Paseo del Prado

About this place

Paseo del Prado is a broad promenade in central Havana that runs from the Malecón on the sea toward the Capitol building. A raised walkway shaded by trees has marble benches and bronze lions, with colourful buildings on both sides behind columns, arches and iron balconies. It was proposed in 1770 and finished in the mid-1830s, becoming the first European-style boulevard outside the old city walls and the first paved street in Havana. In 1925 the French landscape architect Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier redesigned it, adding the trees, benches and coral-stone walls, and the bronze lions followed in 1928, cast from the metal of old cannons. People in Havana simply call it «El Prado». You walk under the trees from the sea to the Gran Teatro, past old buildings and hotels, and sit on the benches among local people. The promenade runs along the western edge of Old Havana. The best time to walk it is late afternoon, when the heat eases. The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Cuba because of fuel, power and water shortages, so read the current advice before you plan.