There were some great views of downtown Havana from around the fort. Skip the extra $2 for the lighthouse as the view is just as good from different points in the fort. If you are running short on time skip this and go to San Carlos fort. There is a lot more to see there. Many of the rooms here were closed with no displays.
This fortress was a great stop on our trip to Havana, well worth it. The history here is amazing. The view of Havana across the harbor is worth the stop alone, just fantastic.
We took a taxi from Old Havana (6CUC) across the harbour wanting to see the lighthouse. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and there were literally thousands of locals there for some sort of festival. The driver dropped us at the fortress about a 20 minute walk away. Luckily we figured this out before paying an entry fee. Once we made the trek as part of the throng entering El Morro we found the lighthouse closed. The area reeked of urine and there was garbage everywhere. We luckily found a quick cab back across the harbour (7CUC). We returned the next night as part of a tour for the canon ceremony but were given no background for what we were to see and the crowd was so large that we couldn’t really see anything anyway. I got some great shots of the lighthouse and fortress from the Malecón in Old Havana so didn’t even need to make the trek. Definitely the low point in an otherwise wonderful trip around Cuba.
Great place to walk around and take panoramic pictures of the city of Havana. They charge CUC 6 per person to enter the fort and climb the tower
Stopped there on a tour last year and enjoyed the walk around there and the story of the chain and the harbor. The view across the harbor is amazing. It was a little rainy/cloudy which made for great photos. There are some vendors selling a variety of typical souvenirs but I recommend just enjoying the view and the breeze.
Another example of the "Caribbean islands" and other countries where the Spanish left an heritage of great forts.
installation and museums could be better maintained. The place is imprecionante. from here you can see the whole city.
(The entry fee for this is separate from the Fortress. I'm not sure if the 6CUC entry fee ( plus 2CUC to go up the lighthouse) is worth it. The views are incredible. No one checks to se eif you paid to go up the lighthouse. We saw people going up who had not paid :( The displays are deteriorating and are almost all in Spanish so difficult for us to read.
We enjoyed our visit to El Morro, if for nothing else the views were spectacular. It was easy to walk around and get a close up of the cannons still in place and to walk around the old walls. It also has a nice place to buy Cuban cigars.
Great views across the harbour steeped in history and good for photos. Dont make a point of doing this visit in isolation combine it with something else if you doing it by taxi as you wont stay long