See & do · Landmarks & architecture
Castillo de la Real Fuerza
Opening hours
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
- Wednesday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
- Thursday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
- Friday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
- Saturday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
- Sunday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Images provided by Google Places
Harborside star fort in Plaza de Armas, built in the mid-1500s & today housing a maritime museum.via Google
One of the oldest stone fortresses in the Americas, complete with a moat and topped by the famous La Giraldilla weather vane.
- Good to know
- Houses a fascinating maritime museum detailing Spanish shipwrecks.
Reviews from Google
Castillo de la Real Fuerza is a small but interesting museum, and a visit takes about 1–1.5 hours. This is the oldest stone fort in Havana, built in the 16th century. Some artefacts have English descriptions, but most information is only in Spanish. The staff are very helpful, though it felt like they might be expecting tips. The upper floor gallery was closed, but you can still walk around and take photos. There are no restrooms inside, so plan ahead. The museum has a good collection of artefacts recovered from underwater excavations, which gives a nice flashback to Havana’s role as a Spanish naval hub.
For Cuba, this is a solid museum with original items not found anywhere else. It is small though and some areas were closed. Easily worth the money though and I truly love the huge cut-through ship model! So many nice details on it. Only minor snag is that employees will try to get an extra dollar from more or less telling in (poor) what is already written in Spanish on each display. This is common in calculating, but distract from the overall experience. Well worth the price for the exhibits.
This is the maritime museum in downtown Havana. The entrance will cost 600 pesos for foreigners and you can access the areas and learn about ship building and maritime history of Cuba. The staff speak no English. They ask you where you are from and then address you with the name of your country, which is not appropriate. They need training abd some language learning. The roof gives you great views of the city.
Very cool mini castle with its own moat. It was set up as one of the defense points for Havana in case of pirates or attempted invasions. Since the city was completely walled in when it was founded. Shows history about how trade was handled and Spanish ships that dominated the carribean during Spanish control of the island.
Castle of the Royal Force is a bastion fort on the western side of the harbour in Havana, set back from the entrance, and bordering the Plaza de Armas. It was originally built to defend against attack by pirates. However it suffered from a poor location- it was too far inside the bay. The fort is considered to be the oldest stone fort in the Americas.Castle of the Royal Force is a bastion fort on the western side of the harbour in Havana, set back from the entrance, and bordering the Plaza de Armas. It was originally built to defend against attack by pirates. However it suffered from a poor location- it was too far inside the bay. The fort is considered to be the oldest stone fort in the Americas.