CUBA WEST – HAVANA

CUBA – WEST (Havana, Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Mayabeque)
Flight. Miami – Havana ~US$320 return
Miami – Caracas – Latam, stop in Bogota US$625 // Miami – Bogota US$170, overland to Venezuela

DARE places: Guanahacabibes Peninsula (westernmost)

HAVANA
World Heritage Sites: Old Havana and its Fortification System
Urban Legends
Fraternity Park
Malecón
Paseo de Martí
Plaza de Armas
Plaza de la Revolución
Airports: Havana (HAV)
Havana Central Railway Station
Havana to Matanzas (Hershey Electric Railway)
Scenic Road – Havana: Malecón
History, Culture, National and City Museums
Montane Anthropological Museum
Museum of the City
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Castillo de la Real Fuerza
El Morro Fortress and La Cabaña
Palacio Cueto
Palacio de los Capitanes Generales
San Salvador de la Punta Fortress
Art Museums
Colonial Art Museum
Cuban Art Factory
Galería de Arte Villa Manuela
Napoleon Museum
National Museum of Fine Arts
House and Biographical Museums
Casa Oswaldo Guayasamín
Finca Vigia (Hemingway House)
Museo Casa de México Benito Juárez
Architectural Delights
Abandoned School of Ballet at the Instituto Superior de Arte
Bacardi Building
Centro Asturiano
Drogueria Sarra
Great Theater of Havana
Russian Embassy
Religious Temples
Havana Cathedral
Iglesia de Jesus de Miramar
Religious Monuments: Christ of Havana (El Cristo de La Habana)
Military, War and Police Museums
Armory April 9 Museum
Museum of the Revolution
Religious and Sacred Art Museums (including Islamic and Jewish Museums): Museum of the Orishas
Monuments
Colina Lenin
José Martí Memorial
Maximo Gomez Monument
Monumento a José Miguel Gómez
Monumento El Cacahual
The Bronze Titan (Monumento al General Antonio Maceo)
Yasser Arafat statue
Botanical Gardens: Jardin Botanico Nacional
Aquariums: Acuario Nacional
Beaches: Playas del Este
Hospitality Legends
Hotel Ambos Mundos
Hotel Gran Caribe Plaza
Hotel Inglaterra
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
Hotel Telégrafo
La Bodeguita del Medio
Presidente Hotel
Markets:
Mercado Único Cuatro Caminos
Plaza de Armas Secondhand Book Market
Museums – Decorative Arts, Design, Fashion: Museum of Decorative Arts
Music, Film and Photography Museums: Museum of Music
Maritime/Ship Museums: Granma
Vehicle Museums: Car Museum
Museums – Various
Dance Museum
Havana Club Rum Museum
Museo de Naipes
Museo Del Numismatico|
Museum of Pharmacy
Perfume Museum|
The Dark Side: Necropolis Cristobal Colon
Bizzarium
Coppelia Ice-Cream Parlour
Fusterlandia
John Lennon statue

VINALES VALLEY WHS. In the Sierra de los Organos of western Cuba, karst mountains encircle the valley, dotted with dramatic rocky, dome-like limestone outcrops (mogotes) that rise as high as 300 m. Traditional techniques are still in use for agricultural production, particularly of tobacco. A rich, multi-ethnic society illustrates the cultural development of the Caribbean islands, including Cuba.
Colonized at the beginning of the 19th century, the valley has fertile soil and a climate good for stock-raising, fodder and food crops. Architecture, crafts and music.
Traditional methods of agriculture (animals) survive because mechanical methods of cultivation and harvesting lower the quality of tobacco. Lush rural landscape with simple buildings, the village of Viñales has its original layout and many interesting colonial buildings, mostly one-storey wooden houses with porches. An original culture is a synthesis of indigenous, Spanish and African slaves who once worked the tobacco plantations. The music of the field worker (veguero), of which Benito Hernández Cabrera (known as the Viñalero) was the main interpreter. Traditional crafts, most visual arts, have made the valley a symbol of the Caribbean landscape.
Viñales. Villages and Small Towns: 
Jardin Botanico de Viñales
Vinales Valley NP
Indian Cave

Tentative WHS
CENTRAL CAMPUS of the UNIVERSITY of HAVANA TWHS. Founded in 1728 by the Dominicans for 114 years until secularization (1728-1842), Real and Literary University of Havana to the end of the colonial period (1842-1898), National University (1899-1940), Revolution (1940-1958). The central campus was built in the early twentieth century, old Militar Pyrotechnics (1900) to the last new factories built in the jurisdiction of the Hill (La Colina) in 1940. A vast stylistic and morphological repertoire, of plural historical and cultural singularities.
EL VEDADO, CIUDAD JARDIN TEMPRANA TWHS. Until the mid 19th century, this was an uninhabited military zone with only a few isolated sugar mills.
In 1859, 156 hectares to the East of the Almendares River were divided into 105 square blocks of 100 m by 100 m, a perfect grid of 16 X16. The main street was 25 metres wide with a streetcar. Trees were planted. Odd numbers for streets and even numbers for the streets perpendicular to the coastline. Subdivided into twelve equal rectangular plots. Each had a four metre front porch, five metre garden (which separated the houses from the sidewalks) and landscaping of the public areas and sidewalks. The street were eight metres wide, with sidewalks four metres wide.
After El Carmelo, El Vedado and Medina neighbourhoods, emerged in 1860 and 1883 respectively, which later came to be known as El Vedado. Many wealthy families from El Cerro moved to El Vedado with sanitation, privacy and green areas.
Houses were beautiful neoclassical villas surrounded by lawns and gardens. Outstanding examples are the González Curquejo Residence at No. 612 Línea Street built in 1880 and the Residence of Nicolás Alfonso at No. 508 Línea Street, built in 1888.
By the end of the Spanish colonial rule in Cuba in 1898, El Vedado was practically parcelled out in full. Parks were outstanding and occupied a full square block. Examples are the Park Mariana Grajales on 23 between C and D, the Park Villalón on Calzada, the Park on 19 between H and I, the park on 17 between 6 and 8 and the Park on 15 between 14 and 16, to mention a few.
During the first three decades of the 20th century, a number of monumental beautiful houses were built: the house of de Juan Pedro Baró and Catalina Lasa on Paseo between 17 and 19; the residence of Pablo Mendoza (currently the residence of the British ambassador to Cuba) on the corner of Paseo and 15; the residence of the Marquees of Avilés (today ICAP) on 17 between H and I; the Menocal Residence (today House of the Mayors) on Avenue of the Presidents (G) between 23 and 21, the residence of the Countess of Revilla de Camargo on 17 Street (currently the National Museum of Decorative Arts).
The impact of French urban landscaper J.C.N. Forestier in Havana between 1926 and 1930 shows on Paseo and Avenue of the Presidents. New apartment buildings boomed during the 1930s, in the mid-upper class. Art Deco begins in the López Serrano, built in 1932.
In 1930 the Hotel Nacional is built for both Cuban and foreign personalities of culture, art, sciences and politics. The poor lived in tenements, living quarters in the inner areas of the square blocks.
During the 1950s, modern apartment buildings (several high rises) and condominiums: Cuban architecture are Focsa, Someillán, the Retiro Médico or Naroca, now part of Havana skyline.
La Rampa is a walking promenade on 23 Street ending at the seaside. Between the 1940s and the 1950s, the area would become the new Downtown with outstanding modern buildings such as the Centro Comercial La Rampa (one of the first modern malls), today mostly occupied by airlines offices, or La Rampa Cinema. On the corner of L and 23 Streets was built in 1947 the paradigmatic compound of the CMQ, a TV and radio broadcaster. Also part of the compound is the cinema and theatre Yara (originally Warner and later Radiocentro).
The Habana Libre Hotel (formerly Havana Hilton 1958), was the first Cuban high rise hotel and one of the few high rises in Havana. Considered at that time the biggest hotel in Latin America, it is another architectural landmark with beautiful artwork by well-known Cuban artists. Its façade exhibits a huge mural of great visual impact by Amelia Peláez. Other high buildings in La Rampa are the Retiro Médico and the Retiro Odontológico on 23rd Street, both designed by architect Antonio Quintana in the 1950s. Outstanding as well for its architectural quality is the Pabellón Cuba built in 1963 on the occasion of the VII Congress of the International Union of Architects.
Several restaurants, such as La Torre, the Emperador, La Roca, El Conejito or Monseigneur and hotels such as the Nacional, the Habana Libre and the Capri, as well as Coppelia Ice Cream Parlour (known as the Cathedral of Ice Cream), contribute to the central character of the area.
Close to La Rampa is the University of Havana, an example of the eclecticism present in the history of Cuban architecture. Located on a hill, its wide stairs are an impressive landmark in the heart of Havana.
The corner of 23rd and 12th Streets is extremely important, in 1961, the Socialist character of the Cuban Revolution was announced. The former Streetcar Terminal, located at the end of Línea Street, has been preserved. Fábrica de Arte is a cultural multifunctional facility, once an industrial facility. The Japanese garden of the 1830 Restaurant are remarkable sites. The Gran Parque Metropolitano begins there.
The Cristóbal Colón Cemetery is included in the nomination. The largest in the Caribbean, it has artworks by outstanding Cuban artists from the 19th and 20th century, such as Vilalta Saavedra, F. Boada, Rita Longa, René Portocarrero, Juan J. Sicre, Miguel Melero as well as Spaniards Mariano Benlliure and Agustin Querol.
Escuelas Nacionales de Arte de Cubanacán
Sistema Arrefical del Caribe Cubano
Sites of Memory of Slavery in Cuba
The Aqueduct of Albear
Tropicana

PINAR DEL RIO
Urban Legends: Pinar del Rio: Teatro Milanés
History, Culture, National and City Museums: Pinar del Rio: Provincial History Museum
Architectural Delights: Pinar del Rio: Museum of Natural History (formerly Guash Palace)

LA TERRAZAS
House and Biographical Museums
Las Terrazas: Buenavista Coffee Plantation
Las Terrazas: Casa de Polo Montañez
Religious Temples: Sandino: Sacred Heart Church of Jesus (first church built since 1959)

Islands: Colorados Archipelago
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Cuba Intercity Railway Experience
Roads, Road Bridges and Tunnels
Bridge – Bacunayagua: Bacunayagua Bridge
Road – Carretera Central (La Fé-Havana-Santiago de Cuba-Baracoa)
Road – Circuito Norte (Mantua-Sagua la Grande-Baracoa)
Botanical Gardens
Camilo Cienfuegos: Hershey Garden
Soroa: Soroa Orchid Botanical Garden
World of Nature
Guanahacabibes NP
Güira National Park
Waterfalls: Salto de Soroa
Mountains: Pan de Guajaibón
Rivers: Mayabeque River