Casa Valdez was by far the best casa particular I stayed at during my month in Cuba. The house is stunningly decorated making you feel like you have really arrived in what you imagined Cuba would be! The rooms are small but lovely and all have air-con. Breakfast was delicious and laundry can be arranged. The location is brilliant- you are a few short steps from everything you want to see and if you want to go jazz it up in Vedado in the evenings you can just grab a taxi, although there are plenty of bars in Habana Vieja. Dinner was delicious and generous. Rooms are cleaned daily. Emilio and the other people working there were all friendly, helpful, warm and welcoming. The terrace roof top upstairs is great for warm evening chilling out.

I travelled to havana with 2 other female friends. Once we arrived at casa valdez (25cuc by taxi)we had the typical query over rooms booked which seems to be common practice in havana. It just required a bit of haggling with emilio the owner of the property who had basic english.
The room with a double and single bed (decent quality) and ensuite shower room cost us 30cuc per night. Breakfast was 3 cuc and included eggs, bread,freshly made fruit juice etc.
Prepare yourself to take at least a day to accomodate to your surroundings and you will see that this is actually a very high class casa and in such a brilliant location it would be hard to beat. It is very safe, has a safe in the room and has a locked front door and buzzer system to the property. It is cleaned daily and the staff are incredible,so friendly and very very helpful, they go out of their way to accomodate you and are very flexible.You can cover the vast majority of sights in havana on foot from here and immerse yourself in the culture,music and dance. We felt extremely safe in the city and did not feel at risk even when walking home after late night outs. Enjoy havana- you cant fail to!

My husband and I returned from an 8 day trip to Havana at the end of April. We wanted to experience Havana, its history, culture and its people, so we opted to stay in a b&b, called Casa Valdez, located in old Havana a few blocks from the 'old square".

I will also add that our trip was arranged through Jorge a local "tourguide", as this was my 50th birthday and my friends decided to surprise me and they were coming from the Southern Hemisphere logistics was a major factor, but Jorge did a spectacular job!

Casa Valdez is superb, the house is beautiful and have been in the family for generations, the staff are amazing and will do anything to please you and make your stay memorable. They also provided breakfast for a mere $3.00 CUC's - the coffee is superb, then again the coffee anywhere in Havana is excellent.

Havana is fascinating, the place oozes sensuality, salsa and a sense of being laid back. There are tons of places to visit all of which are on the internet but you may want to get a guide and do a walking tour, this way you will get yourself orientated easier.

We walked everywhere (the joy of being in the centre of everything) we always felt safe even late at night. There are lots of restaurants some obvious tourist traps and more expensive, generally in the old square there are several restaurants to choose from, the service was good everywhere. The meals are well presented. We stuck to chicken and fish dishes and were never dissapointed.

We also hired a car and travelled to Pinar Del Rio which we struggled to find as there arent many road signs and when we arrived to the attractions we felt that it was not worth the effort of getting there. However if you do go there there are tons of b&b's and at $30 CUC's per night per couple it is a steal and the owners are prepared to make dinner for you , they go to a lot of trouble and it is superb.

I would recomend that you bring all basic medicine with you. If you can spare it, give it to someone when you leave. There is a real shortage off stuff especially meds, kleenex - all paper products.

Havana is the kind of city to visit for the history, not for shopping!

Overall I will definetly return to Havana!