coppelia
Savour a sweet treat at Havana's favourite ice cream shop

Coppelia
Heladerio Coppelia - near La Rampa and palace of ice-cream lovers - also scenary of a famous film called "Fresa y chocolata" a relationship between a young cuban socialist and a "outcasted" homosexual You will find two ice-bars - one for the tourists - one for the Habaneros - we paid tripple the price for two balls of ice ! i do not know the price the habaneros paid - but sometimes they have to wait making a queu for hours. I quote Andria Pérez visiting Habana and inviting her son for an ice-cream : "Unless you have dollars, you can buy almost nothing in this country," This is Habana !!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Don't bother! ”
We got a cab across town one afternoon to sample a nice cooling ice cream. On arrival we were informed by a very helpful security chap that most of it was closed until 5pm. We were there around 3ish. We were informed that there was only one area opened to tourists so off we went in search of ice cream.... More 

“Sad Experience ”
A sad experience and I do not mean the quality of ice cream or the attention given by the employees, but to the fact perceive the injustice with which the Cuban regime treats its citizens. While foreign citizens can quickly buy an ice cream, Cubans have to stand in long lines to the full view of strangers, completely unfair in... More 

“A slice of local Cuban life ”
I'd reiterate that it's best to change some CUCS into National Pesos and queue with the locals, to get the genuine experience. The CUC outlet stands some distance from the main 50s style building and was fairly deserted when we visited. In contrast we joined the Cuban queue and ended up making some new friends who absolutely insisted on buying... More 

“The place for ice cream ”
This original home for the chain is clearly the place for ice cream in Havana. It occupies an entire block in La Rampa in the Vedado district. Purportedly, they serve 30,000 scoops a day, and that is believable considering the lines that wrapped around the block for purchases in Cuban pesos. Foreigners with CUC?s however, skip that line and are... More 

“Amazing experience ”
You must experience it for yourself because I don't want to spoil it. It's ultra efficient and their ice cream tastes great. I will never forget it.

“Fun place to visit and great ice cream ”
We went to the section the locals go to but paid in CUC as we had no CUP but even so it was only about £3 for the 2 of us to each have a big bowl of ice cream - vanilla, mango and choc - with biscuits and a glass of water thrown in. Yum. Definitely give it a... More 

“Orientate yourself before you buy a Coppelia ice cream ”
We purchased from the first spot to buy Coppelia ice cream. Don't do the same as us. Walk around up into the complex and find the flavour you want first. Plus eating inside will mean your ice cream won't melt as fast as our did. We didn't have to line up outside. Maybe you do inside. Orientate yourself first before... More 

“Great ice cream and great fun to stand in line with the locals ”
Remember to bring your local cuban pesos and be prepared to stand in line for a while. We came quite early Saturday morning and waited for only 15 mins before we were let in. I guess it can be difficult to find out which line to stand in and what to do when in front, but we where in the... More 

“A touch of Cuban lifestyle. ”
My fiance and myself drove a rental car from Varadero and toured around Havana for a couple of days on our own. We own an ice cream shop in Canada so Coppelia was a must for us to visit. The park is very easy to find and parking spots were far and few between, after circling the block twice and... More 

“Not sure it's a tourist "attraction" ”
We read about this ice-cream parlour in the Lonely Planet and so went armed with our Pesos rather than CUCs, so that we could be with the locals in the "flying-saucer" building rather than with the tourists in a small outdoor seating area. The ice-cream was okay - but we had better peso ice-cream from the street-sellers in various towns/cities... More