"Hit the Fortresses" Castillo el Morro Tip by Kindra

There are two main fortresses in the Parque El Morro-Cabana, across the harbour from downtown Havana. You can take a bus but should be able to negotiate a taxi for $4-5.

We were able to walk around and take pictures of El Morro fortress without paying and then walked the 5 minutes over to the Cabana fortress which cost $5 CUC to get in. The complex is quite sprawling with a few restaurants and refreshment stands. Be sure to enjoy the various views across the harbour to Havana and go to the part where there is a map and a series of numbers on the ground- if you stand on the number and face the direction of the arrow, you can locate the various landmarks of Havana like the Capitolio, Hotel Nacional, Plaza de la Revolucion etc.

During the day, it is pretty quiet. It is $8 CUC to come after 4 pm but which entitles you to stay and watch the canons being fired off once dark hits.

From there, we headed 10 minutes over to the Cristo statue and took the stairs down to Casablanca where we caught the ferry heading to la Habana Vieja - it is 1 peso nacional and they will search your bags (a result of the attempts to hijack these worn down old boats and take them to Miami. PS the perpetrators were executed).

Address: Across the harbour