I love anything by Buena Vista Social Club, but the song that best evokes Cuba for me is actually ‘I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again’ by jazz chanteuse Stacey Kent.

The line about dashing for shelter through tropical rain always reminds me of a shower-soaked sprint across Havana’s cobbled Plaza des Armas – to the colonial Hotel Santa Isobel’s sheltering colonnade and magical Mojitos.

The hastening pace of transformation in post-Castro Cuba means it’s very different to the island I’ve visited. Or the place where, in 2002, my wife met late-great Cuban crooner Ibrahim Ferrer in Havana’s iconic Hotel Nacional de Cuba.

Fortunately, some things don’t change: like stepping into the sultry Cuban night from Havana airport’s arrivals hall, or the lime-imbued sadness of your last Cuban Mojito. Cuba still delivers almost everything you’ve seen in movies like ‘I Am Cuba’, ‘Havana Suite’ or Wim Wenders’ acclaimed music documentary. But you might want to hurry…

Pastel-hued sights and Che murals

Real Cuba is so much more than Varadero’s all-inclusive beach hotels. Or day tripping Havana’s El Floridita Bar where Hemingway held court, admiring the city’s 1950s American cars and strolling the wave-battered Malecón.

Naturally, you’ll explore these and Havana’s other pastel-hued sights, and admire its ingenious urban organopónico allotments. And, of course, you’ll marvel at oversize murals of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos on Plaza de la Revolución – before going up its 142m-high José Martí Memorial.

Then, I hope, you’ll leave town for a while to explore another side of Cuba. Buses work well and self-drive’s doable – if not for the faint-hearted. Navigating Cuba’s Soviet-era autopistas and ill-signed backroads can be challenging!

Suggested destinations a few hours from Havana? Try Santa Clara, where bereted Che won the Revolution’s deciding battle. Or Trinidad de Cuba, for elegant colonial architecture, Playa La Boca’s beaches and historic steam train rides to the UNESCO-listed Valley of the Sugar Mills.

Experience Cuba’s Salsa-driven vibe

At Cuba’s other end, the Viñales Valley is another unmissable UNESCO site. It’s renowned for extraordinary limestone mogotes, rock-face murals and unspoiled agricultural landscapes. On the way, visit Las Terrazas’ striking eco-hotel Moka. The lobby’s built around a towering lime tree. That’s another Cuban ‘Wow!’

Cuba’s a-changing, but its Salsa-driven vibe and welcoming people keep delighting. Corporate globalisation may be infiltrating island life, but for now, McDonald’s and KFC remain locked away on America’s Guantánamo Bay base! For how much longer remains unclear. That’s another reason to experience the genuine Cuba today!