Puerto Rico (San Juan)
Trip Summary
Puerto Rico is a frequent vacation destination for my husband and I. We’ve been there three times in the summer–once for a quick cruise stop and twice for multiple day stays–and we have had a great time every time we’ve gone! It is an easy flight from the mainland U.S., there is a large variety of things to do and see, and it has all the beauty you could want in a Caribbean vacation!
I’ll start with where to stay first then move onto the fun activities to do on the island! There are a lot of hotels in downtown San Juan, and from there, you can walk everywhere from the Castillo San Felipe del Morro (an old fortress) to the alleys of Old San Juan (a delightfully colorful walk with brightly colored buildings, cobblestones streets, and eclectic shops and eateries).
The cruise port is also very close to old San Juan, so a lot of people taking cruises decide to stay downtown before their ship leaves.
My husband and I actually did that for our first stay, but in all honesty, a lot of the hotels downtown are old and in need of repair. The one we stayed at did not have air conditioning, the elevator didn’t work, and the room didn’t even have any windows, so I am not recommending staying there.
What I DO recommend is getting a little outside of town–to Condado! It is only about 11 minutes from San Juan, has a bus you can take to get there, and has a lot of the newer (and nicer!) hotels! We stayed there on our most recent trip and booked a room at the La Concha Resort–and years later, we still talk about what a nice place it was!
It is a large hotel right on the beach with luxurious pools, restaurants, and Instagram-worthy scenery everywhere you look! It was the perfect place to just relax after our flight, lounge in the pool, then take a night walk on the beach. All the relaxation you could want!
The room was beautiful, too, with a lovely view of the beach. Everything was clean, the staff was nice, and the room was refreshing. It was definitely a successful hotel pick, and a lot of other people seemed to agree as it was a popular wedding venue as well! Most of these weddings were in the evening, but it made for fun people watching as we hung out in the pool, sipped on drinks, and watched people celebrate on the beach.
So for its wonderful hospitality, clean and updated rooms, beautiful grounds and pools, this hotel gets high marks!
La Concha Resort: A
However, the fun of Puerto Rico extends beyond the hotels! The beaches! The islands off shore! El Yunque National Forest! The bioluminescence bays! So many things to see!
On our first overnight stay in Puerto Rico, we decided to take a catamaran tour to Icacos, a small, uninhabited island that is part of the Cordillera Keys Nature Reserve. There are a lot of boats that offer tours there, but we decided on the Catamaran Day Trip offered by Castillo Tours. It was an all-day tour, included lunch and refreshments, and was one of the cheaper options we could find.
And what a day! The weather was gorgeous, the catamaran spacious, the staff friendly, and the food and drinks delicious! You have a lot of options once you get to Icacos–you can snorkel, relax on the boat, swim to the beach and walk along the sand, or a combination of all of it.
The island is one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen with its clear waters, powdery white sand, and pristine landscape. Such a beautiful place to spend the day!
We could really have spent forever on that island, so it was sad when the boat crew started calling all of us back on board. Taking our last few pics, we swam back, and watched the shore fade from view as we traveled back to San Juan.
It was truly an epic day, and I highly recommend making an effort to see the island if you are in Puerto Rico. It is one of the best things we’ve done while there, and definitely the highlight of our trip!
For its excellent catamaran and crew, delicious food and drink, good reviews, and reasonable prices, this tour gets an excellent score!
Castillo Tours Catamaran Day Trip: A+
Granted, vacations are all about relaxation, but if you are more of the adventurous type, Puerto Rico offers plenty of options for more daring vacations, too! On our most recent trip to Puerto Rico, we decided to explore El Yunque Forest and go ziplining/caving/swimming, so we booked the Caving Adventure with Adventures Tierra Adentro.
It was an all-day adventure as the bus picked us up at 6 a.m. for the ride deep into El Yunque Forest. It is amazing how much the land changes the farther you go inland, because by the time we got to the middle of the rainforest where Angeles Cave was, it looked like we were in an entirely different country!
Once we stopped, we gathered our gear (you actually carry quite a bit of gear as you are ziplining/rappelling/caving all day) and underwent the safety demonstration by our guide. It was then that I started paying attention to our group–we were a fit bunch as members comprised of marathon runners, Cirque du Soleil performers, and active-duty soldiers–and our guide noticed, too. He said we had to be in shape to participate in the tour. “If you are not,” he said, “you will suffer a lot.” Gulp…
And sure enough, as soon as he gave the go-ahead, everyone started running down the path toward the ziplines that would take us to the cave. The ziplines are extremely long and made for some impressive rides as you glided and glided and glided across the rainforest.
My husband helped people get on and off of the ziplines, so the guides actually let him stay behind and glide back and forth while everyone else started rappelling down into the cave.
And what a rappel it was! You have ropes attached, but after you climb down a cliff, it is a straight free-fall into the cave which was especially terrifying. Once I had reached the cliff edge, the person far below me yelled up to just let go. His hands kept jerking off the side of his hip as if to show me to let go of my rope and just fall. Are you sure? And with a shaky breath of trust, I did and down I went until the rope took hold and allowed for a controlled descent. The adventure had officially begun!
At the bottom was the mouth of the cave where we swam through a small lake before climbing into the tunnels where we would spend the rest of the day. The cave is quite varied in its landscape as you are trudging through mud in some sections, climbing rocks, jumping in the dark to an underground lake below, and walking by underground waterfalls. It was incredible and unlike anything I had ever seen as it was an entirely new world underground with cave creatures and all kinds of things that flourished in the dark!
Now before you think it was the best tour excursion ever, let me be honest about our experience. The staff was great with the exception of the head guide–he was an absolute jerk. Rude and condescending, he made snide comments about everyone on the tour, and would never accommodate anyone if they asked him anything. For example, there is a very high jump close to the halfway point of the tour where you have to jump off of a cliff into an underground lake and he would turn off his headlamp so you fell in the dark. Some people asked him to keep his light on so they could see where they were falling (and know when to hold their breath as it was a very long fall), and every time, he ignored them, and everyone fell in the dark whether they wanted to or not.
What was especially frustrating for me was that I am hard-of-hearing, and I emailed the company beforehand to see if this would be a problem and was assured that it would be fine. However, when I asked the guide to look at me when giving me specific instructions (I lip read), he smirked and started flailing his hands in fake sign language and asked me to translate his gibberish. When I just stared at him, he said “How about this, what am I saying?” then he quietly mouthed a string of nonsensical gibberish to the point of wagging his tongue and shaking his jaw. It was at that point that I just said, “You know what? Never mind,” and ignored him for the rest of the tour. He was just infuriating.
My husband was more helpful anyway in guiding the tour as he helped people who were having trouble, pointing out good foot and handholds in the rock, and helping people take pictures when we stopped at certain spots. So just fair warning…the tour is great, but the head guide…not so much.
All in all, though, the tour was a great adventure. At the halfway point, we stopped and ate a picnic lunch, and it was surreal to have candles lit in the cave, but no movement of the flames as there was no wind. The utter joy in seeing light again as we climbed out was lovely, and the finish line sign once you hike back up out of the rainforest was a nice touch, too.
So I want to give this tour a great score, but I do have to be fair and honest here as well. The tour is an amazing adventure, but it is expensive, and the head tour guide was just incredibly rude and ruined what would have been a perfect day.
Adventuras Tierra Adentro Caving Adventure: B/B-
As you can see, there is so much to do in Puerto Rico! From snorkeling to caving to relaxing, you can make your vacation anything you want here which makes it a wonderful place to visit!
Favorite Experiences
I enjoyed all three trips to Puerto Rico, but the day at Icacos will forever stand out as one of the most picturesque and beautiful places I have ever visited! With it being a protected space, the island is so peaceful and undisturbed that the whole place looks like something on a postcard. So, so beautiful!
The tour we took out there was also the best one in our visits to Puerto Rico with its price and all that was included, so I would highly recommend spending the day there. You won’t regret it!
What I Wish I Knew
Well, having been to Puerto Rico three times now, I have learned a bit along the way. San Juan is very much a touristy spot and prices reflect that, so just know that as you look for restaurants and shops. By the cruise ship terminal and welcome area, there are usually tables where people offer samples of alcohol, but do not partake as you (likely) will get sick. I was a complete idiot and made the mistake of taking one that was offered to me my first time in San Juan and spent the evening sitting on a park bench because I felt so ill (and it was a thimble-sized sample!). So yeah, avoid the tables with free samples and venture out of the touristy spots, and that is where you’ll find much better eateries (and prices)!
Outside of San Juan were also some of the better hotels, too, so check those out! There is a good bus system, and it is super cheap to get around, so don’t be afraid to try out new things! This latest trip to Puerto Rico was one of our favorites because we ventured out–there is so much more to Puerto Rico than San Juan!
Old San Juan is good for an evening stroll as it is fun to see the fortress and the older streets, but the best spots are the ones you have to venture out to see. Icacos and El Yunque Forest were the highlights of our trips to Puerto Rico, and we didn’t even see everything!
If you go and want to look at other options to check out while on the island, check out these forums here and here! Such a wealth of information, and stuff is always being updated. Who knows, maybe I’ll be back one day, so if you find out something cool to see, let me know!
I also post reels and TikToks regularly of all the places I’ve reviewed on here, so if you want to see some videos of what to expect, check out my social media here:
TikTok: @touristyteacher
Instagram: @touristyteacher
Facebook: @touristyteacher
Happy travels!
