The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a luxurious and historic hotel a few hundred feet from the sea. The hotel was opened in 1930 and played host to numerous celebrity guests. The guests include: Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Mickey Mantle, Rocky Marciano, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway.
In 1946 the Hotel hosted a mob summit run by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Lansky eventually bought into the hotel and converted some of the hotel into a casino, showroom, bar and restaurant.
The hotel was closed in 1960 after Fidel Castro took over the country. Restorations in 1990 allowed the hotel to reopen and is now open to tourists.