My wife and I have a 5 hour layover in San Juan next month. I'm wondering if anyone knows of restaurants, bars, shopping, sites in the vicinity of SJU that would be a worthwhile 2-3 hour excursion. I've been to SJU many times but never ventured outside.

The Ritz Carlton and the Wyndham el san juan hotel are 5 minutes from the airport. On a recent trip to anguilla we had a 2 1/2 hour layover and had lunch at The ritz. While i wouldn't recommend that for everyone, and truth be told, I was nervous about doing it, we had a great time and I would do it again! with 5 hours, I think i'd go to the el san juan and have lunch and look at the shops there.

Take a taxi into Old San Juan which will run about $20. Then go to El Convento have breakfast or lunch (depending on the time) in their courtyard patio (or just something to drink) walk around town, see the forts, walk along the water front. Go to Fortaleza street and walk around and have lunch if you did not already at Parrot Club or Aguaviva.

I like the idea of going to Old San Juan. Without traffic, it's a 15 minute ride. What time is your second flight? You don't want to be caught in the 4-6 PM rush hour traffic from San Juan to Carolina (where the airport is). It's not that it would take <i>that</i> long, but being in slow-moving traffic when you have a plane to catch would raise my blood pressure a bit.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Our flight departs for Anguilla at 8:25 PM on a Friday so traffic might be a factor.

I'd have dinner at the Ritz or el san juan and make sure you have plenty of time to get back. It is literally 4 minutes without traffic.

I'm facing a long layover in SJU in just over a week. I had always figured I'd tough it out inside the airport reading and people watching, but now I'm considering venturing out. What do folks do with their carryon luggage when they leave the airport? I wouldn't want to go to OSJ because we'll be staying there on our way home, but I wouldn't mind having a leisurely lunch in a lovely atmosphere such as the Ritz or the El San Juan. Do folks just take their rollaboards with them to lunch in a case like that? That seems a little awkward to me, so please advise.

Thanks!

Hi, EJ,
We had a verrrry long layover in San Juan, flying home to Boston from Grenada last March. We did go into Old San Juan for breakfast at El Convento. We have regular carry-ons as opposed to rollaboards, but we tried to keep them as light as possible for our walk after breakfast. If you're going to lunch at a hotel, you might want to ask whether the bell desk will safeguard your bags free or for a fee. One bit of warning: A few years ago, we taxied to the nearby beach hotel district and wanted to have lunch at one of the hotel beachfront restaurants. We faced a bit of a hassle, as security guards stopped us. They discourage people from cutting through their property to get to the beach, and, with our carry-ons, it looked like that was what we might be planning. We found it rather offputting, but we did finally manage to sneak into some tables on the sand for lunch.

hi ej-we only travel with carry-ons and when you have layovers it does make it cumbersome if you have time to explore a little, but we have taken them into restaurants, shops, etc. Most restaurants would probably let you store them behind the counter.(?)

we don't use carryons other than my dh uses a briefcase and i carry a large tote. But, if we did, I wouldn't think twice about rolling them with us to lunch! Have fun!

Thanks for all of the input, folks. I'm not sure what I'll do that day but you've given me confidence about walking around with my full gear.

you should take tours to the rain forest , cavers, observatory, bio-bay, city of San Juan, rum distillery , museums .
I found the people of [email protected] to be very helpful with this.

evy2002, do you really think there'd be time to do most of the things you're suggesting during a layover?

while I might feel comfortable heading as far afield as Old San Juan, I doubt that I'd want to head off to El Yunque.

I agree with ejcrowe-- time for lunch or dinner, but i'd make sure i was back to the airport with an hour or an hour and a half to spare.

Give yourself at least 2 hours to get back through security again. The lines at SJU can be very long.