Help - Puerto Rico in Feb 07!
 

I appeal to those of you in the know about PR - please help with plans for our Feb school vacation in PR. Husband and I and 15-yr-old son, plus my college pal and her 2 nieces (10, 12) will arrive SJU late Mon 2/19, and departing Mon 2/26. We'd like to see Old San Juan, stay on a beautiful beach resort, and take some trips to the must-see sites.

Lodging: shall we do 2 hotel rooms or a condo to accommodate 6? I'm not familiar with searching for a nice condo - don't want to wind up in a dirty, smelly, rundown place with old furniture (read a lot of those in TripAdvisor)! Am looking at Hyatt Hacienda Del Mar, but have read some great reviews and some not good reviews, but none very current. Please fill me in if you've been there lately.

Do you have any current info on the Club Cala de Palmas in Humacao? A friend has a timeshare there and loves it, and I'm thinking of renting one of those condos, but I've read a lot of bad reviews on this property in Tripadvisor. Please advise.

Is it a good idea to stay 1 night in Old San Juan, and then stay the rest of time in a beach resort? If we stay in Vieques for 1 night, it'd be too much moving around...

We plan to rent a car, as I read on these helpful posts that it costs a lot to get from airport to the hotels. The island is big! Biggest concern now is where to stay. We want a gorgeous beach with some kid activities - the river pool at HDM sounds incredible but sounds like it's not exactly in the HDM property? Confused about the shuttle - how far is HDM from the Hyatt Dorado property? Is that one closed? If so, how is the pool open?

Vieques sounds incredible, but it's so far. It'd cost us $100 RT pp, so that's $600 for the one excursion. Don't think we should stay there because it's so far away and may not have enough to do the entire week.

We plan to do the El Yunque rainforest and the caves, and if affordable, Vieques.

Please send advice on hotel or condo!
Thanks.

I can't answer all of your questions, but i do know quite a few people who have been to the Westin Rio Mar with kids and have really liked it. I think if you have your own car, you can go to old san juan for the day pretty easily. I don't think you would need or want more than a day there. I'd be sure to go when the cruise ships are not there. IMO, an overnight there
is probably not necessary.
I'm sure others will have more info for you- have a great trip!

Hi, I am an owner at HDM, I will try to answer your questions. You book it through hyattvacationclub.com and you'd best check availability first as it's very late to be booking high season. The river pools, water slides, etc are all part of the HDM facility. The HDM is the newest Hyatt and was built adjacent to the Cerramar, which is currently being converted to more timeshares. The beach is great and usually not crowded. This resort is absolutely mk kids' (now ages 9 and 14) favorite place and that includes lots of other beach resorts we have been to including Aruba and Hawaii. The Hyatt Doradao property is about two miles from HDM, however the hotel itself is closed right now, but all the golf courses and the golf restaurant is open, there is a shuttle that will take you there is you are a golfer. We like staying in Dorado, you can take a ferry from nearby into Old San Juan. We also drive from Dorado to El Yunque (about an hour or so). If this is your first trip, I would stay in Dorado (also check out Embassy Vacation Resort if HDM is not available), go into San Juan for one day, visit El Yunque one day and leave Vieques for another trip because you want some beach time too. There are lots of good restaurants in Dorado as well as all the typical fast food places, etc. We love it. Unless you want a true city atmosphere, I wouldn't stay in San Juan.

You need a firm that can handle the wide variety of needs.

I'd contact Caleta Realty in Old San Juan to help you.

http://www.caletarealty.com/

Thank you all for the advice. Procrastination and indecision, coupled with being overwhelmed by choices of this sizable island has caused me to end up still unbooked at this point... Wish me luck!

Westin Rio Mar a good choice. I know they are doing work on the El Conquistador in Fajardo right now, but it has the Golden Door Spa (fabulous) and the Golden Door workout facility--that might be of some interest to someone. . .

It is a big island, and I think I'd save Vieques for another trip. Down the east side through Humacao, then inland to the west, there is a neat area where "lechon" is very popular--roast pig. That might be a fun excursion.

Another suggestion is to visit Ponce to the south. The Hilton down there is very nice and has a fabulous restaurant, La Cava. Food is very pricey, but food and service--outstanding. Nice breakfast as well, included. Also in Ponce is El Castillo Seralles (never can remember how to spell it)--the rum family. Beautiful property to tour--might also be fun for you. Driving further to the west along the south coast is Guanico Dry Forest, good for hiking. Continue on to La Parquera and you can try out the Bioluminescent Bay for a nighttime snorkel trip--about $25 per person. Pretty reasonable. We stayed in Ponce, then in La Parquera. Enjoyed both places for the night. Then up the west coast to the old lighthouse near Rincon (surfing area). It would be fun for you to:

1. Take a 2 night trip down to Ponce, over to La Parquera, San German, then up through Mayaquez, Rincon, and back along the north coast to square 1.

2. 4-5 nights at the Rio Mar

3. Day trip into Old San Juan (or do that the day of departure if you have an afternoon flight. OR do it in the a.m. before heading down to Ponce in the early afternoon (you'd arrive Ponce about 2:30 or 3:00)

4. Day trip to El Yunque from the Rio Mar. The entrance to the park is right across the highway from the entrance to the hotel.

5. Also, while staying to the Rio Mar, day trip down the east side to Humacao, then over into that area I mentioned earlier for a drive through a nature preserve (forget the name--protected forest area) and "pig on the spit"!

Obviously, the day trips will cut into your beach time, but all are fun things to do. The picking and choosing is the pits! :) The Rio Mar is good because it places you in a good location to drive east, west, or head south to Ponce.

Excuse me. .pretty sure it's La Paguera--oh well, close. I remember someone correcting me when I visited in October. Just can't remember which way was correct! :)

Thanks for those great suggestions, shillmac! We'd be lucky to do half of what you suggested. Where is the Westin Rio Mar - is it very expensive? I thought the "bio bay" is in Vieques - there's one in La Parguera too?

Thanks!

Yes, there is one at La Paquera as well. The Westin Rio Mar is east out of San Juan toward Fajardo. You turn left to go to the Rio Mar at the same intersection where you turn right to El Yunque. Happy Travels!

We stayed at the Westin for a couple of nights just before Thanksgiving last year and then took the ferry from Farjardo to Vieques FOR 4 nights. BTW the ferry costs about $4 each return and takes about an hour or so. We love boats and it was much cheaper for a family of 4 to get to Vieques this way.

The Westin website has good deals; we paid $209 a night including taxes and breakfast for two. The restaurants on site are expensive but it's easy to drive to local inexpensive ones. There's a great bakery just at the turn off for the Westin. Overall the Westin suited our needs and the pools, grounds, beach and room were all lovely. The beach had golden/tan sand and isn't good for snorkeling. Vieques has much better beaches and snorkeling.

Vieques was absolutely wonderful and 4 nights wasn't quite enough time for us. The biobay was fantastic; definitely a night to remember. We spent one night in Old San Juan on our return and recommend a visit to El Morro.