Input needed on Puerto Rico
 

My wife and I will be traveling to Puerto Rico for the first time from Nov. 2 - Nov. 12, 2012. We've been to other islands in the Caribbean and want to rent a car and explore the island. We have all kinds of interests and are open to suggestions. I have all kinds of questions, pick one or more and help us out:
1. Is the island generally safe to explore on your own?
2. We would like to stay on or near a nice beach, any suggestions as to where?
3. Is snorkeling from the beach good in Puerto Rico?
4. What 3 things are must do or must see?
5. What town or towns would you recommend?
6. How is driving on the island?
7. Any other input?

Puerto Rico is a very big island - over 3,500 sq. miles in area so it is difficult to give generalized answers to your questions in a typical brief response you'd get on a travel forum, but I'll try:

1) There are many places where it is safe to explore "on your own" but like any country with a population of over 4 million people there are some places you probably should avoid.

2) The island has hundreds upon hundreds of miles of coast line and scores of seaside villages and towns that tourists frequent. Where you should stay depends on whether you want to stay near in or near a major city like San Juan or in one of the more rural areas. You'll find very nice beaches in both locales so you'll really have to do more research on your own to determine what areas work best FOR YOU>

3) You'll find some decent "off-beach snorkeling" scattered around the island but generally the best snorkeling spots are accessible only by boat. Again, it's difficult to give you a pat answer since there are hundreds of miles of coastline.

4) Many tourists enjoy visiting Old San Juan, El Moro Castle and El Yunque National Rainforest but there are hundreds of interesting places to see and things to do on the island.

5) As I've said Puerto Rico is a large island with numerous towns that are rich in history it's difficult to single out what specific areas you should visit without knowing your likes and dislikes.

Try doing some internet searches using such topics as "Things to do in San Juan", "Things to do in Puerto Rico", etc. and you'll find a wealth of information.

6) Dring around the island is not much different than driving anywhere else. You'll find fairly heavy traffic in and around San Juan (much like any other city) and plenty of rural roads out in the countryside.

Hope you enjoy your visit, Puerto Rico has something for veryone's tastes.

Thanks RoamsAround thats a good start.

We found out today that we will be staying at a condo in Luquillo on the northeast of the island but will have a car and are willing to travel anywhere on the island.

My wife and I are turning 60 during our stay on the island but we think we are still kids.

We plan to spend a day or two in old San Juan and we will spend time in El Yunque hiking and exploring.

We like to explore beautiful beaches and would be willing to travel to "out" islands. Suggestions?

Also: we would like to explore a small fishing village or two and would be interested in purchasing local art or crafts. We would gladly go off the beaten path. Not interested in tourist traps.

Anyone else?

Fajardo is not too far from Luquillo, from there you can easily hope over to the islands of Culebra or Vieques.

Go to Google Maps and bring up "Puerto Rico" You can zoom in or out on Luquillo and the surrounding areas to see what's nearby or what other areas of the island might interest you. Click on "Get Directions and you can get turn-by-turn driving directions and estimated driving time to any place on the island.

We drove to Old San Juan from our hotel in Condado on a Sunday afternoon without any problem . There is a parking parking garage at the entrance to Old Town where you can pick up a tram to take you up to El Moro Castle. We had a nice walk back.

A couple of days later we drove to El Yunque and went on a ranger led walk. The drive from our hotel to the rainforest was a little more than an hour. The roads were fine and we had no problems. The road to the rain forest winds a little bit but we've been on worse.