Text by Christopher Baker
A seafront option standing four-square on the dour Malecón boulevard, this small budget hotel is named for a Russian lady, Mima Rubenskaya (“La Rusa de Baracoa”), who settled in Baracoa after fleeing the Revolution in 1917 at age six. There she is in black-and-white, framed on the wall in the lobby. She converted her three-story home into a hotel—the Miramar—in 1953. Supposedly it hosted several illustrious guests, among them Errol Flynn, Che Guevara, and Fidel and Raúl Castro. After lying fallow for years following the Cuban Revolution, it was renovated for the tourist trade in 2002.
The building itself is rather nondescript, with few distinguishing exterior features. The small lobby, with its purely functional reception counter informs that your stay here offers no frills. The 12 air-conditioned rooms are small and simply appointed with plain furnishings and ceramic tile floors. Most have twin beds. Each has a TV and telephone, and the equally tiny bathrooms have modern fittings. A narrow side terrace is fitted out as a meager restaurant, open to the ocean breezes, and there´s a small bar. At least this being an Islazul hotel, many of your fellow guests will be Cubans.
Our feeling is that this is a third-tier option compared to the charming Hotel La Habanera or more upscale Hotel El Castillo. The good news is that a refurbishment was in the works at press time.
