Going to Puerto Rico Tell me what to do

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methane47

methane47

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Heading there tomorrow. Staying until Next Wednesday.
Are there any activities that are "Must-Do" Its not my first time there, but it will be my first time as an adult.

So Gaf What suggestions do you have for me?
Day or Night time suggestions are ok.

The only plans we have so far is that the Lady's want to Go to El Yunque and I and the guys want to go to The Batey Zip Line adventure in Utuado (Which will probably not happen due to Women). We will be staying in Dorado if that helps.
 
I also recommend the Bio Bay tour....I went to the one in Fajardo and really enjoyed it.

And since you mentioned Utuado, maybe check out the Cuerva Ventana cave...it's a tricky decent and trek, but the view payoff is amazing
 
Grow as much Corn and Indigo as you can. Also prefer Tobacco over Coffee, Coffee is worthless once the Trading House is blocked.

Go for Warf as fast as you can.

And never underestimate the power of Hospice.
 
Must-do's:

- Old San Juan (although it'll be extremely crowded during the weekend thanks to "Las fiestas de la calle San Sebastián")
- El Yunque Rainforest
- One of the Bio Bays (the one in Vieques is the best)
- Camuy River Cave Park
- Arecibo Observatory
- Visit Ponce and its fantastic museum of art
- The entire "Cordillera Central" (or Central Mountain Range) offers incredible views, the most beautiful towns, tons of great places to eat and a taste of the "real" Puerto Rico.

Additional tips:

- Have an hour to waste? Go to the Bacardi Distillery Tour. It's short, it's fun and it's free. You get rum samples at the end.
- If you can go to only one beach (that is not Flamenco Beach in Culebra), go to Playa Sucia in Cabo Rojo.
- Have brunch at The English Rose in Rincón at least one day... Thank me later.
- Want night life? Old San Juan and Condado offer that in spades. Lots of bars, pubs, lounges and restaurants to try between these two neighborhoods of the metro area.
 
A lot of people here are going to tell you to visit beaches / historical sites and ogle women; What you really want to do is eat, PR has absurdly good food.

Make sure you look for:
a bakery and get:
  • Pan Sobao - pretty much the best sweet bread ever, get one loaf just to eat and save a loaf for later
  • Mallorca - slightly lower tier bread that they dust with sugar.
  • Pan de aqua - standard bread that is still amazing

since you are going to el yunque (though you can find it in restaurants pretty much everywhere) you should def. be able to find a shacks on the road with a pig on spit over a fire. Get some lechon and make a sandwich with that loaf of pan sobao I told you save and boom, you now have the greatest sandwich ever devised (don't use any condiments ) .

Also make sure to try
  • arroz con gandules (chick peas)[my favorite rice dish],
  • mofongo [basically smashed plantains with w/e you want in it],
  • morcilla [its blood sausage and it looks ugly, but man its good]

If you go to old san juan you can find vendors selling sweets, if you like coconut pretty much everything tastes amazing. Also make sure to try piraguas which are basically sno-cones except the syrup is 1000x better

Make sure to order tostones too, the real deal is pretty much the best side item ever devised.

LOOK FOR PASTELITOS DE GUAYABA holy hell those things are the best thing ever.

EDIT:
If you can find a resturant or store selling Coco Rico(a coconut soda) try it, it is amazing stuff.
 
EktorPR said:
Must-do's:

- Old San Juan (although it'll be extremely crowded during the weekend thanks to "Las fiestas de la calle San Sebastián")
- El Yunque Rainforest
- One of the Bio Bays (the one in Vieques is the best)
- Camuy River Cave Park
- Arecibo Observatory
- Visit Ponce and its fantastic museum of art
- The entire "Cordillera Central" (or Central Mountain Range) offers incredible views, the most beautiful towns, tons of great places to eat and a taste of the "real" Puerto Rico.

Additional tips:

- Have an hour to waste? Go to the Bacardi Distillery Tour. It's short, it's fun and it's free. You get rum samples at the end.
- If you can go to only one beach (that is not Flamenco Beach in Culebra), go to Playa Sucia in Cabo Rojo.
- Have brunch at The English Rose in Rincón at least one day... Thank me later.
- Want night life? Old San Juan and Condado offer that in spades. Lots of bars, pubs, lounges and restaurants to try between these two neighborhoods of the metro area.
Click to expand...

I'm planning a PR trip late spring or late summer. Wheres the best place to find more guys that look like you? ;)
 
Everything posted so far is dead on. I would add a visit to Rincon beach.

Off the coast, culebra island is beautiful and has some real unique beaches, but it's hard to get to.
 
Went on vacation there back in November. Loved it and I want to go back.

Did 3 cool things there.

Toured Old San Juan, visited this ancient Spanish Fort across from the Capital building. Toured the capital building, spent the rest of the day walking the streets in San Juan.

Went horseback riding in the El Yunque rain forest.

Toured bioluminescent bay at Vieques island.

The horseback riding was my favorite.

I thought bio bay was neat, but it was expensive. It took forever to get there too. Long set up to what amounted to a 45 minute boat ride around the bay. Had to take a bus almost an hour to the port, wait almost an hour for the boat to depart. Take a 30-45 minute boat ride to Vieques, then take the worst 30 minute bus ride to get to the bay. The bus ride was like something out of Jurrassic Park. It went through dense jungle through very bumpy dirt roads. People who had their windows down were getting smacked in the head with tree branches and foliage.

I wanted to tour the Bacardi distillery also, but ran out of time.

Oh, and I also drank lots of Rum. Hope you like Rum OP. If you want a margarita, you're in the wrong fucking place.
 
Well... as someone born and raised I can tell you where not to go.

Don't go:

- La Perla (old san juan)
- Llorens Torres - San Juan
- Anywhere close to Oso Blanco (unless going to Plaza las Americas)
- Certain Areas in Santurce. No reason to go there, you should be safe.
- Stay away from Bayamon and Carolina, they are bad people.
- If you're going to Luquillo beach.. don't go near Loiza.
- If you go out of the metropolitan area, don't bother asking directions. We don't know the name of the roads and streets and you will be more confused than before.

Notes:

Don't look people in the eye.
Don't talk back.
Always pack a gun.
Don't trust them kids.

Enjoy your vacation.
 
I wasn't impressed with glowing effect, but you should do the bio bay anyway since there aren't many places in the world where you can observe it. I'd also visit flamenco beach. The sand is like talcum powder and the reefs are amazing. Lastly, I really enjoyed visiting the Spanish forts. If you go into the dungeon/prison portion, you can see very elaborate drawings of ships written on the wall by people probably waiting to die.
 
As far as beaches are concerned I don't have a real need to hit the beach.

I live on St. Maarten and go to amazing beaches almost every week. So I'm going to try do mostly non beach activities.

- The Bio bay seems real interesting.
- El Yunque horseback riding sounds fun
- Old San Juan will definitely try to check out the san sebastian parade (Thanks for the heads up)

- Have an hour to waste? Go to the Bacardi Distillery Tour. It's short, it's fun and it's free. You get rum samples at the end.
Click to expand...

I'm going with like 5 Nederlanders So Yeah this is a must for our trip

Pan Sobao - pretty much the best sweet bread ever, get one loaf just to eat and save a loaf for later
Click to expand...

I'm a BIG bread person so thanks I'll be on the lookout for this stuff

If you go to old san juan you can find vendors selling sweets, if you like coconut pretty much everything tastes amazing.
If you can find a resturant or store selling Coco Rico(a coconut soda) try it, it is amazing stuff.
Click to expand...

Oh GAWD NO.. I'm from the islands So I'm familiar with Coco Rico... This is like the worst soft drink ever lol When ever there's a party here, they will have a case of Coco Rico and Pretty much at the end of the party there will still be a Case of Coco Rico left. Stuff is like candy corn, no one ever takes it and people just keep giving it to you ... yuck lol

- Have brunch at The English Rose in Rincón at least one day... Thank me later.
Click to expand...

Hmm ok I will try to thank you later.

As far as food goes, i also wanted to Try i think its called arepas?
And chicharon?
And some plantain sandwich thing? Are those any good?
 
The only problem I have with coco rico is that its not a good for mixed drinks. I have a giant sweet tooth though so YMMV I guess.
 
methane47 said:
As far as food goes, i also wanted to Try i think its called arepas?
And chicharon?
And some plantain sandwich thing? Are those any good?
Click to expand...

Arepas are good. Go to the coast of Fajardo... Lots of quality arepas there, most stuffed with your favorite seafood.

Chicharrón is nice, but harder to find road-side. It's basically blown-up pork.

Everything made with fried plantain tastes delish, so yeah, you should definitely check that out. There are quite a few places that specialize in this, but the original is "Plátano Loco" in Aguada.

The Abominable Snowman said:
I'm planning a PR trip late spring or late summer. Wheres the best place to find more guys that look like you? ;)
Click to expand...

There are no men like me; there's only me. ;)
 
Before heading to any beach check the tides levels, this time of the year is not the bes to enjoy the beaches in Puerto Rico.
 
Well-timed thread. I'm going to Puerto Rico next week and spending 2 days on Culebra (finishing scuba certification, stuffing my face with food, etc).

We planned on spending one of our last days hiking around El Yunque and then heading to those Luquillo kioskos for eats. Is that our best bet for awesome food or should we look elsewhere (along the road, Fajardo, etc.)?
 
Hairtux said:
Well-timed thread. I'm going to Puerto Rico next week and spending 2 days on Culebra (finishing scuba certification, stuffing my face with food, etc).

We planned on spending one of our last days hiking around El Yunque and then heading to those Luquillo kioskos for eats. Is that our best bet for awesome food or should we look elsewhere (along the road, Fajardo, etc.)?
Click to expand...

Which scuba cert are you doing? Just Basic Padi Open water Cert?

I did mine 2 years ago with my GF. And half way through the course she quit and I finished.. Now she never wants to go scuba again :(
 
otake said:
Everything posted so far is dead on. I would add a visit to Rincon beach.

Off the coast, culebra island is beautiful and has some real unique beaches, but it's hard to get to.
Click to expand...

You can get to Culebra Island by taking a ferry from Fajardo, and it really is an amazing beach I remember the waves being awesome a long time ago.

El Yunque is an awesome place, as is the bioluminiscent bay (as others have stated). Old San Juan is a nice place to visit as well.

Rains tend to whip up and stop at a moment's notice, so most often it's not really necesarry to carry an umbrella around. It was really fun back when I was younger, since I was used to Argentina's day-long rains, which very seldom happened during any of my vacation trips.

I remember there being a strip of beach where many dominicans gathered. I always went there with my dad to drink some delicious fruit shakes, and I've enjoyed eating tostones (fried plantain slices), but I'm not a fan of their more typical foods.

As far as my experience goes, it's true that asking for directions is kinda pointless. People very rarely remember street names and numbers, but rather use landmarks to find their way (ie "turn left at first gas station, then left again right before the supermarket").

@cDNA: Due to my summer school break being from December to March, I used to go to PR around these dates, and I really enjoyed the beaches at the time... well, except for the first one I ever visited, which had a thin layer of sand and rough rocks underneath, so my cousins and I ended up with a lot of minor scratches and bruises.

I also remember there being a small, white-ish mosquito-like bug that came to a beach once shortly before sundown and feasted on us. I got lucky, but next day one of my cousins woke up with an awful lot of itchy bite marks. You should be on the lookout for those.
 
methane47 said:
Which scuba cert are you doing? Just Basic Padi Open water Cert?

I did mine 2 years ago with my GF. And half way through the course she quit and I finished.. Now she never wants to go scuba again :(
Click to expand...

SDI Open Water at Aquatic Adventures on Culebra. Did our pool sessions in Wisconsin, figured we should finish it somewhere a little better. :D
 
BattleMonkey said:
Eat some actual unique puerto rican food, like Mofongo. Stuff like Arepas you can get anywhere and most latin countries have em too.
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Another fried plantain dish? NICE can never go wrong with plantain

Hairtux said:
SDI Open Water at Aquatic Adventures on Culebra. Did our pool sessions in Wisconsin, figured we should finish it somewhere a little better. :D
Click to expand...

NICE.... If you ever have a chance you should journey a little more south east of PR.
Theres an island near where I live called Saba. The island is a tiny 5 sq/m island that is a dormant volcano. And there are a bunch of formations like Tall "Pinnacles" Rising up from the ocean floor (which is REALL deep) that were caused from the volcano
 
So got back from PR last week and man we had a blast. I figures id give a quick update. It was sooo much fun.. Mostly because we stayed at a villa on a golf course that came with a golf cart. All in all I didn't get to do any of the outdoors events because we had a demanding mother and baby in our group buttt lots of fun anyways.

We went to the San Sebastian parade/party which was ridiculous. Sooooooo many people wow. We thought we would be smart and take the ferry across into San Juan.. Wronnggg thousands or others thought the same.we were in line for the ferry for 2 hours. Anyways it was really nice. The atmosphere the ppl were all great and San Juan is a beautiful place.

I ate tostones mofongo chicharon plus an assortment of other plantain dishes. Food on a whole was great every where we went.

We had a tonne of fun I would definitely go again. I think I like PR a bit better than maim land usa
 
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