If you have even a passing interest in tobacco, Cuban work environments or economies of scale, you'll enjoy one of the tours held at Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás. The tobacco shop and smoking lounge are bonuses here. This is one of Havana's oldest cigar factories (1845).

There are two factories presently allowing tours and the program is largely the same: visitors check out the ground floor where the leaves are unbundled and sorted, proceeding to the upper floors to watch the tobacco get rolled, pressed, adorned with a band, and boxed.

However, these are factories, remember, where people toil (sometimes for 12 hours a day or more) for peanuts a month, and some visitors find they smack of a human zoo.

Dominated by two unequal towers, the Catedral de San Cristóbal de la Habana was described by novelist Alejo Carpentier as 'music set in stone'. Its striking baroque facade (à la Italian architect Francesco Borromini) creates an unrivalled ambience, especially at night when live music mingles with laughter in the wide open plaza.

The Jesuits began construction of the church in 1748, and work continued despite their expulsion in 1767. When the building was finished in 1787 the diocese of Havana was created. A year later the city became a bishop's seat, elevating the church to a cathedral, one of the oldest in the Americas.

Perhaps the best time to visit is during Sunday morning mass.

Housed in the former Palacio Presidencial (1913-1920), a signature of the Havana skyline. Tiffany's of New York decorated the interior. This palace was the site of an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Fulgencio Batista in March 1957.

The exhibits inside provide an exhaustive documentary and photographic account of the Cuban Revolution (from the guns shot to the bread sacks), and it's a must for anyone with a taste for history - allow yourself plenty of time.

Labels are in English and Spanish and one English-speaking guide is available, which can really make the difference here. Start on the top floor and work down if you want to move in chronological order.

In front of the building is an SAU-100 tank used by Fidel Castro during the 1961 Battle of the Bay of Pigs, and a fragment of the former city wall.

Even for teetotallers, this intriguing museum is worth a turn. The interesting bilingual guided tour shows rum-making antiquities (check out the funky terracotta flask) and explains the entire brewing process, from cane cutting to quaffing amber Añejo Reserva in the museum's tasting room.

The scale model of the Central La Esperanza, with working train, is especially cool and the dancing lessons here are said to be excellent. Have a cocktail in the bar while you enjoy one of the occasional musical events in the courtyard.

Washington, DC and Havana have more in common than we think, evidenced by the dominating marble-covered Capitolio Nacional which is similar to the US Capitol Building, but richer in detail. This is one of Havana's divine architectural highlights. To enter, climb the monumental stairway on the east side of the building; the tour is highly recommended.

Initiated by the US-backed dictator Gerardo Machado in 1929, the Capitolio took 5000 workers three years, two months, and 20 days to build at a cost of USD$ 17 million. It was the seat of the Cuban Congress until 1959 and now houses the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the National Library of Science and Technology. Entering the great domed hall through huge bronze doors (notice the important events in Cuban history they depict) imbues just how monumental this building is.

Across what seems like miles of intricately-laid portico marble is the 49-metric-ton, 17m (55ft) statue of the republic (a woman, don't you know?), the third-largest indoor bronze statue in the world; only the Buddha in Nava, Japan and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC are bigger. Directly below the Capitolio's 62m (203ft) high dome, a 24-carat diamond replica is set in the floor. Highway distances between Havana and all sites in Cuba are calculated from this point. Visitors are also shown the mahogany-covered library and the former chambers of the Senate and Deputies. It's an extraordinary edifice and you can spend a whole afternoon gawking at the architectural details, taking coffee at the lovely balcony café and stealing kisses in the refugio, a lush courtyard tucked inside.

The Tropicana is Cuba's most famous nightclub. Since it opened in 1939, famous artists such as Benny Moré, Nat King Cole and Maurice Chevalier have appeared here. Over 200 dancers perform during Tropicana's 1950s-style cabaret show 'Paradise Under the Stars', a spectacle not soon forgotten.

Order a bottle of rum and your mixers straight away to avoid fighting for your server's attention during the show. The dress code here requires that men wear long pants and shoes (important to remember if you arrive by tour bus straight from a day of sightseeing). An after-hours club called Arcos de Cristal is on the same premises as the Tropicana, and it has a show that starts after the one at the Tropicana finishes.

Tropicana bookings can be made through any hotel tour desk, with hotel transfers included. Although booking in person is no cheaper, you'll be able to choose your own table (important as we've received several complaints about switched tables and botched reservations). When bookings are light, bar seats might be available, but these can't be reserved in advance. Just turn up and ask.

This legendary club is run by the equally legendary María Gattorno. A great old-school venue with indoor and outdoor space, it's packed to the rafters with eyeliner-smeared, head-banging Habaneros. Check the cartelera (poster) posted at the door or head to Parque de los Rockeros (Calles 23 and G) to find out what's happening.

Havana's best (and only) homebrew pub is situated on a quiet corner of Plaza Vieja. Set up by an Austrian company a couple of years back, this unique no-nonsense drinking establishment sells smooth cold home-made beer at sturdy wooden benches set up outside on the cobbles or indoors in a couple of atmospheric beer halls.

Get a group together and they'll serve the amber nectar in a tall plastic tube which you draw out of a tap at the bottom. There's also an outside grill here where you can order good helpings of chorizos, fish and kebabs.

Located on the top floor of a spectacularly dilapidated Havana tenement, La Guarida's lofty reputation rests on its movie-location setting (Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry & Chocolate) was filmed in this building, and a clutch of swashbuckling newspaper reviews (including the New York Times and The London Guardian).

The food, as might be expected, is up there with Havana's best, shoehorning its captivating blend of Cuban 'Nueva Cocina' into dishes such as sea bass in a coconut reduction, and chicken with honey and lemon sauce. Reservations required.

Nothing mediocre will ever pass your lips at this intimate Italian restaurant, so you can order from the varied menu with confident abandon, dipping into dishes like sinful calabaza (squash) soup or steak au poivre (peppered steak). There's decent wine and superb vegetarian options.

You'll sup in your own elegant dining room in this Vedado mansion-turned-paladar specialising in French flavours. Rabbit in red wine, chicken smothered in mushrooms, and the-meal-in-itself salad are some of the offers in this gay-friendly establishment. Save room for dessert.