This is where I stayed in Cuba; it’s not a hotel, but it’s called a casa. Casa Alta-Habana is located in the heart of old Havana in a touristy area not very far from the Capitol. I understand people from the United States have some restrictions in Cuba, and one of them prevents us from staying in standard hotels, especially government-owned entities.

As tourists to Cuba, we get to visit and help the Cuban people. Thus, we support the small businesses and the people directly by staying in these casas. They seem like something in between an Airbnb and a hotel.

I didn’t compare our accommodations to the others, but from what I can tell, these are quite nice. It had sufficient character and didn’t feel like we stayed in a typical chain establishment. The only downside was that there was no elevator, so it was an effort to climb the stairs to the third or fourth floor. Luckily, they had people helping us with our baggage when we checked in.

This small room was the lobby area with comfortable seating in a breezy setting. The doors to the front and the back were always open, allowing for the air to circulate. There was no air conditioning in the lobby and the open hallway, of course. Luckily, the individual rooms had air conditioning.

Our casa was only one floor, the top floor, which included the rooms along this hallway with a central atrium. Different people owned the rooms on the lower floors, and we didn’t have access to those areas. My room was at the rear, past the atrium. Most people had single rooms.

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