1 Strategies for Seeing Puerto Rico

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COPYRIG

HTED M

ATERIAL

6St

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gies

for

Seei

ng P

uer

to R

ico Strategies for Seeing Puerto Rico

Previous page: Old San Juan.

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7Strategies for Seeing P

uerto

Rico

either. Island life is best enjoyed slowly.

Rule #3: Become a day-tripper.Staying put might be your best bet unless you are in Puerto Rico for more than a week. Most spots are near enough to be visited as a day trip from San Juan, and staying in one place keeps expenses lower and is convenient. You can see all you want by staying put in San Juan, and maybe spending a weekend in Rincón out west or on the island of Vieques in the east. Other options are a night at a country inn in the mountains or a night at a guesthouse on the south shore. Basing yourself out of San Juan can also save you some money if you opt for a week-long condo or apart-ment rental at the beach or in Old San Juan. And many guesthouses and

hotels have week-long rates that offer a savings over their

basic rate.

Rule #4: Target your trips. Don’t plan on doing too much during your day trips,

either. A main

Rule #1: Pick your pleasures.Don’t cram your schedule, which you will be tempted to do, given Puerto Rico’s many cultural trea-sures, entertainment options, watersports, and other activities. You’re better off picking just a few of its pleasures to savor, taking your interests and the length of your trip into account. Remember, you’ll want to pad your schedule with plenty of beach or pool time, so just plan to see what you have time for, and give yourself enough time to really experience a place. If you’re like most visitors to the Caribbean, learning how to relax again is at the top of your agenda, so don’t rush.

Rule #2: Everything takes a lot longer in Puerto Rico. Whether you’re going to the bank or driving around town, count on things taking longer than you’d generally expect. Traffic jams are leg-endary, customer service lines are long, and most pub-lic transportation is unreliable. Things won’t seem so bad if you budget sufficient time. You shouldn’t plan to do too much,

Puerto Rico is much bigger than its 35- by 100-mile (56 by 161km) size would suggest, and it’s probably impossible to see

it all at a pace it deserves in less than 2 weeks. The island feels big-ger because of its geographic diversity: rainforests, lush mountains, and hot coasts with glistening beaches, enchanting mangrove for-ests, and reef-chocked tropical ocean. San Juan in many ways feels like the capital not just of Puerto Rico, but the whole eastern Carib-bean. It’s a metropolitan area with nightclubs, casinos, theater, and world-class performing-arts venues, which host everything from Roll-ing Stones concerts and a night of opera with Placido Domingo to internationally acclaimed art exhibits. With so much to do, it’s best to resist the temptation to try to do it all. Here are some tips to help you plan your trip to the isla del encanto and pick and choose among its many pleasures.

The tiny coquí is considered the mascot

of Puerto Rico.

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8St

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Seei

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uer

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ico

from its southern coast to its north-west, and its offshore islands, the Spanish Virgin Islands, Vieques and Culebra. The pace of life, the persis-tent enchantment of the tropical weather, the endless opportunity of doing not much at all, is a powerful anti-stress tonic that’s just the thing for many visitors. But if you want to feel connected and energized, stay in San Juan, which can feel like a fantas-tic tropical neighborhood of New York City, with a multitude of dining, music, entertainment, and other cul-tural possibilities on offer, evening after evening. Puerto Ricans every-where on the island are amazingly welcoming. You’re likely to experi-ence this firsthand since you will meet many island residents at hotels and restaurants.

Rule #6: Do your own thing.For every suggestion in this book, there are three good alternatives worthy of inclusion. There are no hard-and-fast rules, just recommendations. You might want to build on some specific tours by mixing in some out-ings from other tours. Do whatever works. Use the book’s self-guided tours and other visiting tips in cre-ative ways to concoct your dream trip to this vibrant Caribbean island.

activity and an adjacent one or two will more than do it. For example, El Yunque rainforest, a must-see for visitors, can be seen in a morning and combined with a trip to one of the fine beaches nearby and a lunch at a coastal seafood restaurant. Alternatively, you could spend the afternoon at a nearby golf course or on a chartered sail.

Rule #5: Remember you’re on the isla del encanto. Puerto Rico is its own beautiful self, from its flavors to its music, its mix of modern and historic, coast and coun-try. You can kick it back several notches, especially outside San Juan,

Nonstop flights to Puerto Rico are so plentiful, you should never settle for a stopover unless it’s the only option. That won’t be the case from major East Coast cities, which have daily nonstop ser-vice to San Juan, many with multiple daily flights. There are more limited nonstops to Aguadilla, on the island’s northwest corner. You’ll get a taste of island life on most flights as they are almost always filled with Puerto Ricans who have been visiting relatives stateside, or those living in the States returning home. Everybody claps upon landing, as if arriving safely were a miracle—or simply another way to embrace life in general, which is evident in almost every facet of island life.

Clap upon Landing

El Conquistador’s golf course.

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