Museo Ernest Hemingway, Havana

Aside from its literary ties, the Museo Ernest Hemingway is a delightful site for an afternoon trip from Havana, with wonderful views of the city, well-kept gardens, and the villa's appealing late-nineteenth-century architectural detail. Hemingway resided here between 1940 and 1960, and the house has been meticulously kept.

On July 21, 1962, the location was converted into a museum. The villa covers roughly 4 hectares and is home to a plethora of tropical plant and animal life, making it a tiny reserve. The house has remained unchanged and reflects "Papa's" many interests, including bullfighting posters, fishing equipment, hunting weapons, liquor bottles, hundreds of books and magazines, a typewriter, the "cat house," and many others, which have been immortalized in masterpieces such as The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream. There's also a pool where Hemingway used to swim half a mile after work every day.

There are books everywhere (even next to the toilet), a massive Victrola and record collection, and an incredible quantity of trinkets. Don't come if it's raining since the home will be closed. The unexpectedly poignant dog graveyard, Hemingway's fishing boat El Pilar, and the pool where actress Ava Gardner famously swam naked are all worth a tour through the garden. Here, you may relax on a chaise sofa among whispering palms and bamboo.