miacaraitalia

Well, this board has been great, so here is the rough plan. Fly in on 5/23 to SJ..stay two nights in OSJ, then get car (I assume we have to be shuttled to it), go to El Yunque for the day, stay in Grand Melia (have a free night) then go on south. I want non tourist spots, but local flavor. Now, heres the hard part, where in south to stay that would appeal to an 11 year old. I looked at www.haciendajuanita.com but am thinking it a bit far. So would you suggest riding thru the mountains and land near ponce, do a coffee tour then stay near the airport?
we have two nights for the south.
Can someone tell me a good coffee plantation/tour?

All advice is welcome, needed, begged for ... I accidentally put this in the wrong forum, so pardon for the duplicate.

Thanks!
Jeannie

canng

We lived in Puerto Rico for a couple of years during military service and have been back several times. The Hacienda Juanita is worth a visit. It's an old coffee plantation which now operates as one of Puerto Rico's many paradores.
They're like bed and breakfasts and usually have good food. It's not a bad trip up into the mountains from the south coast. The other parador your son might enjoy is the Villa Parguera in the little town of La Parguera. It's on the coast, has a nice pool and offers night boat trips out to the Bioluminescent Bay. Ponce is worth a drive through because of the Spanish style buildings Walk around the main square to see the old wooden fire house. If you stay in La Parguera one night and drive north toward Lajas and the mountains you can pass through the town of San German which has an old church on the main square with an interesting black Madonna. It not too far from there to Parador Hacienda Juanita. Paradores are a great place to stay in Puerto Rico. If you want to look at all of them the web site is http://www.gotoparadores.com
I hope you enjoy PR. It's a wonderful place to visit once you leave the big city of San Juan and explore the countryside. The main road around the island is good but you can run into alot of traffic on the north coast especially near San Juan. The island isn't that big (35 mi wide and 100 mi long) but some of the interior roads are narrow and winding. It depends on how much time you have, but the northwest coast has some nice beaches and sights to see too.

miacaraitalia

Well, I found a neat place in Guiancia, but isolated. How much time do you think I should spend in the NE? I could do one night and the bay...would that be enough?
Thought of driving from Guinica to airport friday, flight leaves at 3:00 ... maybe less traffic?

SAnParis2

The paradores sight you were given is a good one. Also check out Rincon, particularly if you have a surfer w/you.

miacaraitalia

thanks, so go to paradore over www.mimisguesthouse.com? Thanks for your help, sincerely.

SAnParis2

I didn't think Mimi's accepted children, you may want to inquire about that...