Puerto Rico

[ChromePony]

Anyone been? Lots of random questions...

I'm looking to go for a long 4-5 day weekend in March, curious about where to stay and how to get around. From what I hear a car is pretty necessary, does it work to just stay in San Juan (which part?) and drive around the island on day trips?I have a lot of hotel points from work that I can cash in for the big chains in San Juan but it seems like it might be nice to stay in some quieter places out of the city.

I also am pretty interested in checking out this Bio Bay on Vieques, but this is a somewhat budget minded trip so chartered flights and lavish resort hotels are out of the picture. Any other must see beaches or wilderness suggestions, and for those of you who know is a good trip doable in 4-5 days or should I try to take a little more time off and shoot for a whole week?

[r0eKY]

that sounds like fun, are there casinos around?

[nooob]

there are casinos around condado area.. but they're pretty small- few bj tables, couple of poker tables, with mostly slot machines.

take a trip to culebra- a small island off of the main island. flamenco beach over there is famous for its beauty. u can camp right on th ebeach for 20 bux a nite/tent. water is crystal clear with white sand. just beautiful.

if u wish, u can take a ferry there or take a plane. just google it. by ferry it takes over an hr and by plane about 20 minutes.

from culebra, u can goto even a smaller island off of it, called culebrita. it's great for snorkeling over there, with plenty of wild life.

i had more fun camping in culebra, visiting culebrita then staying in san juan actually. but the nite life was pretty cool right on the condado strip.

[ChromePony]

Yeah I'll be going with the girlfriend so casinos will not be the priority for this one...although I may be able to sneak out one night if theres a good game running [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

That camping thing sounds awesome, looks like you can do it on Vieques too which is nice. We probably wont be traveling with gear though, are there good places to rent either out there or on the main land?

So maybe spend the first and last nights in San Juan with the two middle ones camping on an island beach...sounds like a good budget vacation to me.

What about El Yunque, worth a day trip out there? Any other places that need visiting on PR itself?

[nooob]

culebra is relatively unknown to tourists- mostly natives and ppl from PR go there for vacations. as such, they do not have hotels. however, there is a place called mamacita's (where u'd catch a small boat to goto culebrita), which offers housing.

http://welcome.topuertorico.org/city/culebra.shtml

the beach is exactly what you see in the pics there. it's amazing. culebrita's beach is even better for snorkeling- lots of ocean life with reefs.

vieques is pretty nice also, from what i hear, and it's more geared towards tourists- they have hotels and stuff there you can stay at. vieques is also known for the bioluminescence at mosquito bay. unfotunately, i did not get a chance to visit it.

Not sure about el yunque. also in old san juan (about 10 min cab ride from san juan), there this party boat on weekends. u sort of have to ask the locals around for it though. not sure they still have it, but they had it last year when i went. if they dont, u can still have plenty of fun on the condado strip- there are plenty of bars and clubs there.

[jjp]

I also recommend Culebra. I was on Flamenco Beach with my wife, the most beautiful crescent beach I've seen, and no one else was there. Amazing.

[ChromePony]

Thanks for the solid info. Pretty much the entire appeal of Vieques was the Bio Bay which looks pretty amazing, it seems like there is no good way to get ther from Cuelbra which is kinda suprising. Definitely seems that at least one or the other is in order here if theres no way to work both in.

[mj2]

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What about El Yunque, worth a day trip out there?

[/ QUOTE ]

i wasn't impressed with el yunque. we didn't rent a car so we booked a trip through the hotel. very over priced and not very impressive. i wish we would've skipped it and spent another day hanging out by the pool or at the beach.

[limit refugee]

Bio Bay was awesome, but only if your trip is within a few days either way of a new moon, makes all the difference. If not go with Culebra. On Vieques we loved the state park beach, but it was in October and we were the only people there. Didn't even get a hotel, just drank at the bars and drunkenly wandered to a secluded spot on the beach (it was huge) and set up a tent. Nobody said anything. I'd fly there from San Juan and take the ferry/taxi combo back if your short on time.

As far as San Juan goes, I thought old San Juan was ridiculously fun. We stayed 3 days and could've stayed more. Plenty of local bars and if you can fake a little spanish, the regulars are as fun as in any city I've ever visited. For breakfast there's plenty of old bakeries with waiters wearing white paper hats and grand looking 60 year old coffee machines. Really scenic city too, and plenty of good restaurants. Eat mofongo.

The other neigborhoods in San Juan, like the one with the casinos, didn't do anything for me. All the character is in old San Juan, but I'm a bar and a street loitering kind of guy, not a club guy, so it all depends.

The local beer was a light beer, everybody drank it, the most light beer i ever drank, I believe. And it was good.

[mj2]

the bio bay on vieques island is an absolute must. it was one of the coolest things i have ever seen. i have been there twice. the last time was this past summer. i went with my gf and even though i over hyped the bio bay, she was still completely amazed.

we stayed a couple nights on vieques island. it is a very nice place to hang out with your gf. the beaches are very secluded and very nice. the only downfall is there is practically zero night life. you should probably only stay there a couple nights and then head to san juan.

there are 2 ways to get to vieques. you can either fly or take the ferry from fajardo. we took the ferry but i would probably recommend flying. the ferry is ridiculously cheap. like $4 round trip or something like that. but you have to get to fajardo by either taxi or we found a private shuttle online that was cheaper than a taxi. the problem was that between the shuttle to fajardo and the ferry, it wasted almost a full day on both ends. the plane would only cost slighty more and save a lot of time.

i have a lot more info if you want.