Avenida de los Presidentes (Calle G) runs perpendicular to Calle 23 and climbs from the Malecón toward Plaza de la Revolución. A wide, grassy, tree-lined pedestrian median divides separate roadways running uphill and downhill. The avenue is named for the statues of Cuban presidents that grace its length, along with statues of other notables in American history. (The busts of Tomás Estrada Palma and José Miguel Gómez, the first and second presidents of the Cuban republic, were toppled following the Revolution, as they were accused of being “puppets” of the U.S. government.)

Allow 40 minutes, setting out from the Malecón, where first you should admire the bas-reliefs that adorn the Monumento Calixto García. One block south, on your right, is the Casa de las Américas (Av. de los Presidentes, esq. 3ra, tel. 07/55-2707, fax 07/33-4554, www.casa.cult.cu, Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–4:45 p.m.), a cultural center formed in 1959 to study and promote the cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean. The center contains a shop and hosts concerts and cultural programs. Fifty meters south along Avenida de los Presidentes you’ll pass the Casa’s Galería Haydee Santamaría (e/ 5ta and G; Tues.–Fri. 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–3 p.m.).

At 5ta you’ll pass the Hotel Presidente, an art deco high-rise dating from 1927. Across Avenida de los Presidentes, on the east side, is the headquarters of MINREX (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores), the Foreign Relations Ministry, taking up two blocks including a beautiful neo-baroque building on the north side of Calzada (7ma Calle).

At Calzada, detour west along 5ta for four blocks to Parque Villalón (5ta y D). On its southeast side is the Romanesque Teatro Amadeo Roldán (tel. 07/832-4521), recently restored to grandeur as a concert hall. Next door is the headquarters of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba (Calzada #510 e/ D y E, Vedado, tel. 07/835-2952, www.balletcuba.cult.cu). The facility is closed to visitors, but sometimes you can spot the dancers practicing their pirouettes if you peek through the gate.

Turn north onto Calle D and walk one block to Línea. Be cautious crossing this busy thoroughfare. On the far side, peek into the 19th-century Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Línea, e/ C y D, tel. 07/832-6807), Vedado’s parish church colloquially called Parroquia del Vedado.

Exiting the church, head east one block along Línea to Avenida de los Presidentes, where on the northwest corner is a small triangular park, Jardín Vienés Johann Strauss (alas, the life-size gold-painted statue of the composer playing a violin has been stolen). On the south side of Línea note the handsome bronze statue of Alejandro Rodríguez y Velasco (Av. de los Presidentes y Línea), a brigadier general in the Cuban Wars of Independence, atop a granite pedestal guarded by a bronze figure of Perseus.

Cross Avenida de los Presidentes to view the Museo de la Danza (Calle Línea #365, esq. Av. de los Presidentes, tel. 07/831-2198 or 836-1636, musdanza [at] cubarte [dot] cult [dot] cu, Tues.–Sat. 11 a.m.–6:30 p.m.; CUC2, guide CUC1), in a restored mansion on the southeast corner of the junction. The museum has four salons dedicated to Russian ballet, modern dance, the National Ballet of Cuba, and other themes. Exhibits include wardrobes, recordings, manuscripts, and photographs relating to the history of dance. Such oddities as Nijinsky’s wedding certificate are displayed.

From here, walk south along the central median. Ascending the avenue southward, you’ll pass other statues to Mexican Benito Juárez (e/ 17 y 19), Venezuelan Simón Bolívar (e/ 19 y 21), and Chilean president Salvador Allende (e/ 21 y 23).

Cross Calle 23 and walk west one block to Calle F, where on the southwest corner of the junction the Monumento a Martin Luther King is a marble tableaux with a bas-relief bronze of the Afro-American civil rights leader.

Return to Avenida de los Presidentes and continue south. The tree-shaded boulevard climbs two blocks to the Monumento a José Miguel Gómez (Calle 29), designed by Italian sculptor Giovanni Nicolini and erected in 1936 in classical style to honor the former Republican president (1909–13). Beyond, the road drops through a canyon lined with giant jagüey trees, which form a glade over the road. Hidden from sight on the bluff to the west is the Castillo del Príncipe, built between 1767 and 1779 following the English invasion. The castle is off-limits as it is now a military zone and houses a prison.

Arriving at the junction with Avenida Salvador Allende, Zapata, and Avenida Rancho Boyeros, turn left onto Salvador Allende. After 100 meters, on the north side of the road, you’ll arrive at the once-graceful Quinta de los Molinos (e/ Infanta y Luaces), reached via a decrepit cobbled, gladed drive. The mansion, built between 1837 and 1840, is named for the royal snuff mills that were built here in 1791 to take advantage of the waters of Zanza Real; you can still see part of the original aqueduct inaugurated in 1592 to the rear of the time-worn quinta. The mansion originated as a summer palace for the captains-general and in 1899 was granted as the private residence of General Máximo Gómez, the Dominican-born commander-in-chief of the liberation army. It now houses the motley Museo de Máximo Gómez (tel. 07/879-8850; Tues.–Sun. 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; CUC1). His sword and a few other personal effects are on display.

The quinta grounds now form the Jardín Botánico (Botanical Gardens; Tues.–Sun. 7 a.m.–7 p.m.). Following the Revolution, the once exquisite pleasure gardens of the governor’s summer palace were transferred to the University of Havana and are now an overgrown mess littered with tumbledown statues, fountains, and grottoes with giant jagüeys and other trees twining around them, many with voodoo dolls and other santería offerings stuffed in their interstices.