Prefer location and price of www.ritzcarlton.com/PuertoRico
Deals sometimes on hotelscombined.com booking.com priceline.com
St Regis a true 5 star lucury property more remote at twice the price.GREAT if money is no object though.

Why not split? It will feel like 2 different vacations.

There are tradeoffs

Ritz is close to the airport, closer to Old San Juan, closer to excursion of El Yunque (you can go zip line) closer if you want to hop to Viesques and Culebra, closer to pretty much everything. It has a pretty casino.

Conquistador while pretty far out, has it's own little island it takes you by boat with a gorgeous little beach, feels like your own Gilligan's island. It's also closer to Luquillo, one of the prettiest beaches in PR. The resort itself is dramatic up on hills with great views.

I don't know that the Waldorf Astoria has as high a rating as the St. Regis or the Ritz Carlton, but it does have a beautiful location. Beware of the "city view" rooms at the Ritz Carlton. We had a view of the airport the first night.

This trip, we're splitting (as suggested above) and doing 4 nights at the El Con (Priceline bid won for $105/night)

and then....

3 nights at the Conrad San Juan (Priceline bid won for $116/night. I saw on betterbidding.com that some had gotten this hotel for some dates for $88/night.)

El Conquistador is much closer to El Yunque than the Ritz Carlton.

Enjoy Puerto Rico!

those prices for El Conquistador and Conrad San Juan are amazing. I will have to try that next time.

The St Regis (new W property) is really far out and away from everything. You are stuck at theresort (not a bad place to be stuck). If you want to see/do, I would stay at the Ritz.

Wow, those are great prices. El Con is sold out for our dates so we booked at Las Casitas, hope it's good. : ( Did not get your great rate but oh well. Thanks for the feedback!

Lenlu - We just got back from the El Con last night and I have to say, it was a terrific trip. Keep trying to get those rates, you can always cancel your current "deal."

The water park was good. I think I saw something that said it was a $15M installation. I don't know that it's THAT good, but it was fun for an afternoon.

Note - It's $20 per "adult," which included our 14, 16 and 18 year olds in the adult price. BUT if you go at 4:00pm, the price for the last two hours is only $5 for hotel guests. That was enough time for our kids and once they'd been one time, they weren't interested in going back.

Now - I have to say, as to value, the El Con was a far better run operation and a far better value than the Conrad. We had 4 nights at the El Con and 3 nights at the Conrad. While it's close to Old San Juan and that was fine, it is not a "resort" and we were disappointed to find that the hotel shares a very small public beach with... the public. It's just off the bridge, which was noisy at times. Some areas, such as hallways, are tired and need new carpeting and refurbishing. Generally, it seemed understaffed and is in desperate need of some paint. We had trouble with the A/C not cooling in our first room and had difficulty convincing the front desk to move us after the engineers tried twice to repair it over a period of five hours. They kept telling us to wait and that it would start cooling.

It was not the level of service or luxury expected under the Conrad name. But it was fine for a few days for sight seeing in San Juan, especially at the Priceline rate!

But the El Conquistador... What a GREAT relaxing vacation. Everything we needed.

These are 3 very different options!
The St. Regis is by far the most luxurious and exclusive (expensive too!). this one is closed to the Rain forest and the Beltz outlets.
The Ritz Carlton is a nice hotel and about 15 min from Old San Juan and nice restaurants and hotels.
The El Conquistador is in a beautiful location high on a cliff with views of the ocean, a water park, private island. If you select this one stay at Las Casitas. It is more exclusive and have from studios to 3 bedroom accommodations with full kitchens. It is remote so you would probably spend most of your vacation within the hotel premises. Restaurants in the hotel are expensive.

The St. Regis is rated slightly better than the Ritz but another resort to consider is the Plantation Resort.


http://best-caribbean-vacations.blogspot.com/2012/02/top-10-best-rated-resorts-san-juan.html

Hi, Im local here in PR and I agree with someone else who said that you should split the dates.
El conquistador is sooooo amazingly beautiful and a great getaway. Its about 1 hour drive from SJ and to me is just a good place to relax. I have stayed here many many many times and its always fun. Its luxurious but not over the top. Its the Caribbean after all, so don't expect "Trump" style. One thing you can't beat here is the view. Right by the Valet parking on the open space when you get there, its the MOST beautiful view of Puerto Rico (at least to me). I spend hours just breathing the air and enjoying it.

St. Reggis is very upscale and the newest one. I was there not long ago, but dint stayed only visited a friend that was staying there. To me it looked like it was taken from a magazine. The drawback is that there is nothing too close to it, but it you want to stay at the beach, relax and relax, this is the place.

The Ritz, I love it! its more of a city hotel as its right on the city. The beaches and views are not as magnificent as the El Con, but still really beautiful. 2 of my favs restaurants are there. I'll Molino and BLT. Not cheap in any way but worth every penny. The spa is AMAZING!!!!! - trust me on this one.
Good luck!

Wow, you guys are the best! This is all great information!

We just got back from PR and split the vacation in half RC and Ritz, IMO , has gone way down hill. The pool area needs serious updating, and that's important since the beach isnt that pretty in isla verde. The food was so so at the main restaurant for breakfast and lunch , where it used to be great. Il mulino was average. nice thing about staying at the ritz was that we got ot go to Marmalade for dinner on our anniversry and that was very good. Rumor has it that the Ritz will be making that hotel a marriot and opening a new luxury ritz at the old dorado. Seems like a good idea bc the Ritz felt like a marriot this time around.

The st. regis is truly gorgeous. The rooms amazing. It is remote and you are stuck there, that's the downside. I can't see staying there more than 3 nights. ps- we loved the food at the golf course restaurant and weren't crazy about the jean gorge resto, which is the opposite of most of what you will read about this place. The pool is STUNNING and it's a very luxurious, exclusive feel.

Please feel free to ask me any specific questions you might have.

oops, meant Ritz and St regis