San Juan

Eating & Drinking

If you’re a food lover, a trip to La Placita-Plaza del Mercado de Rio Piedras, the local marketplace, will secure both the aforementioned orange dulce and queso blanco, along with the best of the season’s local fruit. Mango season starts in April and lasts several months. There’s a smaller marketplace in San Juan called La Placita de Santurce, where in the evenings, becomes a lively destination for dancing and drinking.  

La Casita Blanca – A classic spot for a long lunch. It’s a vibe—delicious, traditional and local. The house fried plantain chips are a must.

Café Regina – Here they serve local coffee, grown and roasted on the island from regenerative farms like Forgotten Forest. Then head to the beach down the street—it’s the perfect local scene. Afterwards, Regina’s for lunch. 

Spiga – If you’re in Old San Juan, the breakfast sandwich is seriously good, go early before the cruise shippers arrive. There’s also a nice farmers market in old San Juan

Cafe Caleta – Perfect for late afternoon in Old San Juan – their natural wines are great and this lil’ gem is located across the street from Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista, the second oldest cathedral in all of the Americas, built in 1540. The former convent across the way is now a hotel, adding to the transportive charm.

El Vino Crudo – Also in Old San Juan, the name translates to raw wine—and they have an amazing natural wines list and a menu with various small-plate dishes that are smart with big flavor. It’s located in a beautiful old space that feels grand, though EVC is very down to earth.

Fidela Pizza – Even in tropical climates you deserve good pizza. Salads are delicious too.

Vianda – one of the early now classic restaurants committed to locally sourced product within the dynamic food scene currently happening in PR.

Cocina al Fondo – the place to be. The menu is an homage to traditional-but-modern style dishes. Seating is in a beautiful patio behind the house, where you dine under a large mango tree.  

Celeste – It feels like you stepped into a bistro in downtown New York during the ‘80s. A chic dinner spot. 

Berlingeri – Vegan done well with island ingredients.

El Balcón del Zumbador – Live bomba music, Thursdays are especially great. 

El Hamburguer and La Penúltima bars for dive vibes. 

Shopping

There is a group of boutiques owned by young women, all within a mile of each other around Calle LoízaCosas de Ayer y Hoy – The store’s name, which means ‘things of yesterday and today’ in Spanish, gives shoppers a good idea of what they can find here in the La Riviera neighborhood. If you’re shopping for the home, Cosas de Ayer y Hoy has a great range of antiques and vintage homeware, including furniture and lighting fixtures.

De Vuelta Thrift Shop offers mainly womenswear and menswear located within driving distance from one of the notable green spaces in San Juan, the Luis Muñoz Marín Park.Santurce Pop is an incubator marketplace that gives merchants a first start. It is a pop-up in the sense that the merchants then grow and move out and new merchants come in — so it’s always changing. It’s a great place to get gifts, like jewelry and coffee and plants. 

Beaches & swimming

Escambron has more local cookouts and chill vibes and your best bet if you don’t have a car. You’ll also see sea turtles hopefully.

El Yunque National Forest is the nation’s only rainforest preserve. It’s all about swimming in the waterfalls there. It can get packed, but the best ones to seek out are Juan Diego Falls and Angelito Trail Head. 

Los Piñones – Head 20 minutes out from the center of San Juan to this strip of beach—a food destination and a slice of true old PR food culture. You’ll find big cauldrons of frying cuchifritos and whole fish, as well as chilled marinated seafood salads. If you want to sit, try Mi Casita Seafood for whole fried local snapper. Or grab up empanadas and beers and take them to the beach steps away. 

Where to Stay

Dreamers Welcome has the most thoughtful places to stay. Check out The Dreamcatcher, the group’s one hotel. I prefer their studios and apartments in classic old homes throughout San Juan. My favorites are APT, Rosa or Verde.

There’s a farmers market in old San Juan on Saturday mornings where I like to grab tropical local flowers for my room or apartment.  

Cabo Rojo

Eating & Drinking

Annie’s Place in Combate

Cafeito’s – Very lovely cafe with delicious espresso drinks (the mocha frappuccino was great) and small sandwich type foods, among others. Outdoor seating in a little garden area.

Restaurante Puesta del Sol –  perfectly fried empanadas and a view of the sunset.

Costa Brava in Joyuda and other restaurants on Carr 102 (ruta gastronomica)

Buena Vibra, a Cuban spot in Bamboleo for the atmosphere

Boho Kitchen in Boqueron which generally gets lively if you’re in the mood to go out.

Supermercado Mr. Special – For the novelty of a cafeteria inside a supermarket, the food is delicious and the Comida tipica at a very reasonable price.

Drive up the west coast to Rincon, visit the town, get some food, stop by a couple of beaches. On your way back, stop at Ricomini in Mayaguez off Rte 2 and get a brazo gitano, a cake roll with guava filling.

Swimming & Nature

Playa Sucia: one of those beaches that doesn’t even look real. Drive in as far as you can go until you meet the gate and park there, and then it’ll be about a 20-30 min walk. Remember to bring everything you need with you since it’ll be quite a trek back and forth to your car.

• Buye Beach – Popular with locals (especially younger people). The water was turbid and terrible for snorkeling; I saw a few fish in the copious seagrass. There is a beach bar and public toilet, and there are several shady spots to put your stuff down. It’s crowded but we didn’t have trouble parking on the side of a street a couple minutes’ walk from the entrance.

Playa El Combate in the evening for sunset. If you like birdwatching there are ponds in the area that have a variety of shorebirds.

Gilligan Island – rent kayaks (from the nearby resort Copamarina) and paddle out and spend the day snorkeling in the mangroves. 

Playita Puente de Piedra

Also good kayaking in La Parguera. It’s a nice drive too. 

Make your way up the cliffs next to the Cabo Rojo lighthouse.

• Playa Ostiones – I thought this would be good for snorkeling because of some videos I found on YT but it was terrible; the videos must have been from before a hurricane. The water was turbid and low, so it was difficult to avoid scraping your knees on a bunch of dead coral and rocks, as well as abundant seagrass and moss. On the other hand, the little hiking trail (very easy) through the mangrove forest was wonderful. There were many little private beaches to claim as well as lots of hermit crabs, fiddler crabs, lizards, and some birds.
• Bahia Fosforescente – The organisms that live in this bay are spectacular and there are only two places in the world like it. The organisms lite up when you touch the water.

The dry forest in Guanica.