A penthouse rental in Havana gives you a whole home on the top level of a building: the rooms, the terrace and the view, with nobody living above you. Cuba’s Housing Law, Ley 187/2026, in force since 21 October 2026, even names the pent-house as its own kind of home. Cuba Luxury Rent rents two, both in Vedado.
We’ve been in Cuba since 2000, and the penthouse is the place guests ask for after they’ve seen the photos and before they’ve seen the price. It’s easy to see why. From a Vedado top floor you watch the sun come up over the city and go down into the sea, and that happens every single day of the stay.
This piece answers a narrower question than “is it nice”. What does a penthouse rental in Havana actually give you, what does the new law say a penthouse is, and how does it compare with a villa? It’s written as of November 2026, from the Gaceta Oficial No. 86 of 14 October 2026 and from our own two listings.
What does a penthouse rental in Havana include?
A penthouse rental in Havana includes the full top-floor home, not a room in it: bedrooms, living space, kitchen, and the terrace or balcony that comes with the top level. What sits around it depends on the property. At the Atlantic Penthouse that means a rooftop pool, daily housekeeping and a concierge.
Our two are different on purpose. The Atlantic Penthouse sits on the top floors of a Vedado tower above the Malecón, with two bedrooms, the pool on the roof and the Atlantic in front of it. The Vedado Penthouse is a full floor with three bedrooms and a long balcony, and the whole of Vedado below. One is about the sea. The other is about the city.
What the listing can’t show is how the day goes. Breakfast on the terrace before the heat. A swim at noon. Drinks while the light goes orange over the water. Guests tell us the terrace is where they spent most of the trip, and we believe them.
Before you choose, ask three plain questions. How many bathrooms, and does every bedroom have its own? Is there shade on the terrace at noon? And who comes in each day, if anyone? A good owner answers all three in one message. If the answers are vague, so will the stay be.
What does Cuban law say a penthouse is?
Article 150.1 of Ley 187/2026 describes pent-houses as “casas-apartamentos” built on the last level of the building under its original design, which differ substantially from the other flats as a home, in architecture and in function. The same article says they are not part of the building’s common elements.
You might expect a law to treat a top-floor flat as a flat with a better view. Cuba’s new law gives it a definition of its own, and the definition has two tests: it was planned as the top level from the start, and it’s clearly a different kind of home from the flats below. A room added on a roof later doesn’t meet the first test.
For a guest, the definition is a useful filter. Havana has plenty of “penthouses” in rental adverts that turn out to be a top-floor flat with a small balcony, or a room built on a roof in the 1990s. Neither is what the law describes, and neither is what we list. When we use the word, we mean the home the building was designed to end with.
Ley 187 is dated 30 July 2026, was published on 14 October 2026 and took effect seven days later, under its Sixth Final Provision. Its rules for buildings sit in Chapter XI, “Propiedad Horizontal”, and a separate regulation, Decreto 177/2026, published in the same issue, fills in the detail. That regulation replaces Resolution 4 of 14 January 1991, the rulebook Cuba’s apartment buildings had used for 35 years.
Which parts of the building are private, and which are shared?
In a Cuban apartment building, Article 148 of Ley 187/2026 makes the structure, façade, roofs, stairs, lifts, water tanks and similar installations common to all owners. A penthouse, under Article 150.1, is not a common element. The home is the owner’s, and the building around it is shared.
The law then asks two things of the penthouse owner in return. Article 150.2: let in the people who install, maintain and repair the lifts, water tanks, antennas and other equipment placed on that level or above it. Article 150.3: maintain and repair the terrace so that no water leaks into the flats on the level below.
And one protection. Decreto 177/2026, Article 23.2, prohibits ceding the roof of a pent-house. Elsewhere in Cuba an owner can sell the right to build on a roof (Articles 78 to 84 of the law set out how). Over a penthouse, that door is closed. Nobody gets to build a floor on top of your view.
| Atlantic Penthouse | Vedado Penthouse | |
| Where | Top floors of a Vedado tower, above the Malecón | A full floor over Vedado |
| Bedrooms | 2 | 3 |
| Outdoor space | Rooftop pool, ocean view | Long balcony, city and sea view |
| Service named in the listing | Daily housekeeping, concierge | Not listed yet; ask us |
| Municipality band (Res. 313/2024) | Plaza de la Revolución, 6.0 | Plaza de la Revolución, 6.0 |
| What the law calls the top-level home | Pent-house, Ley 187 Art. 150.1 | Pent-house, Ley 187 Art. 150.1 |
A penthouse rental in Havana with Cuba Luxury Rent, as of November 2026. Sources: cubaluxuryrent.com listings, read 4 November 2026; MFP Resolution 313/2024, Annex II; Ley 187/2026, Gaceta Oficial No. 86, 14 October 2026. Rates on request.
Why does the terrace matter so much in Havana?
Because in Havana the terrace is the living room for most of the year. It’s where you eat, read and watch the weather come in off the Gulf. Ley 187/2026 makes the penthouse owner responsible for keeping it watertight under Article 150.3, which is one more reason the terrace of a good penthouse tends to be well kept.
We look at three things on a terrace before a home goes on our site. Shade at midday, because the sun on a Vedado roof in August doesn’t negotiate. A clear line to the sea or the skyline, not to the back of the next tower. And a way to cook or be served outside, so dinner doesn’t have to move indoors at sunset.
A good terrace also changes what you need from the rest of the city. Plenty of our guests skip one restaurant booking in three. The view is already there.
Why are Havana’s penthouses mostly in Vedado?
Because Vedado is where Havana went up. From the top floors you see the whole grid of the district, the Malecón and the Atlantic. Vedado sits in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, which Cuba’s Finance Ministry placed in its 6.0 band “por ser Zona de Alta Significación para el Turismo”. Only special economic zones such as Mariel rank higher, at 7.0.
That ranking comes from Resolution 313/2024 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, in force since 15 November 2024. It lists six municipalities in the band: Playa, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana Vieja, Trinidad, Cárdenas (Varadero) and Viñales. The State uses it to build the reference value of a home. We read it as something simpler: the official map of where Cuba expects visitors to want to stay.
Old Havana has rooftops of its own, but they sit on two- and three-storey colonial houses, and the experience is different. A Vedado penthouse is the high version: wind, distance, and the whole coastline at once.
Something we’ve noticed over 25+ years of walking guests into these buildings: the lobby tells you very little. Some of the best top floors in Vedado sit above a plain entrance and a slow lift. Judge the home by the terrace and the view, then ask about the lift, and don’t let a tired staircase talk you out of the best sunset in the city.
How does a penthouse rental in Havana compare with a villa?
A penthouse rental in Havana trades the garden and the private pool at ground level for height, view and a smaller, easier home to run. A villa in Miramar or Siboney gives you more rooms, more staff and more privacy from the street. A penthouse gives you the city at your feet and a lift instead of a driveway.
For two people or a family of four, we’d usually point to a penthouse. For a group of eight, a wedding party or a company retreat, a villa makes more sense, and we covered why in what makes a luxury villa in Cuba different from a hotel. Some guests do both: four nights up high in Vedado, then a few days in a villa or by the beach in Varadero.
Can an owner rent out a whole penthouse in Cuba?
Yes. Article 72.1 of Ley 187/2026 gives home owners the right to rent out the whole home, rooms or spaces, without affecting the rights of the people who live there with them. Article 72.2 says the contract sets the object, the term, the price and the duties of both sides.
For a guest, that means a penthouse stay rests on a written arrangement with the owner, and the owner keeps the duties Article 150 gives them for the terrace and access. For an owner thinking about renting, the details of a short-stay licence are a question for a Cuban lawyer; this article doesn’t go there.
How do you book a penthouse rental in Havana with Cuba Luxury Rent?
You start from our villas and penthouses for rent in Cuba page, pick the home, and send us your dates. Rates are on request, and we reply within four hours. Cuba Luxury Rent has visited every property on the site in person.
After that, the stay can be as plain or as arranged as you like. Our private concierge in Cuba handles drivers, a private chef on the terrace, a musician for one evening, tables you won’t get by walking in. We’d keep the first night free. Sit on the terrace, order nothing, and watch the city switch its lights on.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in a penthouse rental in Havana?
The whole top-floor home, including its bedrooms, living space and terrace or balcony. Services depend on the property: Cuba Luxury Rent’s Atlantic Penthouse in Vedado, for example, comes with a rooftop pool, daily housekeeping and a concierge. Rates are on request, and extras such as a private chef are arranged separately.
How does Cuban law define a penthouse?
Article 150.1 of Ley 187/2026, Cuba’s Housing Law in force since 21 October 2026, describes pent-houses as homes built on the building’s last level under its original design, substantially different from the other flats in architecture and function. They are not part of the building’s common elements.
Can someone build on top of a penthouse in Cuba?
No. Decreto 177/2026, the regulation on apartment buildings published in Gaceta Oficial No. 86 on 14 October 2026, prohibits ceding the roof of a pent-house in its Article 23.2. The right to build on a roof, which Ley 187 allows for other buildings, does not apply above a penthouse.
Who maintains a penthouse terrace in Cuba?
The penthouse owner. Under Article 150.3 of Ley 187/2026, the owner must maintain and repair the terrace so that no water leaks into the flats on the level below. Article 150.2 also requires the owner to give access to people who service lifts, water tanks and antennas on that level.
Where are the penthouses for rent in Havana?
Mostly in Vedado, in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución. Cuba’s Finance Ministry, in Resolution 313/2024 (in force 15 November 2024), places it in the 6.0 band reserved for six municipalities of high significance for tourism. Cuba Luxury Rent’s two penthouses, Atlantic and Vedado, are both there.Nothing in this article is legal advice. Cuba Luxury Rent describes the published law and its own listings as of November 2026; for a specific contract, check with a Cuban lawyer.
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