Time Of the Year Visited: We have gone multiple times throughout the years during Spring & Summer.
Days Visited: 4. We suggest you visit for at least 4 days as there’s so many beautiful places to visit. Note: expect tropical weather, this means sudden rain showers that come and go.
How To Get Here
We flew from Los Angeles which was a total of 7 hours with a short layover in Florida. The flight from the East Coast is around 4 hours, depending where you are coming from. What airport you fly into depends on what part of the Island you wish to visit. We flew into San Juan. Because Puerto Rico is a U.S Territory, no passport is needed. You can travel with just your state ID.
If you need somewhere to store your, bags upon arrival or departure, in San Juan checkout CSE Baggage Storage located in Terminal D, Level 2. Their prices at the time of this post are as follow: small bags $6/each and bigger bags at $10 each for 24 hours.
Lodging
For this visit we stayed in Carolina, about a 5 minute drive to the airport and a 10 minute walk to the beach. It was about a 15 minute drive to Old San Juan and 40 minutes to El Yunque National Forest. Where to stay will depend on what the goal of your visit is. I’ve stayed in Old San Juan before as well as Luquillo, each visit was great and very different.
If you are not a loud group, our Airbnb would be a great option. If not, there’s plenty of other options to look into. (If you are new to Airbnb, get up to $40 off your first booking when you sign up and book here)
Let’s Talk Money
Puerto Rico uses the USD. Places like Carolina and Old San Juan are not cheap. Keep that in mind when planning your vacation.
What To Do & See
To book the majority of the activities we list below, you can contact our guy Sergio (owner of Fix a Trip PR) and he can help you set it up. His direct number is 787-630-3684, let him know Suzzstravels referred you (he gave us the OK to share his contact information). Please be respectful.
•Go ATV riding (we did 2 hours & it was the perfect amount of time)
•Vieques: do a day trip to the beautiful beaches here. To get here rent a boat or book a shared catamaran. You can also do an evening visit to the bioluminescent bay at Mosquito Bay. Additionally, you can look into flight options from the San Juan airport (SJU). If you plan to purchase public ferry tickets, keep in mind there is a VERY limited amount of tickets, book in advance. I highly recommend booking private transportation.
•Stroll through Old San Juan. Check out el Castillo San Felipe del Morro.
•Sunset Floating Deck, Dinner Deck or Sip & Tan Deck @ The Olive Experience Hotel. Check out pricing and details here.
•Day trip to Cueva Ventana
•Playa Isla Verde: pack a cooler or grab drinks and snacks from the beach side bars and restaurants. You can rent chairs for $4-$5 and umbrellas for $10 each.
•Garabatos: if you are looking for a place to drink and listen to music this is a good spot to check out. You will also see other options around this area.
•Culebra: a day trip to this island is a must. A visit to the beautiful Flamenco beach, should be on your itinerary. You can look into a ferry from Ceiba, or look into booking a private boat or shared catamaran. You can also look into flight options from the San Juan airport (SJU). If you plan to purchase public ferry tickets, keep in mind there is a limited amount of tickets, book in advance. I highly recommend booking private transportation.
•Hike through El Yunque National Rainforest
If you are spending a week or more in Puerto Rico, or if you are planning to visit different areas of the island, i recommend you make a trip to the West side of the island. Just a few places to check out:
•Cabo Rojo
•Punta Icacos
•Crash Boat Beach in Aguadilla
•Playa Playuela in Aguadilla
•Survival Beach in Aguadilla
•Cara del Indio in Isabela: a monumento al Cacique Mabodamaca
•El pozo de Jacinto in Isabela located at Jobos Beach
Where To Eat & Drink
For restaurants, i recommend you contact them to make reservations especially if you are a party of 4+.
*Not pictured: for our recent trip, we hired local chefs for 2 nights. They came to our Airbnb and cooked full course meals. They do set up and clean up. If this is something you want to look into doing, you can set it up with Sergio as well.
•Restaurante Raíces
•Casita Miramar
•Ceviche house (their food is delicious! Make sure you have a Pisco Sour or 5!)
•La Placita de Santurce: some of the restaurants/bars mentioned in this guide are located here. Its such a great area to check out day or night.
•Calle Loiza (bar hopping)
•La Verguenza (come here for a drink or two and enjoy the views from the 3rd floor)
•El techo rooftop: good spot to come for drinks. Come right before sunset!
•Food truck park (there’s food trucks with a variety of cuisines in this area)
•El Jibarito
•Musa for dinner (I had the Ropa Vieja Fettuccine) The service was excellent and the food was great)
We hope our guide helps you plan your next trip! Don’t forget to credit us by tagging us on your pictures, sharing our page on your story and sharing our article with others! We dedicate a lot of time and thought to our guides so we appreciate knowing they are helpful. If you don’t yet, follow us on Instagram.
All information on this guide is our own, please do not copy-paste our guides. Just credit our work back to our website. Thank you!
Safe Travels!!!
The CDC is actually warning against travel to PR. It’s currently at a level 4 and says that all non essential travel should end. This is dangerous please take in to account the health of the locals on the island and the lack of infrastructure they have