CubaPLUS Magazine

  Going through the doors of the majestic Habana Libre Tryp hotel is quite an event, since its beauty continues latent after 65 years since its inauguration and it seems that it has just opened. The elegance of the facility impresses clients from its spacious lobby, with great natural lighting, which gives the impression of being a large garden.

An extremely pleasant atmosphere is the protagonist of the ground floor, where several shops coexist, including a specialized tobacco, rum and coffee shop, travel agency offices, bars and restaurants, including the famous "El Barracón".Accessing the second floor, the first thing that catches your eye is the well-known bar "Las Cañitas", the swimming pool and the numerous meeting and event rooms, including the emblematic Ambassadors’ Salon witness to innumerable international conferences and, even, the “Capablanca In Memoriam” chess tournament, in whose fourth edition, in 1965, the best chess player in the world at that time, the American Robert Fischer, participated remotely, since the State Department did not allow him to travel to Cuba.However, he managed to play remotely through the teletype and, although he was not crowned champion, he took fourth place and made history.

Taking the elevator, which takes you from the ground floor to the top of the building in less than a minute, you will reach the 25th floor, where the “Sierra Maestra” restaurant and the very famous “Turquino” restaurant are located. The latter full of splendor, especially at night, when its roof slides back as if by magic and you can admire the starry sky like a beautiful cloak, typical of the tropics.

On the 22nd floor is the famous presidential suite "La Castellana", the protagonist of a great story because there, for three months, the general command of the nascent Cuban Revolution was located in 1959, from which historic leader Fidel Castro Ruz and hismain collaborators took the first decisions of the new government and several laws were signed, including the Agrarian Reform, which abolished the big estates and handed over land to the peasants who worked it.

The hotel has many other spaces, including 572 rooms including suites, doubles and singles, but one cannot fail to mention the famous restaurant "The Polynesian”, where the Tiki culture reigns, based on the tradition of the Polynesian islands.This very special place, with suggestive shadows, is set with the pots of fishermen from the South Pacific and idols carved in hardwood that allow customers to travel back to previous times and to another world.Its exotic food, together with a cocktail based on rum and natural fruit juice, complete the attractive offer of the restaurant.

But beyond the magnificent hotel facilities, its importance as a promoter of national culture must be highlighted. In this regard. Juan Carlos Colina Ordaz, deputy director of the facility, told this magazine that “this hotel has a special charm related to the heritage works that it treasures, hence the need to further promote everything related to culture.

We have unique works such as the murals by Amelia Peláez, Portocarrero, works by Fabelo and Sosa Bravo, which sets us apart from other accommodations and, therefore, we have to preserve it”. He added that the hotel, operated for 20 years by the Spanish Meliá chain, is undergoing a large investment process.

Work is being done to have the most advanced technologies and all the facilities in accordance to its 4-star category, he said. At the moment, explained the executive, we are engaged in organizing a broad program to celebrate this 65th anniversary, which begins on the 19th March with the main activity, but these festivities will cover all of 2023 due to the importance of this birthday. We will hold a cocktail competition to reward the 65th anniversary cocktail, an exhibition of works of art in collaboration with CubaPLUSMagazine, since this publication celebrates 15 years of creation... And we will continue to carry out other activities and other exhibitions due to the relevance that the magazine gives to tourism and cultural issues, he said. In short, we want this anniversary to make history, as the Habana Libre Hotel has done during all these years, he concluded.