Car necessary in San Juan
 

Hello. I am going to the Condado Plaza hotel in late march with 2 -17yr old girls and another mom. Should I take a taxi from the airport to my hotel or is a bus available? Can anyone suggest anything local we should see? We were not going to rent a car unless absolutely necessary. Thank you

You'd be wise to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel.

You will miss a lot if you don't rent a car. Puerto Rico is a big island and there is a lot to see. Taxi fares from the airport are by zone. Taxis are readily available from the taxi starter outside baggage claim. Car rentals are also located in the baggage claim area if you want to rent one there. Otherwise your hotel can arrange one for you for a day or two. A non-rental car alternative, of course, is a Greyline type tour arranged by the hotel.

Things to do

Visit Old San Juan (a taxi will take about 15-20mins to get there) plenty around and will cost about $15.

In OSJ there are:
2 excellebt forts (El Morro and San Cristobel)
Cathedral
Governors Mansion + gardens
San Juan Gate
Paseo la Princesa Promenade
Several squares
numerous restaurants

might want to consider a rental car for 1 day to get to El Yunque rainforest to hike one of the trails (takes about 45 mins) - you can do an organized tour but this will cost mush more than 1 day car rental.

Check out my blog for ideas www.visit-the-coqui.com

I would never ever rent a car if I were just staying in San Juan itself. I'd take taxis. Besides, you pay for parking at almost all hotels, not to mention in Old San Juan. Thus, taxis are even more of a good deal.

Now, if you are traveling outside of San Juan, that's a different story. Rent a car, but only for the day of travel. If you don't want to deal with driving, there are alot of tour companies that can take you to almost every nook and cranny in the island.