Puerto Rico is the perfect spot for a quick winter getaway to the Caribbean. Since its a U.S. Territory flying there is very easy (no passports required) and flights are generally inexpensive. Although my five day trip there was too short to see everything I did get a great feel for everything the beautiful island had to offer.

Our first day on the island we decided to take on Old San Juan. Since we were staying at a hotel in the Miramar neighborhood we had to drive into downtown and park in a garage there. The San Sebastian Festival was going on we had to pay a bit extra to park but it was well worth the money since Old San Juan is very walkable and many of the streets were shut down for the festival. We started our site-seeing at the Castillo de San Cristóbal which is a National Monument and was free for us to enter. It is one of the best preserved Spanish military fortifications in the Americas. It was established to protect San Juan from attacks and has beautiful panoramic views of the city and ocean. Afterwards we walked over to El Morro which was about a 20 minute walk away through a super cute neighborhood with colorful houses. El Morro is one of the iconic forts in Puerto Rico and another place for a wonderful view of the city and ocean. From there we could see boats and cruise ships sailing around the island and families and couples picnicking the fields outside.

After checking out the forts and doing a lot of walking around we were ready for dinner. Puerto Rican cuisine is influenced by Spanish, African and Native (Taino) traditions. Most of the restaurants around Old San Juan served seafood and a lot of meat based dishes so we did our research and found a restaurant called Barrachina for dinner. They had some Puerto Rican inspired vegetarian dishes featuring local ingredients such as Mofongo. The food was basic but gave us a good taste for what authentic food might taste like. After dinner we decided to grab paletas (popsicles) from Señor Paleta which hit the spot on the balmy evening.

The next morning we decided to drive out to El Yunque National Forest to see the more mountainous and lushly forested side of the island. The drive out to the forest was about an hour. Once we arrived we stopped off at several of the beautiful scenic overlooks to take pictures of the lush landscape and when the clouds cleared we could even see out to the ocean. It was incredible how quickly the island landscape changed from sea level to beautiful mountains. Despite the rail we decided to do the St. Britton Trail which was moderate in difficulty and should have only taken a couple hours. However mid-way through the rain really picked up and we were forced to turn around because the water was flooding sections of the trail making them very muddy and difficult to navigate. It is hard to predict the weather in forest since it does rain clouds that do not show in other parts of the island get trapped in the mountains and pour rain over El Yunque, but that’s what makes the forest so beautiful. 

That evening after getting refreshed from our hotel we grabbed dinner at a food truck park called Lote 23. This area had several trucks with great food options and the ambiance was wonderful with picnic tables, fairy lights and giant jenga blocks to play while drinking a beer. This is definitely a great spot to go with a group of picky eaters since everyone can find something at one of the many food trucks. 

Our third day in PR we decided to take a ferry to the island of Culebra right off the coast of the main island of Puerto Rico. The drive from San Juan to the terminal was a little over an hour and then we caught a ferry from the Ceiba ferry terminal at 9 in the morning. The journey over took about 1.5 hours and the water was relatively calm on that pleasant January morning. As soon as the island came into view I realized why people considered the beaches on that island the most beautiful in Puerto Rico. The sand was white and water was a gorgeous shade of turquoise blue. We rented a gulf cart at the ferry terminal which is the primary form of transportation around the small island and then shuttles ourselves to Flamenco beach. After spending a couple hours relaxing on the beach it was time to head back. We wanted to get in line for the returning ferry on time since if we missed it we would be stuck on the island overnight. I would have loved to have a complete day on the island so we could have gone snorkeling for turtles and enjoyed more time on the beach but on that short trip we just didn’t have the time. 

Our last day in Puerto Rico we decided to explore more of San Juan in the morning and then had reserved a tour of the Bacardi factory in the evening. In morning we had breakfast at Cafe Cuatro Sombras which served local coffee and had a great menu of breakfast sandwiches. Afterwards we took some time exploring the cute streets of the city, picking up some souvenirs and visiting Cafeteria Mallorca to try their Mallorca which are super tasty round flaky pastries from Spain that Puerto Ricans typically stuff with cheese and cover with powdered sugar.

In the afternoon we headed over to the Casa Bacardi where they across from Old San Juan. They had a beautiful property along the water and the tour begins with drinks made with Bacardi rum. The tour itself was very short but covered some of the history of Bacardi and the process of creating rum. Interesting if you have time but by no means a must see on a short trip.

That evening we already had to head back to the airport. There were a couple key things that we weren’t able to cover on this short trip such as the bio luminescent bay which must be visited during a new moon to get the full impact. Unfortunately I did not realize this before booking tickets and our trip coincided with a full moon so we decided to skip the bay. Also if we had more time I would have loved to hang out at one of the many resorts in Carolina and get in some R&R. But I guess there are some good reasons to visit Puerto Rico again!