eful trends

Havana club

On the look out for safe, female-friendly destinations, Heidi Fuller-love dons her dancing shoes in the Cuban capital

The musky scent of hand rolled cigars drifts on the air as a bright pink Chevrolet Bel Air with gleaming tails fins (known locally as a cacharros, meaning ‘bone shaker’) bucks along Havana’s seaside Malecón to the sultry sounds of salsa. Hitching my skirt and skipping over potholes, I follow the music to local dance hangout 1830, order a mint and rumpacked mojito and mingle with the crowds to enjoy the

WiFi tip –

Wi-fi almost inexistent inside buildings – the best place to get online is in one of the city’s parks

quick stepping dance that was invented here in the 1920s.

As a big fan of solo travel, I’m always on the look out for female-friendly destinations where I can take dance lessons and meet locals – and fellow travellers – without worrying about safety. Latin American countries can be a challenge for women travelling alone, but here in magical, mysterious Havana, capital of this Caribbean country which was cut off from most of the world for several decades, time seems to have stopped sometime in the fifties: not only because of those vintage American cars, but also because – apart from petty theft and being accosted by the occasional gigolo-like jinetero - there’s very little in the way of crime here.

Bike sharing –Ha’bici is Havana’s new bike sharing scheme, but most of the pick up points are in Havana Vieja

Seeking somewhere central, but less touristy than Habana Vieja with it’s Unesco designated sites, I decide to stay in Centro, one of the city’s most colourful districts, whose ornate and spectacularly shabby buildings look out over potholed streets where old men play dominoes, and young couples dance salsa day and night.

Home of the waterfront Malecón – known as the city’s ‘sofa’ because this is where

everyone comes to sit and chat – Centro is also the place to find Havana’s magnificent Gothic Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus and the city’s best paladars, those small restaurants, usually in someone’s home, where you can find some of the best Cuban tastes in town.

Scams –Selling fake cigars and mixing up currencies: CUC notes for tourists and CUP which is mainly for locals

I’m staying in a Casa Particulare, a ‘private house’ hotel that’s a bit like a B&B. I have a room of my own and share other facilities with the family who own it: enjoying hearty breakfasts of buttered tostada dipped into café con leche while chatting with my hosts is a great way to soak up a big dose of the local lifestyle whilst practising my Spanish.

Since I don’t want to be dependent on the city’s (quite expensive) taxis or the cheap, but fairly slow, MB metro bus, I hire a bike to get around. During my two-week stay I pedal out to admire the neoclassical façade of the Partagas cigar factory, then watch workers rolling and pressing cigars at the new factory; I visit the Museum of the Revolution, housed in the former presidential palace, where exhibits include a postal van that was used as getaway car when the palace was attacked in 1957, and I even do a tour of town in a vintage car. After my exhilarating three-hour trip I find myself agreeing with journalist Mark Kurlanksy, who said: ‘For all its smell, sweat, crumbling walls, Havana is the most romantic city in the world.”

Intrepid Travel’s seven day Cycle Cuba is an immersive way to discover the country