I have been to Cuba twice and really love the place. I stayed in casas particulares everywhere I traveled. I stayed in mostly lovely ones that had been recommended to me, but this was my favourite and that's why I went back there again.

What I found in this home was a lovely family who welcomed me as one of the family. They are very very honest, which is not always the case in Cuba. Their English is not the best and my Spanish is very poor, but we managed fine. Staying with a family is by far the best way to really see Cuba.

The rooms are large, comfortable and clean. There is a wonderful bathroom. I notice one of the other reviews mentioned low water flow - that is standard throughout Cuba. There is a lovely garden and you can sit out and drink Cuban coffee in the morning in the garden. I'm happy to strongly recommend this casa to you. It's not just the home itself, which is lovely, but it gives you a chance to spend some time with some really wonderful Cuban people - you wouldn't find better than Wilfredo and his family.

Vedado used to be one of the wealthiest areas of Havana and it still shows in the architecture, which although crumbling is still beautiful. I used to walk into the city most times and it took about 30 minutes each way. It is a lovely walk. You can get a taxi and a tourist taxi was about 5 CUC each way when I was there three years ago. It's best to take a taxi in the evenings, and not such a good idea to go wandering round on your own in the dark, but this is the same in most cities isn't it. I traveled mostly on my own and as a woman I never felt unsafe there, but I was sensible.

The first time I stayed in Casa Mer my brother had already been staying there for a few nights and then he went to stay for one night in one of the five star hotels in the old city - he thought this Casa Mer was much better than the hotel!

All the casas seem a little expensive at first but not when you look below the surface at the fact that the owners have to pay huge license fees even when they have no guests, eg in the very hot season and hurricane season. And food and supplies that would be acceptable to tourists, eg bottled water, is sold at tourist prices and not local prices. One thing I really appreciated in the Casa Mer is that they were never after anything more from me - tourists are incredibly wealthy compared to local in Cuba and although you won't usually get direct begging because it's illegal and the police fine people heavily if they catch them doing it, but it is still there. This house always felt like a place I was welcome and not for what I might give them. These are very honourable people and the home is a place where you can relax and enjoy getting to know Cuba and Cuban people, which is such a joy!

Spent my first three nights in CasaMer - Winfredo is trying to help as much as possible with plans/accomodations/hints&tricks... and yes; his drinks are amazing.

A lovely house with warm friendly hosts, very helpful with lots of good advice about the local area and traveling in Cuba. The rooms were clean and functional, excellent breakfast, we chose to have our evening meals at the casa which was the right decision the food was good. Wilfredo possibly makes the best Mojito in Cuba.
Highly recommended.

This is a very clean lovely 40s casa, nice friendly family which is run by an lovely landlord lady. We actually stayed for 10 days in the end just before Christmas. The rooms are clean and safe. Nice bathroom areas -water flow from the shower is not great. We met some other travellers at the casa who were lovely people and nice.

They make a big effect with the breakfast – when we arrived they didn’t seem to have any milk but it just a question of letting then know what you want (later we got milk), later I realised standard milk is very expensive in cuba so I guess this is why the breakfast cost us 7.5 CUC each which is fine by us (i hope they didnt mind us requesting milk). It has a lovely dining area that opens to a nice garden – it was great to go out in the garden after breakfast in the morning. The food most places in CUBA is average (we are not there for the food) but there a few great restaurants – for 10 CUCs we had the most amazing lobster – huge in fact at the Kasalta 5ta y 16.. Again this is a residential area and this is a none tourist restaurant – café looking but try their lobster. This also a great restaurant on 17y 6.

By the way, they have a dog- we don’t really like dogs but this dog was super friendly. All the casas seem to have dogs. They will do washing for you,, we had a lots of washing but we were still a bit surprised when we were charged 20CUC (a month salary) … but hey ho … The casa cost us 35CUC per day assuming this is a peak price for Christmas.

It is in a quiet place in Vedado (nice part) of Havana but one minor thing, I would say this particular casa seems to be next to a community house and it does get noisy (people noise) very early in the morning. Didn’t bother us. Just a few houses up the road is a little mini café part of a house – good for small bit.

The area is a few kms out of the main town and the same distance again for the old town/ harbour which is an amazing area, there are some nice restaurants local but there are not lots of places as it’s mostly residential (I spent days walking around the area – I always felt safe). You need to get a taxi to town – we went to the National hotel a few times. The family chap called Alejandro will drive you if he is around no problem, he gave us a lift to the bus station 7am which was greatly appreciated.

In this location, you need to get a taxi to go anyway, and some of the taxis will try to rip you off. For anything in Cuba you must agree prices first– the taxi from this casa to the National should be 3-4 CUC – lots tried 7-8 CUC? Take a map/ tourist book before you arrive, ,a must.

Their English can be a struggle in the casa if you don’t speak Spanish but there is a more popular Casa Antigue just a few doors away (always full it seems – we could get in) run by Horatio and Maria and Horatio speaks great English and have a lot of information via an their extended network throughout Cub to help you. He would welcome you and do most Cubans. Havana is a great place

Again a lovely 40s casa, nice friendly family which is run by lovely people.