Bookstores in Havana
Havana, La Habana has 34 bookstores on the map. That's 34 bookshops mapped around Havana, each with its own shelves and specialties. The used sections are where the real bargains hide. Give yourself an hour minimum — bookshops are the one errand that always takes longer than planned.
This guide covers every bookstore we could verify in and around Havana (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include La Internacional and Librería Nicolás Guillén, plus Librería Alma Mater. If a bookshop's missing from Havana's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Havana bookstore lineup
34 mapped within about 40 km:
La Internacional
Bookstore
La Internacional — Bookstore on 528-530. Also worth knowing about La Internacional: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
528-530
Phone: 7 861 3283
Librería Nicolás Guillén
Bookstore
Librería Nicolás Guillén is Bookstore.
Librería Alma Mater
Bookstore
Librería Alma Mater — Bookstore, found on Calzada de Infanta in Centro Habana. Also worth knowing about Librería Alma Mater: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 10:00-20:00.
Calzada de Infanta, Centro Habana
Hours: Mo-Su 10:00-20:00
Librería Guamá
Used bookstore
Librería Guamá — Used bookstore.
Librería Centenario del Apóstol
Bookstore
Librería Centenario del Apóstol is Bookstore on 164 Calle 25.
164 Calle 25
Librería El Ateneo
Bookstore
Librería El Ateneo — Bookstore.
Librería Rubén Martínez Villena
Bookstore
Librería Rubén Martínez Villena is Bookstore on Paseo de Martí (Paseo del Prado), La Habana.
Paseo de Martí (Paseo del Prado), La Habana
Librería Terminal Ómnibus Nacionales
Bookstore
Librería Terminal Ómnibus Nacionales is Bookstore.
Fayad Jamis
Bookstore
Fayad Jamis is Bookstore on Obispo.
Obispo
Librería Viet Nam
Bookstore
Librería Viet Nam — Bookstore.
Kiosko de Prensa
Bookstore
Kiosko de Prensa — Bookstore on La Rosa. Also worth knowing about Kiosko de Prensa: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 07:00-15:00.
La Rosa
Hours: Mo-Su 07:00-15:00
Librería Cotorro
Bookstore
Librería Cotorro is Bookstore on Carretera Central (Calzada de Guines).
Carretera Central (Calzada de Guines)
Luis Rogelio Nogueras
Bookstore
Luis Rogelio Nogueras is Bookstore.
Memorias Librería
Bookstore
Memorias Librería is Bookstore on 57 Ánimas.
57 Ánimas
Ernest Hemingway
Bookstore
Ernest Hemingway is Bookstore.
Recogida/Entrega Libros Docentes
Bookstore
Recogida/Entrega Libros Docentes is Bookstore.
Periódico
Bookstore
Periódico — Bookstore.
Librería Venecia
Bookstore
Librería Venecia — Bookstore.
Librería Segunda Mano
Bookstore
Librería Segunda Mano is Bookstore.
ABC
Bookstore
ABC is Bookstore on Juan Delgado. ABC also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-17:00; Sa 10:00-14:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Juan Delgado
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-17:00; Sa 10:00-14:00
Phone: +5376499485
Lidia Doce
Bookstore
Lidia Doce is Bookstore on 463 Martí. Lidia Doce also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
463 Martí
Phone: 7 797 6331
Librería Centenario del Apóstol
Bookstore
Librería Centenario del Apóstol is Bookstore.
Centro de Evengelización San Pablo
Bookstore
Centro de Evengelización San Pablo — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Centro de Evengelización San Pablo: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Hours: Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00
Phone: +53 78015387
Centro de Evangelización San Pablo
Bookstore
Centro de Evangelización San Pablo is Bookstore. Centro de Evangelización San Pablo also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Hours: Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00
Phone: +53 78015387
Libreria Venezia
Bookstore
Libreria Venezia is Bookstore.
La Verónica
Bookstore
La Verónica — Bookstore.
Librería El Uvero
Bookstore
Librería El Uvero — Bookstore.
Librería Tula
Bookstore
Librería Tula is Bookstore.
Luis Melián Hernández
Bookstore
Luis Melián Hernández is Bookstore on Carretera Central (Calzada de Güines).
Carretera Central (Calzada de Güines)
La Litográfica de La Habana
Bookstore
La Litográfica de La Habana is Bookstore.
Librería Ediciones Boloña
BookstoreRun by Oficina del Historiador de la Habana
Librería Ediciones Boloña is Bookstore run by Oficina del Historiador de la Habana on 64 Amargura, Habana Vieja.
64 Amargura, Habana Vieja
La Moderna Poesía
Bookstore
La Moderna Poesía — Bookstore on 527.
527
Cuba Libro
Bookstore
Cuba Libro — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Cuba Libro: the map lists its hours as Tu-Su 10:00-20:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Hours: Tu-Su 10:00-20:00
Phone: +53 5 1971567; +53 7 8305205
Punto y Coma
Bookstore
Punto y Coma — Bookstore.
What the map tells us about bookstores in Havana
6 of the 34 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — bookshops keep civilised hours, so the listed ones are usually reliable.
The Havana bookstore crawl
Making a day of it in Havana? Work this order: La Internacional on 528-530, Librería Nicolás Guillén, Librería Alma Mater on Calzada de Infanta, Librería Guamá, Librería Centenario del Apóstol on 164 Calle 25, Librería El Ateneo, Librería Rubén Martínez Villena on Paseo de Martí (Paseo del Prado), and Librería Terminal Ómnibus Nacionales. That's the bookstore crawl in one sensible loop, no backtracking. 26 more are listed below.
Bookstore tips for Havana
A few things worth knowing before you work through Havana's bookstores:
- Ask about ordering at La Internacional. Independent shops will order anything in print, often in a day or two. No need to default to the big online retailer.
- Ask about the book club discount at Librería Nicolás Guillén. Many shops discount book-club orders. If your club buys local, everyone wins.
- Come back seasonally. Stock turns over with the publishing seasons. The shop you browsed in spring is a different shop by autumn.
- Check the staff picks shelf first. It's the fastest read of a shop's personality. If the picks excite you, the rest of the store will too.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Havana — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new bookstore in Havana can take a while to appear. The 34 above are only as current as the community map. A bookstore that's shut, or a new one nobody's added yet, gets fixed with a single OpenStreetMap edit.
We don't list prices — they change constantly and vary by edition. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers, in alphabetical order with no favourites.
If you run one of the 34 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Bookstore listings for Havana: 34 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.