Havana rewards walking above almost every other activity. The city's geography is legible on foot: Old Havana's colonial grid, the waterfront curve of the Malecón, the residential grid of Vedado, and the denser streets of Centro Habana between them. Each neighbourhood has a distinct character and can be covered in half a day. The standard tourist circuit — Old Havana plazas, the Capitol, the Prado, the Malecón — is standard because it works, but the best days in Havana usually involve departing from it.
The museums are varied and some are genuinely world-class: the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes holds the finest collection of Cuban art anywhere, the Museo de la Revolución occupies the bullet-scarred former Presidential Palace, and the Museo del Ron provides a thorough rum education. Architecture is everywhere: Art Deco office buildings, neoclassical civic monuments, decaying Modernist apartment blocks, and colonial palaces in every state of restoration and ruin. For the best view of the city, cross the harbour by ferry to El Morro and walk the headland.
Havana's musical culture is a constant presence — son, salsa, rumba, and jazz in bars, hotel lobbies, street corners, and the Callejón de Hamel on Sunday mornings. The Tropicana cabaret, running since 1939, is expensive but genuinely spectacular. Casa de la Música in Vedado hosts serious Cuban musicians in a concert hall setting.