Micol Sabbadini is a young photographer, globetrotter and socialite who has plenty of travel and lifestyle tips to offer on her “Portrait of Style” photoblog (www.micolsabbadini.com). Here she sheds valuable light on the city of Havana.

WHERE TO STAY
I advise the Hotel Inghilterra, it’s all very clean and cozy. And those are two things you can’t take for granted in Havana! The address is: Prado No. 416 esq. San Rafael, Centro Habana.

FOOD&DRINK
First of all, let me say that Cuba is not known for its fabulous food. Fish, lobster and shrimp are about as good as it gets. By contrast, the drinking is divine. So, here’s my list of places to go.Number one on the lineup is El Floridita (Obispo No. 557 esq.

Monserrate), a restaurant dating all the way back to the year 1817. This is where Ernest Hemingway would sit and order lobster, shrimp plus cocktail after cocktail.
Named one of the world’s seven most famous and beautiful in 1953, the bar is a watering hole for Hollywood stars who happen to pass through town. After dinner it’s on to the legendary Bodeguita Del Medio, birthplace of the mojito, where still today the rum just flows and flows. Then for a less touristy but no less fascinating alternative, there’s the bar at the Hotel Nacional. While the hotel proper is now rundown, the park, the hall and the historical bar are all enticingly intact (www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com).

AROUND TOWN
If you are here with someone you love, I’d suggest a sunset stroll along

El Malecon, the city’s beachfront walkway built in 1901. It’s a lively and lovely spot where couples hold hands against a backdrop of Belle Epoque mansions and colorful rundown shacks. On weekend nights the place becomes an enormous open-air dancehall where the people of Havana come to have a jolly good time. If you are traveling with friends, I’d say go to the Estadio Latinoamericano and see a baseball game. Not only the national sport, baseball also rates as the country’s official anti-bullfighting statement.
Activities fine for one and all include: a trip to the vivacious Cuatro Caminos food market at the Calle Maximo Gomez crossroads between Arrayo and Matadero; a visit to the Museo y Farmacia Taquechel pharmaceutical museum at Calle Obispo No. 155 e/ San Ignacio y Mercaderes; and a stop by Havana’s Casa de Juan Rico de Mata

photographic archives at Calle Mercaderes 307.

HEAVEN CAN(NOT)WAIT
And seeing as you’re in Cuba, why not enjoy the beaches? You should bypass the crowded touristy Varadero ones and drive all the way past Vinales to the Parque Nacional Peninsula de Guanahacabibes
(www.ecovida.pinar.cu). The place for water sports – scuba diving and snorkeling – is Cabo Corrientes. You can also swim along the coral reef and hope to catch a glimpse of dolphins!

DAY TRIPPING
The Valle de Vinales National Park makes for another amazing day trip. A UNESCO WorldHeritage Site, it’s amarvelous place with luxuriant vegetation. Lastly, whether a fan or not,

the best way to top off any
Cuban vacation is with a visit to the plantation of Don Alejandro Robaina, father of Winston Churchill’s, Fidel Castro’s and Ernest Hemingway’s beloved cigars.His Finca El Pinar San Luis tobacco greenhouses are the world’s most famous.