Explore the Ernest Hemingway Museum, housed within the acclaimed American author’s Cuban home, Finca la Vigía, which he bought in the 1940s. The museum preserves Hemingway’s home as it was on the day he left to return to the United States and displays a fascinating collection of his personal possessions.
Get to know the famous novelist while wandering the home where he lived for 20 years. His villa is found perched on a hill in the sea-facing neighborhood of San Francisco de Paula. Following the revolution, Hemingway returned to his country and donated his house and its contents to the Cuban people. This museum now serves as a tribute to both his art and the man himself.
Walk around the outside of the Ernest Hemingway Museum and peer in the windows and doors to see piles of books, a large record collection, trophy animal heads from his hunts in Africa and, of course, his typewriter from which he wrote two of his most celebrated novels: For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea. The interior is closed to the public to preserve the delicate objects, but it is possible to see the rooms he shared with his wife Martha Gellhorn.
Wander the sprawling 15-acre (6-hectare) grounds of Hemingway’s house where, amid the woods, you will find a swimming pool, a cock-fighting ring and his deep-sea fishing boat, the Pilar. There is a dog graveyard and dozens of cats roam the grounds too, descendants of the ones that once lived here alongside the famous writer.
San Francisco de Paula is located 9 miles (15 kilometers) from Havana and is served by public buses from the city center. The entrance to the house is on Calle Vigía and the museum is open daily, with restricted opening hours on Sundays. To get a deeper understanding of the famous author, take a guided tour, which will bring to life the eccentric and complex man whose words captivated the world.
