Great views of city and ocean from Privilege Rooms
Big outdoor pool with adjacent snack bar and swim-up bar
Cool atrium lobby with glass elevators whizzing up and down
Large buffet restaurant serving lunch and dinner
Italian and Caribbean a la carte restaurants
24-hour lobby bar and a piano bar open late
Adjacent open-air coffee shop with Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi in lobby and Privilege Rooms
Breakfast included; half- and full-board rates available
Long waits for check-in; understaffed reception desk
Long waits for elevators
Visible wear and tear
15-minute drive to Old Havana (pro for some)
Swim-up bar in pool often unstaffed
Hourly fee for Wi-Fi (typical for Cuba)
Smoking allowed in lobby and piano bar (pro for some)
**Following new *U.S. State Department regulations* issued November 9, 2017, American travelers are prohibited from staying at this hotel. Read the full list of restricted businesses **here. This 317-room, 11-story hotel in Miramar is aptly named: Views of the ocean and city from its top floors truly are panoramic. It's a solid mid-range option, if dated and worn in areas, with a big buffet serving breakfast and dinner, an Italian restaurant, and a Caribbean restaurant. Rooms are spacious, if basic and lacking in style, but adequate for the rates. The Miramar location is near embassies but a 20-minute drive from tourist sights, though a free shuttle service to Old Havana is offered four times a day. Lines at the reception desk and waits for the elevator can be long. It's worth comparing rates with the more modern NH Capri La Habana in Vedado.
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Scene
A perfectly adequate mid-range option that's usually bustling with large groups
H10 Habana Panorama, opened in 2002, isn't one of the most modern hotels in Havana, but it's a serviceable mid-range option. The appealing (if dated) atrium lobby features dangling vines, glass elevators whizzing up and down, and almost invariably, crowds -- the hotel sees more than its fair share of tour groups. Guests can usually be seen milling about in front of the reception desk, waiting to check in (often for quite a while; during our visit there were more than 30 people waiting and two staff members to help) or setting up at one of the tables near the lobby bar to use Wi-Fi (for guests only in this area). Privilege guests can use Wi-Fi from the 11th-floor lounge, which has views of the ocean and city that live up to the hotel's name, and in their rooms -- which in itself makes the upgrade worthwhile. The hotel itself is looking rather long in the tooth -- we noticed hallway corners with crumbling stucco, scuff marks on the walls, dirty grout on the tile floors, and moldy plaster by the pool. One of the rooms we visited had a broken window (we weren't allowed to photograph it). Some hallways had a strong chemical odor, either from cleaning products or from the fumigation (the manager told us the hotel fumigates for cockroaches and mosquitoes several times a day); some may find the smell a reassuring sign of cleanliness, others may find it unpleasant. Despite the wear and tear, the hotel is clean, and staffers are always diligently working to keep it so.The guests tend to be on the older side -- we spoke to some senior guests from the U.K. who were happy with the size of their rooms and the helpfulness of the staff, but less so with the food. The hotel also sees lots of business travelers, thanks to the Miramar location near embassies; some are long-term, staying for more than a month or even a year. Guests hail from many countries, including China, Italy, Germany, the U.K., and Holland. The summer sees more Cuban and Latin American leisure guests. Some leisure travelers, however, might be happier with a hotel closer to Old Havana, though the H10 Habana Panorama tries to compensate for its location by offering a free shuttle to Old Havana four times a day. Still, it's possible to find comparable or even better hotels closer to Old Havana for the price, so leisure visitors may want to compare rates with other options, such as the NH Capri La Habana.
Location
In Miramar, a 15-minute drive from Old Havana
H10 Habana Panorma is in the safe, residential, and upscale Miramar neighborhood, where many foreign embassies are located. It's next to the rundown Hotel Triton Neptuno (we thought it was an abandoned building, but it still operates as a hotel), and past that is the more luxurious Melia Habana. It's a five-minute walk to the Miramar Trade Center (this proximity is why many business travelers choose to stay here), and a 10-minute walk to the Galeria Comercial Comodoro, a shopping mall (the road to it runs by a construction site and the Melia Habana, and the entrance is at the end near the sea). - 10-minute walk to the National Aquarium
Rooms
Spacious if bland rooms, some with Wi-Fi and ocean views
Rooms at the H10 Habana Panorama are very spacious for the price -- larger than those at some of the more luxurious hotels in Havana we saw. They're not stylish -- expect basic wood furniture, white tile floors, and red fabric and wall accents -- but they're clean. All have AC, mini-fridges (sometimes stocked, and fees apply), free bottled water, safes, and flat-screen TVs with channels in English, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. Standard rooms are on floors one through five. Most rooms are bright and airy, and Privilege Rooms (on floors six through 10) have the best views -- some of the sea. Rooms fit three adults, or two adults and one child, and most have two single beds pushed together to make a king; they can be separated as needed. Cots can be provided on request. Electrical outlets are 220 volts. Tile bathrooms have shower-tub combos and bidets. The level of wear and tear in the rooms varies, but it's a safe bet to expect some.Privilege Rooms and Privilege Suites get extra perks, such as robes and slippers, coffee machines, free non-alcoholic minibar items, irons and ironing boards, a free hour of Wi-Fi, and access to the 11th-floor Privilege Lounge where a separate breakfast buffet is served. Some suites have balconies.
Features
A buffet restaurant, 24-hour lobby bar, two a la cartes, free shuttle to Old Havana, and lobby Wi-Fi
The H10 Habana Panorama has a large buffet restaurant with indoor seating as well as outdoor seating by the pool. It serves breakfast and dinner; breakfast items during our visit included cold cuts, fruit, pastries, bread, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and an omelet station. Breakfast is included in the rate, and guests can also opt for half- and full-board rates (those on the full-board plan can eat lunch at the a la carte restaurants). As at most hotel buffets in Cuba, the vegetable selection is limited. Though the buffet selection is decent, the food (again, as at most hotel buffets in Cuba) is bland. There's better food to be found in Havana, so we don't recommend choosing these plans. The a la carte options include an Italian option (the most popular) and a more casual Caribbean option (accessed from an outdoor hallway, facing the parking lot and ocean) that had a lobster dinner special offered while we were there. The lobby bar (serving both drinks and snacks) is 24-hour and the piano bar is open late.Wi-Fi is offered for 2 CUC an hour (typical for Cuban hotels) in the lobby, at the adjacent coffee shop (open to non-guests as well), the business center (ditto), in the Privilege lounge, and in the Privilege rooms. A money exchange counter is in the lobby. The pool is large and free-form, with an infinity edge, zero-entry area, and adjacent kiddy pool, though the swim-up bar is only staffed during busy times. There are pergolas for shade but no umbrellas. The adjacent snack bar has ocean views and sometimes hosts live music performances. Part of the pool has views of the abandoned-looking hotel next door (as do some rooms).
