Loika

Hi All,

I am looking for info on a good spot in PR in mid-November for about 7 days. Hubby and I are 60 and 58. We are looking for breezy lower temps, hotel on nice beach (3 or 4 star), casino (optional if it means being in hot, noisy area), decent restaurants (local food, seafood, you name it, we'll eat it). This will be our first time in PR, and after checking this site, it seems that there are many places to go, but I am curious about suggestions regarding which side of the island would suit us best. Beach surf could be rough or calm, with maybe snorkeling, but water sports are not a must. Would like a nice hotel at about $200/day.

Any and all help much appreciated, as usual.

Loika

girlonthego

I have stayed at the Caribe hilton several times and like it. It is a large scale hotel on it's own private beach area. But it no longer has a casino.
On the Condado area, there is a very nice Marriott. There are many hotels and hotels with casinos in the condado area. Easy to walk from one place to the next.
Another area is Isle Verde and that has the El San Juan which has a nice big casino and is a nice hotel. We have only eaten in the Marriott and El SanJuan.
Both the condado and isle verde areas are beach front and would give lots of choices of restaurants and casinos.
Downtown SanJuan is good for shopping and going out to dinner. It is not beachfront.
The two areas above or the Hilton are where I would stay. Easy to get around or take a taxi to downtown for an afternoon. You can also rent a car from there to explore the rainforest or other beach areas. Most large hotels will also offer day trips to these places as a group.
Enjoy!

Loika

Thanks for your quick response, Girlonthego. Are all of the hotels you are talking about in the San Juan area? If not, have you stayed elsewhere on the island? I'm trying to get a sense of weather (climate), as well as beach and restaurants, in comparing west and east coasts. Have you ever stayed on the island in November? Is it, or does Puerto Rico actually have a rainy season?

girlonthego

I was there once in early October years ago and it was rainy on and off, but that was during hurricane season. I am sure the weather will be better in November. You can probably get the estimates from weather.com on averages for rain and temps. The caribbean tends to be rainier in the late summer/early fall time because of hurricane season. I am guessing you should be good by mid Nov.
I have never stayed elsewhere on the island. The San Juan area is where Isle Verde and the Condado are as well as the Hilton. Old San Juan is not beachfront, it is the city where there is some shopping and nightclubs.
Those areas are where there are lots of hotels and restaurants to choose from. Outside of San Juan, I can't really recommend anything. Rincon is known for surfing. I do know that. East end has some neat tours like the Biolumescent (can't spell it), but you can do a day trip over there. I don't think you would want to stay out there.
Last trip we took was a couple of years ago. We had lots of plans to sightsee out of San Juan, but my daughter got sick. So, we spent much of our time hanging around the hilton. The Hilton had some good snorkeling which was surprising and Puerto Rico is not really known for snorkeling. My husband went scuba diving and loved it there.
There are lots of things to see and do. The dining is good and the hotels are very nice. It is just not the prettiest island in my opinion. We have been several times as I have a sister in law/neices there. But not to deter you. I am sure you will have lots of fun. It is easy to get to and not too expensive. I hope I have helped a little.
You can also go to tripadvisor and type in hotels in SanJuan. That will give you an idea of what each one has to offer and pricing. Come back here if you have specific hotels in mind as many here have been to Puerto Rico recently.

Loika

Thanks, girlonthego, you've been a great help.

mlbcruiser

Hi Loika,
This will be long, but I hope worth the time it takes you to read it!

You might think about dividing your time and staying in 2 different areas of P.R. Stop at your local library or bookstore and take a look at a couple of good guidebooks. (Even w/the net, this is a MUST in my book! It will give you some idea of the lay of the land so you can ask questions online.) I think you would like Fodors or Frommers (am I allowed to say that on Fodor's site? LOL!). They often have areas broken down, and sections that say, "If you have 1 day", or 3 days, or 7 days, etc. w/good tips on what to see/where to go. And "if you like beaches", or "if you like history", etc.

Re: the weather - I 2nd the weather.com advice. It is anyone's guess. It can sometimes still be raining quite often in early to mid Nov. But then other years, it's "done" by then.

I personally think you should stay at least 2 or 3 nights in San Juan. Especially to visit old San Juan at a leisurely pace, having lunch, just walking the old streets and around the forts. If you have enough time, ride the ferry across the little bay to visit the Barcardi factory. If you stay in the San Juan area, I 2nd everything the the posters above said. (But I'd avoid the Hilton since it is away from the other places a bit, and more near the airport.) The El San Juan is beautiful and unique inside, and the casino is very nice and a bit more classy than many. (Not sure, but you may be able to get a room in your price range there - esp. in Nov. if you check around on the net.) They usually offer a floor show (if the "flamenco" style guitarist Juan Carlos is playing his many types of guitar there, go see his show!). Sometimes the hotel has live music in various venues. One of the several restaurants in the El San Juan is called Backstreet China. The decor is very unusual and was taken from a movie set! The beach is nice along there, too. There are many restaurants in that area (Isla Verde). . . .For a fairly nice but inexpensive - and good - local Cuban dinner, there is a very popular restaurant called "Metropol" across the main st. from where the big hotels are, not far from the El San Juan.. . . . Down in the Condado area (Marriott, Wyndam Condado Plaza, etc., there is a nice place called Ajilli Mojilli. It's windows overlook the lagoon that is lined w/tall apt. bldgs. Very pretty view at night! Our food was very good there. Those are the only restaurants I will mention as you will see so many there to try! Old San Juan has some good ones as well.

A beautiful RESORT hotel located on many, many acres and that has everything from a golf course, super nice, regular rooms and separate, condo-like bldgs., to it's own private island, and that is perched high above the water w/a fabulous view, is the El Conquistador. (Fun to go see even if you don't stay there!) It's not far from Fajardo, Luquillo Beach (the P.R. Beach w/all the tall palms shown in ads and commercials!), the rain forest (El Yunque), and the bioluminescent bay that is nearby.

The BEST bio. bay is on the island of Vieques, about 7 miles off the E./N.E. coast near Fajardo. Vieques is accessible by ferry, plane or touring catamarans and is supposed to have better snorkeling and be very quiet, and more like other Virgin Islands. (There is another small island called Culebra nearby. too. It has good diving and is even more quiet.) But for your first ever visit to P.R., you might want to pass on Vieques.

We once drove from San Juan to Fajardo, visiting Luquillo Beach, El Junque and the El Conquistador all in one day. On a separate visit we drove along along the hwy. to another town (Humacao?), then headed west and came back up and through the mts. to San Juan. Very lovely drive through the mts., but I can't say the drive through Carolina and towards Fajardo along the stop and start hwy. was "all that" - except for Luquillo Beach (which is very scenic and has lots of good food stalls!) and the rain forest, w/it's waterfalls, clouds and plants. Fajardo is kind of a working sea town but it has so many nice things near it.

We drove out to Rincon once from San Juan - just for the day. (We did not have a GPS, so had to stop once or twice and ask directions to get to a surfing area I read about.) Sounds like you already may know something about Rincon. The highest rated hotel in P.R. is near Rincon: The Horned Dorset Primavera. (Although it's quite pricey!) Rincon is an ex-pat type of area and when we were there in Nov. once, during the afternoon, it was somewhat quiet, though there were a few funky open air type bar/restaurants, and we stopped at a lighthouse. The drive there was very scenic w/some cattle and rolling hills and such. (The scenery was totally different than on the way to Fajardo.)

Along P.R.'s southern coast there are some naturalist types of reserves and parks (from desert to mangroves), and the city of Ponce on the south coast, w/it's famous fire station bldg., etc., but a book would give you a lot more info. than I could on that region. (Well, on ALL of P.R., but you get my drift.)

My husband and I will be visiting P.R. in late Feb/early March for a few days on both ends of a cruise out of San Juan. We and are about your ages. We'll for sure go to Vieques and may do a drive south from Rincon and visit the S.W. section of P.R. near Boqueron Beach, which is supposedly ranked as the prettiest beach in P.R.

I will also recommend that you visit Tripadvisor.com, learn to navigate on it (use the search bar a lot and once you find your destination's page, find the block where you can click on either forums, hotels, restaurants or things to do). Once you get some ideas from some guidebooks, search the hotels and ask questions, etc. You will find a wealth of info there!

Hope at least some of this info. helps!

girlonthego

Wow mlbcruiser, you gave a lot more good info. I agree that the Hilton is not connected to the condado, but it is fairly close. Still I agree with mlbcruiser that the isle verde and condado areas offer many hotels and restaurants to choose from that you can walk to. I also agree that the El San Juan is a very nice hotel. Other than that, I think she has covered the island way better than me! There are many very neat places to see.

BarbaraS

This is great info on PR. We are have a two night stay in PR prior to a cruise and I would love to do the Vieques Bio Bay. Not really practical for a two day visit I fear, we don't get in until 8 pm.

tom42

mlbcruiser - sadly, Backstreet Hong Kong at El San Juan has been closed for a couple of years. It was one of my favorites.

loika - you have been given good information here. I go to Puerto Rico every year and usually stay in either Isla Verde at El San Juan or the Ritz Carlton or in Condado at Conrad Condado Plaza. These are urban, congested areas on the beach, so they can be a little noisy (which you indicated as a negative in your post). However, if you want easy access to lots of restaurants and nightlife, these are the areas that provide that. So it is a little bit of a trade off. You may want to spend a few days in San Juan, then a few days somewhere a little more remote.

Loika

You guys are absolutely great! Muchos gracias for the advice, details, links, and personal opinions. It really does help. I think we will probably stay in SJ and just deal with the noise. Or we may do a couple of days elsewhere, but I think for a first trip, we might just want to absorb SJ and OSJ, swim, eat, and maybe gamble a bit. MLB, it was absolutely NOT too long, and well worth the time. We now have a good sense of restaurants, hotels, and I will for sure purchase a Fodor's guide. Already did for Italy, Hawaii, and Greece (which we have yet to use) and found them very useful. Also going to link to tripadvisor just to get some current reports. Thanks again to you all, Fodor's forum never let you down.

Loika

SAnParis2

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