Explore a star-shaped fort built in the 1500s at Castillo de la Real Fuerza. Part of a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, this fort was originally designed to defend against pirates during a time when Havana was one of the most active commercial ports in the New World. The fort was reopened in 2010 as Cuba’s premiere maritime museum. The museum today displays a large amount of information from the 16th and 17th centuries as well as showcasing highly detailed ship models. Visitors learn about the layouts of various kinds of ships made and used in the harbor. Use our Havana travel planner to visit Castillo de la Real Fuerza on your trip to Havana, and learn what else travelers and our writers recommend seeing nearby.
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Castillo de la Real Fuerza reviews
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One of the oldest European defensive structures in the Americas... built to guard te city. It took nearly 20 years to build as was finished in 1577. It was built by forced labour... all blacks or... more »
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This fort is exactly how you imagine them to look with it's huge unscaleable walls and large moat. The museum is also very interesting - it was actually built too far from the harbour to be truly... more »
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A beautiful fort that is located very close to port, one of the most affordable museums as well at only 2-3 cuc. The exhibits were nice and there was plenty to see both upstairs and down. Unfortunately the staff took it upon themselves to try and sell us unofficial or knockoff items for their personal gain. That was fine and we bought a couple coins to help them out and kind of get them off our backs. As soon as we bought them another worker took our phone and proceeded to take our photos… throughout many rooms and artifacts. We told them thank you but we were leaving and they proceeded to ask for more money, they then took out their phone w/ photos of their children and grand-children continuing to ask for money. We told them sorry and good-bye and we weren’t really in the mood to explore the fort any longer.
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A must see if you are in Havana. It has undergone restoration so it is in great shape. I found the construction interesting to see.
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