I get this question all the time and I always try to get as much information as possible from my clients in order to recommend the best hotels for them. As I am not going to be able to do this now I will be as fair as I can be and I will leave down to you which hotel to go for.

In this article I am going to focus on the hotels located in the Old Town area or Havana Vieja which is the way everybody in Havana knows it. One thing that makes the hotels in this part of Havana different from the rest is the fact that very few of them were originally built to be hotels. Each of them has a very unique architecture style and some of them date back 200 years ago.

I have to start with Santa Isabel Hotel, located in the very heart of Habana Vieja right next to the place where the city was founded. Originally built for the governor of Cuba more than 200 years ago; this building is one of the most representative examples of the Spanish-Moorish colonial architecture. It only counts 27 rooms, most of them with fantastic views. This four stars plus hotel really transport you back in time. Santa Isabel hotel needs to be booked well in advance. In spite of being an expensive one; the fact that it has few rooms makes it a difficult one to get, especially in high season.

My next favorite hotel has to be Saratoga Palace. The Hotel Saratoga is a very elegant, eclectic styled building. It is located right in front of the Capitol building in one of the most popular promenades of Havana, Paseo del Prado. It is probably one of the few hotels in Havana that deserve a 5 star category. From the roof top swimming pool you can admire the splendor of the Old Town while relaxing on a sun bed. This hotel has 96 rooms divided in suites, junior suites and deluxe patio rooms. I definitely recommend the junior suites as these ones do have balconies overlooking the streets of Havana.

NH Parque Central is another 5 star hotel in the old town that I like to recommend particularly for its high standard of service and excellent food. This hotel is also located in Paseo del Prado Promenade and it was erected over the ruins of a collapsed building about 10 years ago. Its façade is not an architectural jewel but its beautiful lobby has been decorated following the colonial style guidelines. It also has a roof top swimming pool with fantastic views of the old town.

There are lots of very good hotels in the Old Town that I also like to recommend like Florida, Condes de Villa Nueva and Raquel Hotel and little but very cozy hostels like Valencia, Comendador and Beltran de Santa Cruz.

I am going to leave now hoping to help you make up your mind and decide which hotel is better for you. You can find detailed information at www.quest2cuba.co.uk.