Puerto rico

[robertpaulsen]

You guys were solid on ideas for St Louis, I’m headed to Puerto Rico today for two weeks. Any recommendations on places to eat, unique things to do etc? We are staying on the west side but willing to travel. So far all we have booked is one day of ocean fishing and a day of iguana shooting.

Forum search just brought up a bunch of people crying about a camo brand being located in PR.

Thanks

 

[Theringworm]

Eat at Raices in Old San Juan. Get the Mofungo. You will not regret it.

Cant recommend anything else as nothing left an impression on me.

 

[wmr89]

Bioluminescent bay

 

[Coveyleader]

You in Rincón? Head down to cabo rojo. If you have time and want to see what the Caribbean used to be like, send me a PM. I won’t post it online.

I’m there all the time, and try my enjoy it, i hope you do as well.

 

[robertpaulsen]

You in Rincón? Head down to cabo rojo. If you have time and want to see what the Caribbean used to be like, send me a PM. I won’t post it online.

I’m there all the time, and try my enjoy it, i hope you do as well.

I believe we are staying near Cabo rojo. PM inbound.

 

[5811]

Lobster mofongo, rum, empenadas, golf, cave tours, snorkeling. Traffic can be bad on the main island. On the west side, Rompeolas beach is nice, Punta Borinquen Golf Club is reasonable and really cool overlooking water. Steps beach had the best snorkeling I found on the west side.

I'd head to vieques for a couple days if you can. Rent a scooter and tour the island. Bioluminescent bay near Esperanza was easily one of the coolest things I've done.

They outlawed motorized boats so last I went it was kayak only. Prior to that, we took a pontoon out in the dark. The wake behind the boat began to glow brighter and brighter as you got into the bay. Then you dove in from the roof of the boat and the water glowed all around you. It was unreal the way it lit up. You'd glow as you got out of the water as it ran off you. When a fish would dart away, it looked like underwater lighting.

 

[JDT1982]

El Yunque National Forest has some pretty cool hikes

 

[Nicaburns]

If you have time to make it to the east side, take some time and visit El Moro, it is worth a tour. Also, do a puddle jumper (or the ferry) from Fajardo over to Culebra. Playa Flamenco is rated in the top five most beautiful beaches in the world by Condé Nast and there are old tanks in the surf from when it used to be a training beach for our Air Force out of Fajardo. If you get to Culebra, Carlos Rosario beach is great for kayaking and snorkeling. It is also worthwhile to hit one of the bioluminescent bays… one of which is on the west side of the big island but I cannot remember the name.
*if you want a “local” experience, go to Bebos BBQ which is a Dominican run place right near the rental car area by the airport.

 

[Coveyleader]

Culebra is nice, but tin my opinion Playa Flamenco doesn’t even hit top 5 best beaches in Puerto Rico.


Old San Juan is a must for sure.

 

[jahaze]

We always stay in old San Juan. Lots of bars and restaurants, things to see and do. The darker the bar, the better the drinks One of my favorite places to hide out during the winter months.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Geewhiz]

My brother was there last year and had a blast shooting iguanas for a day. Pics looked awesome.

 

[RC_]

Planned a bachelor party to PR last year:

- El Yunque is pretty cool, nice hike, nice views of a lot of the island. To be honest we ignored closed trail signs and had a lot of fun checking out different spots
- Different rum distillery tours/tastings are an option. We did the Bacardi tour/tastings which was pretty commercialized but still cool. The bar / outdoor area at the facility is also a very nice place to hang for a bit.
- Old San Juan is definitely worth checking out. There’s lots of cool architecture and old bars/shops, etc. There is a bar called La Factoría that’s ranked in the 50 best bars in North America and definitely worth going. We were there late at night but locals told us it’s good any time of day. Traffic was brutal in the afternoons so getting ubers / getting out isn’t always easy. Maybe it was just when we were there but I’d plan accordingly.
- Drink plenty of Medallas. It’s cheap and we thought pretty solid vs. cheap American beer.
- For food, I would go with street food / cheap local options or go higher end. Given budget restrictions we got stuck going to some mid level places that clearly just want to churn through tourists and it was probably the low point of the trip.
- Be smart, some areas are very safe and others are not. If driving at night, be wary of stopping at intersections, we were told locals often go through reds if there’s no traffic because they don’t want to risk idling at lights. Not scaring you, but it isn’t exactly the US.
- Talk to the locals, if you’re nice and genuine, people usually were friendly. Lots of waitresses/waiters liked that we asked about their home/culture and said lots of American tourists aren’t very friendly.
- Bioluminescent beaches are in PR. We didn’t do this but I found it while researching.
-Have also heard great things about doing day trips to Ponce.

I can provide some additional night life recommendations in San Juan but guessing we were chasing a different vibe than you may be after.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Book a day with Poochy Rosario and go hunt some tarpon!

 

[dtrkyman]

Tarpon!