AGC

My husband and I are flying through Puerto Rico on our way home from Nevis in April. We have a seven and a half hour layover on a Saturday. Is it feasible to visit a beach during that time? Would you take a cab? How much time would you leave for entering the airport again? Does anyone know the amount of the departure tax? Thanks!

Statia

There is no departure tax in Puerto Rico. Although you have seven hours, arriving and clearing immigration/customs will take some time, as well as going thru security upon re-entering the airport, so you have to factor that in, as well. My suggestion would be to have lunch and walk around Old San Juan some. That way you are ensured to easily catch a cab back to the airport. It might be hard to ensure a cab from the beach.

Sunnyboy

Seven and a half hours is plenty of time to get some beach time in San Juan. The airport is a 5 to 8 minute cab ride ride from the beaches on Isle Verde. Saturday is a busy time at the airport (lots of cruise ship people)but assuming you have your boarding passes for your flight home if you arrive back at the airport 1 hour before departure time you should have no trouble getting through security and on board the aircraft (boarding usually starts about 30 minutes prior to departure).

There's no departure tax in Puerto Rico. If you are asking about Departure Tax from Nevis I believe it is $20US ($54EC).

Statia

I forgot to answer your question about re-entering the airport. Wherever you decide to go, I would ask the cab driver how long it will take to return to the airport and factor in at least an hour and a half for re-entry. The length of security lines can be a toss up depending on how heavy passenger traffic is, but I would personally give myself an hour and a half to be on the safe side.

Statia

I'm not disagreeing with Sunnyboy...we just happened to post simultaneously.

Sunnyboy

Statia makes some good points - she's very knowledgable.

I just realized if you have 7 1/2 hours I suspect you are on the morning American Eagle Flight (around 6:30AM) out of NEV. If it leaves NEV on-time (which is not always the case) you arrive SJU at 7:30AM. Immigration doesn't open till 8:00AM so that will add to your "airport time" and cut down on your "leisure time". The Eagle usually overnights in NEV but on occasion due to weather or maintenance it overnights in Antigua. If that happens you can expect to be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours late leaving NEV. This will cut down on your SJU layover time.

If you are taking the afternoon Eagle from NEV you won't arrive in SJU until around 4:00 PM. Since the sun sets around 6PM at that time of year you won't have much time for sitting on the beach.

Either way, give some thought to spending your time at the Wyndham El San Juan Hotel. It's on a nice beach, there are plenty of restaurants (ranging from pizza places to Ruth's Chris Steak House) and one of the largest casinos in San Juan. A great way to spend an afternoon.

KenCT

Having been in the same situation last year with a six hour layover on the way to Curacao, a co-worker from San Juan suggested the Wyndham El San Juan Hotel as well.

I checked my luggage through and dressed so that I wouldn't look out of place in the public areas of a nice hotel. The cab ride took about 10 minutes and cost $8. Did some shopping in the hotel shops, took a walk around the area - not much to see - then went back to the hotel at the poolside bar.

Although I'm not much of a gambler, I got $10 worth of nickels and headed for the casino. I got bored before I ran out of change and got $45 back.

Always someone who would rather wait at, than rush to the airport, I allowed myself an hour and a half to return to the airport (there are plenty of cabs at the hotel), and get through security.

My afternoon was so enjoyable that I spent a long weekend in San Juan a few weeks ago, and return in a few days to spend more time there. Beautiful place, friendly people, drinkable water, no cash conversion problems, and warm all the time.