pink accents, extra-high ceilings and French windows that open out to the old town. Almost 10,000 square-feet of bronze and teal-toned spa overlooks the Art Deco Bacardi Tower; there's a top-floor gym, a rooftop pool, and a raft of restaurants and bars (including the unique Evocacion Tobacco Lounge, and seafood-centric San Cristobal Panoramic Restaurant atop the building).
When it comes to
sightseeing, Ernest Hemingway’s daiquiri haunt, El Floridita, and Calle Obispo
– gateway to bars, restaurants and attractions like Havana Catedral – are just
metres away; ditto the colourful Chevy-, Buick- and other vintage car-lined Central
Park, the towering 1927 Museum of Fine Arts, the Grand Theatre and neoclassical
Capitol building.