Ernest Hemingway, the famous American novelist and Novel prize writer, lived in Cuba for about 20 years. Since 1939, his first visit, until 1960 when he left Cuba, never to return.
Today in Cuba still remains the beautiful house where he was living in Havana. Ernest Hemingway’s house “La Vigia” is considered an important monument not only in Cuba but also in United State. The house remained with the original contents when Hemingway left the house.
Hemingway lived in the house from middle 1939 to 1960, renting it at first, and then buying it in December 1940 after he married his third wife Martha Gellhorn. The house cost $12,500 at that time. The Finca at the time consisted of 15 acres (61,000 m2) with a farmhouse.
Today “La Vigia” is a museum that consists of the house, its contents, 38 ft (12 m) fishing boat “Pilar”, and the grounds.
For visiting, the tourists must pay 5 CUC per person which is used for keeping the museum in good condition.
Another important place related to the writer is the town of Cojimar. Cojimar town is 4.2 square km and there are 18 000 inhabitants inside the town nowadays. The town is just 7 minutes from Havana downtown.
Hemingway liked to fish in Cojimar’s water on his boat Pilar and with his skipper Gregorio Fuentes. Hemingway made famous Cojimar’s Terraza restaurant through his novels. The 1954 Nobel award winner, met Anselmo Hernández at this place. Anselmo inspired him for his novel “The Old Man and the Sea”. When Hemingway died the inhabitants of Cojimar gathered money for making a small statue of the immortal friend.
We suggest taking the Hemingway route with an old convertible car in Havana.
We also offer this 5 hours tour:
Havana Combo Hemingway & City Tour
Duration: 5 hours
This tour is a combination of the Hemingway route and the 2 hours city tour. Within this tour, you will visit “La Vigia” (Ernest Hemingway’s house), Cojimar town (where he used to fish and drink), and a stop at the Morro-Cabaña fortress to enjoy a panoramic view of Havana city then you continue visiting Old Havana, Centro Habana, Vedado, Nuevo Vedado, and Miramar districts. Some of the attractions to see along this tour are: The Capitol building, China Town, Reina and Carlos III streets, Revolution Square (stop), Cristobal Colon Cemetery, Habana Forest (stop), 5th Avenue and Malecón Avenue. This tour has an extra fee of 5 CUC per person when you visit the Museum La Vigia, to be paid for by tourists at the location. This tour cannot be done on Sundays because the museum is closed. The museum opens from 10 am to 5 pm, so the tour must be done within this time frame.
