I'm visiting Rincon, Puerto Rico. Fly into San Juan or Aguadilla?
 

I know that Mayaguez Airport is 10 minutes from Rincon so that seems to be the best choice of airports to fly into. My only issue is that if I fly directly from Newark to Aguadilla, I will arrive there at 11pm. Then the departing flight leaves at 8 am. I feel like I will miss 2 half days of my vacation. If I fly to San Jaun I can arrive in the morning and depart in the evening - extending my vacation by 2 half days. (Although I do know that the drive from San Juan to Rincon is 1-2 hours.) What do you think?

McSmith - I cannot help you with your question because I have not flown into Aguadilla, but

In favor of flying into Aguadilla - I do know the drive from San Juan to Rincon is (realistically) 2.5 - 3.5 hours depending on the time of the day. Something to factor in. I also imagine that Aguadilla is a smaller airport, so you may not have to be 2-3 hours before your flight to check-in and go through security.

In favor of San Juan - More flights! If something were to happen to the Aguadilla aircraft, I assume they would change you to a SJU flight anyways, but it may be easier if something goes wrong with an SJU aircraft to just change to another SJU flight. This is particularly true on the return - if there's a delay in your SJU - EWR flight, you can try to fly standby on the SJU - JFK flight (I have done this multiple times).

Thanks Mariarosa. I am still not sure. But I may be favoring flying into Aguadilla. You bring up a good point about there being more flights out of SJU (in case)so I don't know.

DH travels to Aguadilla on business 3 to 4 times per year. On his first trip he did the San Juan to Rincon drive...he has not done that since. As Mariarosa states the drive from SJ will take you a minimum of 3 hours so even if you arrive in SJ in the morning you are still "wasting" a half day driving to your destination; same thing for your drive back to the airport. Continental flies direct from Newark to Aguadilla as does Jet Blue. DH arrives about 1.5 hours before his flight out of Aguadilla to allow time to go through security (you get checked for the plants, foods, etc., in PR just like you do when coming from Hawaii even though PR is a US commonwealth.) Hope this helps.

Sorry; just realized that my comment is a little late...hope it helps someone else in the future :o)

Just back from Rincon last night. everyone says Aguadilla is the best way to fly in/out.

To go to Rincon it's best to fly into Aguadilla, it will be about 40 minute drive vs. 2 hours from San Juan. Take into consideration that you will either need to get a cab or rent a car in either case, it will be cheaper from Aguadilla. You might want to go to San Juan if you prefer to be a couple of days in Aguadilla then drive back to San Juan and stay 1-2 days there before leaving.

Having flown into Aguadilla and out of San Juan just recently, I'm a huge fan of Aguadilla and will never fly to San Juan again if I can avoid it. Aguadilla is small, easy to deal with and quick to get in and out. San Juan is a huge airport with huge airport hassles, and traffic and drivers in San Juan (really in most of Puerto Rico that we saw) are completely white-knuckle crazy. Save yourself the headaches - fly to Aguadilla.