Caribe Hilton 5 days - do I need a car??
 

Planning to relax mostly, but a trip to SJ and El Yunque would be nice. Do I need to rent a car?

You can get to and from Old San Juan by taxi. Very easy.

El Yunque, you can rent a car or you can take a tour arranged through the hotel.

Thanks girlonthego. What should the taxi cost? Can I walk/cycle to town?

The Caribe Hilton is kind of isolated ... not really walkable into Old San Juan. I wouldn't rent a car, though. It's much cheaper to take cabs within San Juan (perhaps $10 to Old San Juan from there). Biking in San Juan really isn't viable or recommendable because of traffic/safety issues. If you want to rent a car to go to El Yunque, that would be fine for just the day, but a tour might be cheaper (though would give you less time at the park). But you can reach almost any part of the island in a couple of hours if you want to explore a bit further afield.

The Caribe Hilton sits by itself and is very private because of that. We went there last spring and enjoyed our stay. If you are a Hilton Honors member, you can stay in the Hilton Honors tower and have free continental breakfast daily, hors de overes in the afternoon.

You can walk to the condado over a bridge. There are restaurants and hotels and a public beach located there.
We taxied around town and never found it very expensive. I can't remember the exact cost.

Thanks so much for your advice. I'll contact the hotel and see what they offer, though they never replied to my email about another question.

Best bet to get from airport to hotel? Taxi? I assume you can agree on a flat rate? Do you tip the driver? Or is there an alternative - shuttle or whatever? The Hilton doesn't offer a shuttle.

If I remember correctly, the airport has a person that gives you a ticket. He or she is like the head taxi person. The price of the cab fare is on the ticket. It is a pre-set upon price. Then you tip.
Taxi was easy and convenient.

I would try emailing the hotel again. Try concierge desk.
Have fun!

Thanks again! I will!

No hotels in San Juan offer a shuttle. There was a dispute a number of years ago - big taxi strike and that was one of the issues. I think it resulted in the hotels being prohibited from offering shuttles from the airport. The cost of a taxi is preset and determined by zone. Airport to Isla Verde, Airport to Condado, and Airport to Old San Juan. I'm not sure where Caribe falls because it is between Condado and Old San Juan, but if I remember correctly, it was around $20 to get to the Caribe Hilton from the airport. Yes, you should tip the driver.

Regarding walking - while you could walk over the bridge to Condado, when I was there, there was a lot of construction in that area, making it unsuitable for walking. This was a couple of years ago, but with the pace of things in San Juan, I wouldn't be surprised if there is still construction going on. Even if you can walk to Condado, I would not do that at night, only in the day.