Recommendations for San Juan/Vieques, Puerto Rico?

***The following was written by my girlfriend so I am not responsible for the language used, but it's a pretty detailed list of recommendations from our trip last year. I copied it from an email so it didn't transfer that well.****

San Juan lodging
We stayed in Ocean Park, which is a nice neighborhood on the beach with lots of great restaurants. We stayed in a bungalow which we found through Airbnb and the woman renting it out lived in the main house. We had our own living area, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and outdoor patio, and grill (it was nice being able to grill for dinner a couple of nights instead of always having to eat out) and we also had access to the pool of the main house. We were half a block away from the beach and in walking distance of many restaurants. It was about $110 a night, but there’s definitely cheaper places in the area.

I used an article similar to this one when trying to find places to stay: LINK

San Juan activities

•Old San Juan - Such a vibrant part of town! We loved walking around this area. The buildings are beautiful and colorful. There’s a lot of restaurants, shops, and historical sites in this area.

• The Forts - There are two huge stone forts that were once used to protect San Juan from attacking ships. Both are beautiful and they were fun to explore. You also get great views of the bay. If you only have time for one, go to the one at the tip (forgot the name) because it’s bigger.

• La Plasita - This is where locals go to hang out, drink, and salsa dance. The locals love showing tourists how to salsa! It was an awesome very Puerto Rican experience.

• El Yunque rainforest - About an hour-ish outside San Juan. We rented a Jeep to get there. I believe 4 wheel drive is recommended, since you’re driving up and down windy roads. We took Britton Trail, which is one of the more popular trails, and we hiked to the top. It poured down rain almost the entire time, but it was still an awesome and adventurous experience! The views of the forest from the top were spectacular(when the clouds would briefly part). Took about 3.5 hours for us.

• Beaches - We stuck to Ocean Park beach since it was close to us. There’s a lot of restaurants/bars on the beach where you can watch the sunset.
• Sunset sail on San Juan Bay - Another great way to experience San Juan… watching the sunset from a sailboat on the water! We sailed on the Chili Pepper with Captain Sebastian who is the owner of the company Sail Old San Juan/ San Juan Boat Rentals, They served us champagne and we watched a beautiful sunset. Also, there was only one other couple on the sailboat with us, and we ended up making friends with them and went out to dinner together afterwards.

• Snuba - Hybrid between snorkel and scuba diving. You have an oxygen tank floating above you so you can be submerged. Amazing experience! Saw so many aquatic creatures and even got to hold some. We went on a weekday so we were on the only ones on the tour. We paid about $25 for our guide to take pictures of us with his waterproof digital. They came out AWESOME! You can also sneak over to the pool/ocean view area of the Caribe Hilton after if you are stealthy. We did that and laid out there for a few hours.

San Juan restaurants
• Bagua (Ocean Park) - delicious dishes with local seafood

• Chocobar (Old San Juan) - almost every dish has chocolate/cocoa in it! I had a delicious chocolate grilled cheese and a chocolate milkshake.

• Asere (La Plastia) - Good PR food on the square. We sat outside and it was great for people watching.
• La Ceuva Del Mar (Old San Juan) - Amazing fish tacos!


Vieques Island
This is one of the islands east of the main island. It’s absolutely breathtaking! There are so many beaches to explore (literally… there’s dozens) and the water is so blue. It’s a relatively primitive island so you can really enjoy the beauty of the island. There’s even wild horses that roam the island! Also it’s not very crowded, which makes it very appealing. There’s not even a resort there… or at least not yet. Hopefully it stays that way!

Flying to Vieques
You’ll need to get your plane tickets in advance. It’s about $170/person roundtrip, but it was worth every penny. The 30 minute plane ride there was almost as awesome as being on Vieques.

Vieques lodging
We stayed at Mrs. Brown’s Casa, which was clean and nice. We found it through Airbnb. I’d probably start there since there’s no resorts on the island.

Vieques activities
• BEACHES! There’s so many beaches to explore, and you’re basically beach hopping from one to the next via Jeep on the back roads. I think we went to three the day we went. We were the only people of one of the beaches which was awesome. We asked locals for the beaches they recommended. Definitely bring a snorkel because there’s tons of coral reefs and fish to see, since the water is clear. Also bring snacks and an ice chest with water (and beer if you plan on day drinking) because once you get to the beaches, there’s no stores nearby.

• El Blok - New trendy 3 or 4 story hotel with cool rooftop bar with games and nice view of the ocean.

• Kayaking on Bioluminescence Bay - Literally one of the coolest experiences of my life. For the best views, you need to go close to a night with a new moon because you can see the lit-up organisms better in the water. We went with Jak’s company. It was so peaceful and beautiful, and we had clear kayaks so you could see the organisms light up directly underneath us!

Vieques restaurants
• Bili - Outdoor restaurant with good local PR food. It’s on the main street along the ocean, and it was fun to watch the locals having fun together at the bar across from the restaurant

We had a conflict but they have legal cock fights in San Juan. If that's someone y'all would be interested in.

I think she was referring to a new one that was being talked about being built, but I honestly had no idea there was a resort there.

quote:

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If you only have time for one, go to the one at the tip (forgot the name) because it’s bigger.

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El Morro. Both are worth seeing and within walking distance of each other