Puerto Rico recs

[litebrite]

DH and I are going on vacation to Puerto Rico in October for a week. We are thrilled with the low airfares and trying to figure out how to divide our hotel time - we are thinking 2 nights in Fajardo and 4 nights in San Juan, but are open to a mix. Basically, we want to do a day at El Yunque nat''l park/ Luquillo beach, and another day at Vieques including the biobay - I am really looking forward to this more than anything else.

I looked at Diamante Blu''s hotel recs and the Water Club looks great, but the reviews for El Conquistador seem mixed (reports of insect problems

.

We are not insistent on staying in Fajardo, it just seems to be centrally accessible. If there are better places to stay for a night or two, I''d love to know. In terms of hotel priorities, we want a really clean hotel room - I don''t care if my hotel has a spa or restaurant, I just want a comfortable bed and clean room and am willing to pay more for that. We want to be on the beach for probably 2 or 3 of the days - I know that it''s rainy season then so I''d like to make sure that we get some sun in

Does anyone know how driving around Puerto Rico is? It seems to make sense for us to rent a car since we want to see different parts of the island.

Also, we really enjoy food so if people have thoughts on really great places to eat, we are all ears.

Thanks for any recommendations - beaches, food, activities that people have. (We will probably not go snorkeling, diving, or surfing but I am very open to biobay kayaking. Also apparently Camuy is closed.)

 

[Burberrygirl]

OMG, how exciting! I love Puerto Rico! I've been there twice, the first time was four years ago and we stayed in Fajardo for four days and San Juan for three. I honestly can't remember the name of either hotel, my dad booked everything. I went to El Yunque which was fun. It's very pretty, I have a ton of pictures from there. My dad, brother, sister and her bf went on a kayak tour of the biobay. I remember them saying how cool it was but I think everyone but my dad had a hard time kayaking. I really liked Fajardo, we did some touristy things but we also got out of the hotel and explored. We went to a beach all the locals go to one day and also tried out some local restaurants. I wish I remembered the names of everything! I absolutely loved San Juan too, especially Old San Juan. The forts are amazing, there's some really great shopping and places to eat.

The second time we stayed in San Juan for a week at the Conrad San Juan, Condado Plaza which is a Hilton hotel. Our room was very nice, everyone was really friendly too. They have a couple restaurants there and a Starbucks. We always ate at Varitas Woodburning Rotisserie, the food there is amazing. They have great Puerto Rican food and stuff for everyone too like a great burger and salads. The manager there was extremely nice, she was always there and really fun to talk to. They also had a little restaurant called Eight Noodle Bar which was okay. They were open late and we'd go there to eat after a night of drinking before going to sleep. Those were the only restaurants at the hotel we ate at. We had some great food in Old San Juan. There's a hotel downtown called Cervantes which is really nice. Their food was amazing and everyone working there was so nice. They gave us a tour of the hotel and all the suites in case we wanted to stay there next time. We had drinks at the Caribe Hilton which was also a cool hotel, I walked around the pool area and it was really pretty. We visited the forts again, there were crews at one of them because a Johnny Depp movie was being filmed at the time. I also bought my emerald ring while in Puerto Rico. Most of the jewelry stores there are overpriced, but luckily we found this family owned store called Treasures Jewelry on Fortaleza in Old San Juan. The man, Edoardo was willing to work with us and had some great jewelry. I've emailed him since and he has always been very nice a helpful. On our second trip almost everyone was flexible with prices. The economy is really hurting there too, everyone is making much less money than they did just two years ago. Even taxi rides are cheaper now!

ETA: The first time I went there my dad rented a car. It was a little stressful but is a must if you're staying in Fajardo and plan on getting around. If you were staying at El Conquistador and didn't want to leave the resort than you could go without a car. I hope this helps! I'll let you know if I think of anything else!

 

[litebrite]

Wow, thanks for the tips. And you helpfully threw in a jewelry shop which I forgot to think about as an activity

 

[litebrite]

Anyone know if there are good places to source stones? Is PR known as a jewelry center or what kinds of gems/ pearls/etc can be found?

 

[lucyandroger]

I LOVE Puerto Rico!!!!

Just a few quick thoughts:

Driving on PR is just like driving in the US. There is a lot of traffic around San Juan but nothing else unusual. Driving on the smaller islands, Vieques and Culebra is rough because a lot of the roads are not paved. Most people drive SUVs over there and a regular rental car would probably get banged up or stuck somewhere.

I would definitely stay more than one day on Vieques. The beaches are pristine and the feeling is just so relaxed. The Biobay is amazing - the one in Vieques is way, way, way better than the one in Fajardo. I did get stung by a jelly fish in it though.

And bring lots of bug repellant when you go to the bio bay - it''s called mosquito bay for a reason!

In the town of Esperanza on Vieques, eat at El Quenepo. You will not be disappointed!!!

Some of my favorite restaurants in San Juan:

Barrachina - http://www.barrachina.com/ - tradition Puerto Rican
Dragonfly – latin/asian fusion
Ajili Mojili – in Condado, http://www.hdmdesigns.com/ajili/menu.htm

The rain forest is definitely worth the trip. I''m not sure that Luquillo is totally worth it if you''re going to be going to Vieques.

If I were you, I would stay in San Juan or Condado for 4 days and rent a car for one of those days to go to the rainforest. Then I would fly from San Juan to Vieques (flights are not that expensive, cheaper than renting a car for all those days) and stay there for whatever time you have left. Your rental car probably wouldn''t cut it in Vieques anyway so you''d end up wasting it parked at the ferry parking lot. Anyway, that''s just my 2 cents.

You''re going to have a great time no matter what you do!