Weekend in Puerto Rico
Contents
1. Iconic Places
2. Where/What to Eat
3. Things to Do
4. Where to Stay
5. E-Sim Card - Data Abroad
6. Transportation
7. Travel Insurance
8. Bonus Travel Recommendations
9. A Big Thank You!
*Disclaimer: This guide contains some referral links. This does not cost anything extra for you, it just means you'll be helping me out by using them. I'd like to thank you in advance for using these links as it will help me continue creating travel guides for you!
Iconic Places
Where/What to Eat
1. I'm going to start strong, here, and say to go to the birthplace of Piña Coladas. We ended up getting here right as they were closing, so we did not dine in, but... they offered the piña coladas to go! I honestly didn't mind, especially after seeing comments elsewhere about too long of wait times when dining in. Something to keep in mind- there are two locations in Old San Juan.
2. Plantains - These seemed to be just about anywhere, but my favorite way I had it were plantains stuffed with steak at this restaurant.
"Canoa de Amarillo - Sweet plantain canoe stuffed with a choice: shrimp, chicken, ground beef, roasted pork with a side, skirt steak." (I'm drooling, are you?)
3. Try homemade snacks and desserts at the pop-up market by Estatua al Inmigrante on Paseo de la Princesa in Old San Juan.
4. Bebo's Cafe - This was suggested to us by a kind local who worked at the Global Entry office there in San Juan. It was quite popular while we were there, too!
Things to Do
1. Bioluminescent Kayaking Tour - Unfortunately, it has become less vibrant ever since one of their hurricanes a couple years back, but a great thing to experience before it's gone completely. Also, if you're an experienced kayaker who lacks patience.... then this may not be for you. Our tour was full of kayaking newbies- which is fine and a good patience practice- but it led to slow kayakers and a ton of collisions.
**BRING BUGSPRAY**
This is the tour that we joined:
2. Hike in El Yunque National Rainforest (the only rainforest in the United States) and experience natural water slide, cliff jump, and rope swing. We did this in a tour, but you could find it on your own. The tour did help us with parking which was great.
3. Explore Old San Juan - The colorful architecture, Castillos, food, walking paths along the water, markets, night life
4. Scuba Dive - Yes, even if you're not certified!
5. Snorkel - Book a tour or go on your own adventure
6. Beach - Condado Beach was really nice and calm. We went in the morning and stayed for a couple of hours when we were some of the first to arrive and still not crowded when we left. Not much to see while snorkeling but was the perfect relaxing swim.
6. Eat - Need I say more?
7. Join a Rum Mixology Class - at the home of Bacardi Rum!
Where to Stay
1. Airbnb - We stayed in an Airbnb in Condado which worked out well. Free parking, walkable to the beach and restaurants, and named a safe area. This was a great area if you don't want to be in congested Old Town, but also don't want to have to drive everywhere.
Here is where I stayed:
2. Hostel - Mango Mansion is listed as the top hostel in the area with 9.3/10 stars and also first mentioned by ChatGPT (have to utilize all of your resources, y'know). Also located in Condado, it is walkable to a popular nightlife area, plenty of restaurants, and a 10-minute walk to the beach. You can find it on Hostel World which is a great platform for solo travelers having group chats on the platform.
3. If I stayed here on a girls'/guys' trip for more of a relaxed with nightlife, then I would consider looking into staying in Old Town San Juan. You'll be in the heart of it all!
Overall, especially with a short trip, I highly recommend staying where you'll spend the most of your time.
E-Sim Card
If you don't have an international phone plan, or it's on the pricier side, then try Airalo or Nomad E-Sim. I've used Airalo in Japan and Puerto Rico now and found it to work just fine! You pay for internet as opposed to a phone plan, so as an iPhone user iMessages came through fine, but messages to/from Android users were a bit wonky (I've read blogs that say the e-sims work for Androids).
I recommend setting this up before you leave while you have good wifi (I forgot and was able to get it over airport wifi after landing, though). The app does a great job at explaining the process and you can easily top off in the app when you're running out.
$4.50 for 1GB and 7 days
(You can also use my code ALAYNA3906 to get $3)
Transportation
I've read several blogs and watched vlogs that recommended renting a car. Now, of course this depends on what you plan to do and where you are staying, but it did workout for our trip going to Fajardo 2x from Condado.
**Driving yourself around San Juan is not for the faint of heart**
I found drivers to be aggressive and traffic to be chaotic when around Condado. Thankfully, I was with my dad who didn't mind driving, and he drove the rest of the time.
Overall, I do think that renting was a great option given the places I wanted to see and staying in Condado. With the summer traffic, it takes a lot longer to drive from San Juan to Fajardo than what Google Maps shows. To drive from Condado to Fajardo, we were advised to leave 2 hours prior to any meetup times. With summer traffic and missing a couple of exits... leaving this early actually worked out perfectly. Driving yourself eliminates summer Uber/Lyft/Taxi prices and also saves time from waiting around for them.
If you plan to stay around Old San Juan and Condado only, I don't think renting would be necessary. Both of these areas are walkable (but not to each other). Then, you can plan to Uber just once or twice.
Parking
Unless you arrive earlier in the day into Old San Juan, then I wouldn't even bother trying to street park. The one-way roads appeared to rotate counterclockwise around the town and gets packed at night on the weekends. There is a parking garage by Castillo and a lot on the south side (which ended up being free Saturday night)
Travel Insurance
Safety Wing is a great option to add security to your trip. It is very affordable and flexible depending on how long you would like it for. I have used this on several trips and gives a peace of mind- especially if you like to be adventurous.
Plus, for 5 days, I only spent $8.05!
Bonus Travel Recs
If you take flights often, it's worth upgrading your airport game from terminal hangouts to lounge hangouts. In lounges, you get unlimited free food and beverages, they often times have a bar, and comfortable quieter seating. Avoid overpriced airport food, uncomfortable chairs, and sketchy outlets. By being a part of Priority Pass, you have a network of lounges all around the world that you have access to.
You can get access directly through Priority Pass, or if you want to step up your travel hacking game further then check out the travel rewards credit card that includes Priority Pass. This is what I have and I absolutely love it!
Another way to travel hack is to get cheap flights by letting the destination choose your dates. I track flights using FareDrop (some of my favorite YouTuber's platform- Kara and Nate) and it helped me fly to Europe for less than $500 two times so far.
Thank you!!
Thank you for reading my guide and I hope it helps for your very own journey! I look forward to making more guides for you.
Safe travels!
- Layn's Leaf
The home for unique & authentic travel
