All activities / Driving Experiences / Havana
Driving Experiences in Havana
Cuba's capital and cultural nerve centre, a city of crumbling colonial grandeur where son, rumba, Afro-Cuban jazz, and trova coexist in a music scene largely unchanged by commercial pressures.
Why here
Nowhere else can you ride a 1950s American convertible through a living city that never replaced them. When the US embargo cut off new cars and parts, Havana kept its Chevrolets, Fords, Buicks and Cadillacs running with improvised engineering, and those almendrones are now the city's signature. The best trips are not a lap of the Malecon in a painted prop but a drive with an owner-mechanic who restored the car himself, out along the seawall, through Vedado and Miramar, past the Plaza de la Revolucion. NostalgiCar, run by a Havana family who also keep a working restoration garage, and OldCarTours both put you with Cuban drivers who know the cars and the streets rather than a scripted photo stop.
Best months
Tours run year-round and are usually one to three hours, open-top and weather-dependent in the summer rains. The classic run traces the Malecon seawall, Vedado, Miramar and Revolution Square; longer trips reach the beaches east of the city or the countryside. Winter and spring are the driest, most comfortable months to ride with the roof down.
Getting there & around
Everything is central and easy to arrange from any Havana hotel or casa particular. Book directly with the operator by WhatsApp or email; you pay the driver in cash, in pesos, dollars or euros. A private car and driver is the norm, so it pairs well with a half-day city tour.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
NostalgiCar
GuideNostalgiCar is a Havana family project run by Julio and Nidialys Alvarez, driving guests around the city in their own fleet of restored 1950s American convertibles, including a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air named Nadine. Alongside city and Malecon tours it keeps a working restoration garage where visitors can watch the cars being rebuilt, many still running on their original engines decades on.
OldCarTours
GuideOldCarTours runs convertible and sedan tours of Havana and Varadero in a fleet of restored 1950s American cars, Chevrolet, Ford, Buick, Cadillac and more, driven by Cuban guides. Trips trace the Malecon seawall, Vedado and the old city, a slow ride through a place where tens of thousands of these cars still run daily because the embargo cut off new ones for decades.