We stayed at Brina Hostal this winter when we went to Havana, which is really a high holiday season in the Caribbean with nice warm temperatures compared to our summers. A casa particular in the Old Havana (Havana Vieja) that is very clean and well looked after. Nothing flash but more than adequate. Sergio himself is a wonderful host – eager to look after guests, always with a smile on his face!
The location is excellent, too – just a few blocks from Plaza Vieja, where there are lots of good places to eat and drink. Many of the restaurants in the area offer traditional Cuban food, but “Brina Hostal” is offering breakfast and dinner for good prices and with excellent taste.
The special part are the very heartful and caring hosts! Brina Hostal casa particular was our first spot in Cuba and from the first minute Sergio and Miriam mad us feel like home. He explained us everything we needed to know about Havana and help us with tours and tickets. Miriam is a great cook and you definetly should have a wonderful dinner there. They were very friendly, always ready to help, arrange taxis or accommodations and more than happy to have an interesting chat with you. We stayed in Brina Hostal on Santa Clara sreet, an old colonial house, clean, very good located and very save to leave all the staff! Different museums, bars, restaurants and nice “plazas” are easily reached by foot. We felt completely safe leaving our belongings in the house and also walking around outside – night and day. Sergio made sure to give us a good rundown of things to be aware of in Havana, which really amounted to using common sense eg don’t wear flashy jewellery, be careful with your bag/money, ignore the ‘jineteros’ (hustlers who will try to befriend you in the streets). But in reality, we hardly felt bothered at all, compared to other countries we’ve been to.