Lincoln - Havana, Cuba     

the lincoln is being completely renovated just now. the lobby is closed, and unless you enjoy the sound of pneumatic drills and sledge hammers at 8am i would suggest you stay somewhere else. the rooms available at the moment are awful, damp stains on the walls, a safe that didnt work as reception did not have the key, and the maid left the keys to every room in the hotel on my bed one day...what thievery i could have done! when i took them to reception, such as it is, it was the one time they paid attention to me..talk about inattentive, i may as well have been invisible. if you are looking for bargain basement, i would suggest the lido, its cheaper and rooms are about as bad, but the staff are friendly and it has balconies. whatever you do dont stay here..perhaps when the work is finished it will be ok..but not now. you have been warned!

We stayed at the Lincoln at the start and end of a round Cuba tour. As an introduction to Havana the Lincoln is a bit of let down. The rooms are basic, the hotel generally run-down and the location in Central Havana (which has not had the investment of Old Havana) is not so convenient for the nicer parts of town. On the plus side, the rooms were clean (if in need of maintenance). The rooftop bar/breakfast venue had some lovely views over the rooftops of Havana and the freshly cooked omlettes were much the best bet for breakfast. Negatives (in addition to the location) were only one lift (we ended up using the stairs a lot but beware if you've a room on the 8th floor), general state of disrepair and the plumbing - although we had hot water others in our group didn't so it seems a bit hit and miss and in our second room we had to flush the toilet using the shower... It was also quite noisy with cockerels and general street sounds being the early morning wake up call.