San Juan, Puerto Rico -- Tropical, with no passport required!
Written: May 22 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tons of stuff to do, shopping, friendly locals, no passport required
Cons: Restaurants, public transportation
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for a tropical paradise with no passport, give Puerto Rico a shot... but do some research first so you're not stuck like we were.
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| gatorgirlie's Full Review: Puerto Rico |
Our family just got back from a very nice six day, five night, trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico and I must say we have mixed feelings about it. Why? Well, read on...
The Why
Why did we decide to go to Puerto Rico? Well, we wanted to take our first vacation as a family and wanted to find something that everyone would enjoy -- from the booze-loving husband (I say that lovingly... what guy doesn't like booze?), to the shopping-loving wife to the toddler son. The perfect solution was Puerto Rico -- the home of Bacardi where gambling is legal, shopping is plentiful and the ocean is only steps away. Throw in the fact that it's a relatively short plane trip from Orlando to San Juan (around 2.5 hours), you don't need a passport and their currency is in US dollars and you have a nice and convenient tropical vacation spot close to home.
Since Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth under the United States, there is a good comfort zone for people who are unused to traveling to foreign countries. The vast majority of people in popular tourist cities (such as San Juan) speak English and most are very friendly. The San Juan airport is large with all signs in both English and Spanish (yes, even the Concourse sign, with is the same in both languages... something I find amusing).
San Juan is located in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, so it's the same time locally as in Florida (during certain times of the year they are different).
Let's get with the good things
Friendly Locals -- The vast majority of people we encountered, from locals on the street to employees of the hotel were friendly and helpful. Even if they don't understand what you're saying (like when you're trying to find a lost stuffed animal in the rainforest), they'll give their best effort to help you. Now I will say this with one caveat -- the service at restaurants can be hit or miss. Some waiters were good and efficient, others were patently atrocious. It's not that they weren't polite (for the most part), they just stunk as servers.
Good Shopping -- San Juan has a decent shopping scene with both the Plaza las Americas and Old San Juan providing different options. The Plaza is like a ridiculously big US mall with premier stores such as Coach and Cartier alongside the usual suspects like Banana Republic and Children's Place. If you're unused to fancier shopping options at your local mall, this isn't a bad place to go. Old San Juan offers a different type of shopping experience with unique stores and Puerto Rican souvenier shops on every corner. Many local artisans will set up in open plazas and you can find everything from painted leather handbags to soap to jewelry. There are outlet malls located close to San Juan but I believe you would need to rent a car to get there (taxis would be prohibitively expensive).
Things to Do -- One thing I have to say about Puerto Rico is that there are things to do for everyone. A history buff? Go to Old San Juan and check out the Spanish forts of El Morro and San Cristobal, the oldest Catholic Church in this hemisphere and some beautiful colonial architecture. Old Spanish architecture is abundant all over the island and is well worth the trip for any history buff. The public beaches in San Juan and, truly, around Puerto Rico are beautiful with the gorgeous oceanic blues and teals mixing against the beige of the sand. Nature lovers will adore both the caverns (about an hour and a half from San Juan) and El Yunque -- the only tropical rainforest in the United States National Park system -- which is a short 40 minute drive away. A tip? Forgo the "group trip" that many hotels and travel sites try to push. You're looking at $80 charge per person (including kids) for a "stick to my schedule" schedule. Renting the car from the hotel cost us $45, tolls were $3, and gas came to $10 -- all for a midsize Lancer. The drive is ridiculously easy and it's the same as driving in the states, so something that would have cost us $240 only cost $80 (when you throw in lunch) and we got to stick to our own agenda. Actually, speaking of lunch, their small cafeteria by the La Mina and Big Tree trails was FANTASTIC. Great sweet plantains and literally the best Pina Colada (not alcoholic) I had on the island -- they used real ice cream in it, no ice!!! YUM! You have to get one and drink it for me.
Party-goers will appreciate that Bacardi has their bottling plant on Puerto Rico, so rum is plentiful and inexpensive in the bottle (when you mix it into drinks, not so much).
Seriously, from the hiking to the snorkeling and scuba diving to the adventures in the caverns to the drinking on the beach... There is a lot to do in Puerto Rico!
The not-so-good things
The Public Transportation System -- I'm used to the way buses run in the continental US. You can get brochures that tell you the approximate times when buses will be at every stop on their route. Not so much in San Juan -- the bus drivers operate whenever they feel like it. Sometimes they'll pass by every fifteen minutes, other times you'll wait an hour without even seeing a bus before giving up and deciding to go do something else. The bus depot offers no help with only vague maps of the general routes buses travel and no one can tell you when or how often any given bus will actually be at any given stop. Once we were waiting at the bus depot to catch the B21 back to our hotel when it pulled up and the bus driver gets off and wanders away. The pack of us waiting just stood there dumbly, looking at each other as if to ask "Now what do we do?" We had already waited there for about 40 minutes for this bus to even show up! About 20 minutes later, the driver wandered back over to the bus, got back in and graciously decided to let us on. Again, since there aren't really any maps that accurately depict the route or where it might stop, trying to guess when you should get off for your hotel is often a fun game. Then, you also run the risk that the bus driver simply won't stop when you press the "stop requested" button before your stop.
If you don't feel up for a game of "Guess When the Bus Will Come" (and it just might pass by if it doesn't want to pick you up... yes this happened to us), you could always try the taxi system. I think there are more taxis in San Juan than tourists. There are always a couple vultures (oops, I mean taxi drivers) waiting to drive you the three miles back to your hotel while they gouge you for $15. Ok, I know this isn't too far outside of what major cities charge like New York charge but New York also has an exceedingly well-defined subway and bus system which isn't hard to navigate in the slightest. I mean, seriously, there wasn't much in the way of shopping or food on Ashford Ave, around our hotel, so our options were to play a game with the bus system or spend $30 to go to Old San Juan for dinner. No wonder the Marriott felt like they could rip us off for their food -- why pay $30 to drive somewhere where the meals are cheaper?
Seriously, they need to improve their bus system. They could offer brochures on the different routes with approximate stop times, they could offer brochures on how to safely navigate the bus system, they could increase the number of buses serving the major tourist area, they could improve their maps to show where the stops along all the routes are -- anything would be an improvement over the way it is now.
The Restaurants -- I'm going to lump the food, service and prices here in the same category under restaurants. Don't get me wrong, some places we ate at were fantastic as far as quality goes, but something was always wrong.
The places at the hotel were way overpriced for their quality.
Bangkok and Bombay was horrendously overpriced for mediocre Thai food -- my incredibly small Pad Thai came with three slices of chicken, no egg, no sprouts and very few pieces of tofu or peanut... it was (essentially) pasta and sauce for $18. Yeah, you read me right -- $18 for a tiny bowl of Pad Thai. A local beer there was $8 and a very, very mediocre Chicken Satay (with separated peanut sauce) cost $8. Our family of two adults and one two year old ended up spending $63 on a meal that included NO appetizers (the Satay was for my son, since they don't have a kid's meal) and waters all around except for that beer and a 6 oz cup of milk for my son (an extra $2).
Barrachina had fantastic Pina Coladas but their Frozen Mojitos cost a whopping $9 for a frozen drink that was smaller than my Pina Colada ($7) and not even half as good. Their food was great but their service left much to be desired and our waitress did something that is inexcusable in my book -- she automatically added 15% to our bill for gratuity. I'm a minimum 20% tipper but when someone does that, I refuse to leave more. It's insulting because it implies that I wouldn't tip her well -- she must have been offended that my husband didn't eat dinner (he didn't feel good) and my two year old ate from my plate since he had a late lunch. Their prices for food were a little high, but certain gems could be found (like my Chicken Caribe for $18).
Piu Bello Gelato was ok -- my panini wasn't anything to write home about but at least the prices were $10 and under. I kept trying to order one of their alcoholic gelato-based drinks but the server didn't seem to like that so I never got to try one. Again, food ok, prices good, service not so great.
There was a pizza place down by our hotel that was average with decent prices... again, the service wasn't the best. I asked for a glass of milk for my son that never came, yet we were charged for it and when we requested it be taken off our bill the server said "Well I'll just bring it to you now." Um no, no you won't because, you see, we're done. We don't want it now, we wanted it 45 minutes ago when you took our order and then never returned again until now (someone else dropped off the pizza).
As with everything, the best places we found to eat were small holes in the wall that never really had names. Danny's International was good for breakfast, with good prices and decent service. That whole "adding 15%" thing happened to us a few times and I made sure to leave them a note letting them know exactly how much of a tip they lost out on because they added gratuity (especially since the 15% was calculated before tax and I always tip 20% AFTER tax). Also, keep in mind that if you ask for water in a restaurant they'll usually bring you bottled -- you have to say "regular water." Remember, they're trying to milk you for money and tap water doesn't cost anything (and it tastes better than bottled!).
Overall
I had a great vacation and our family had a great time there. We enjoyed the rain forest, loved the beaches, adored the architecture and museums and certainly loved relaxing on the beach. The time of the year we went was perfect -- June starts the hurricane season, so you might want to rethink a July or August vacation there. May is too early for hurricanes to form and is warm enough to satisfy most American's need for great weather. It barely rained on us (except in the rain forest) and was anywhere from 83 - 90 with lower humidity and a nice breeze coming in off the ocean during our six days there.
I guess the most telling question is: will you go back? My answer? Probably not. Mexico I could see myself returning to time and time again, every year we visit Key West and St. Augustine. I could go back to Chicago, New York, Seattle and other cities... but I don't think I'd return to Puerto Rico. It was nice, it was fun... but I definitely experienced a lot of frustration with the food and transportation... I left Puerto Rico with a sense that they were trying to rip me off for every last penny I had in my wallet. It's not the best feeling in the world. The sad part is that the most fun things -- the rain forest, the fort, the beach... those things are either free or $3 admission... it's just getting there and finding something to eat that won't cause you to take out a second mortgage on your home that's the problem. Literally, we could easily have spent $170 a day on food for two adults and a toddler, that's absolutely ridiculous. I didn't get that feeling in Cancun -- where, even at a five diamond hotel we had breakfast included in our package -- I didn't get that feeling in New York City... heck I've never gotten that feeling when on vacation.
That's why I probably won't go back.
I'll give Puerto Rico Three Stars for its positives with the recommendation that you should check it out at least once... but really, there are better places to go that don't seem out for the entire content of your wallet.
Tips:
*Take the bus if you can
*Don't take the bus at night
*Rent a car to go to the caverns or the rain forest instead of booking a group trip
*Try to eat at the small holes-in-the-wall
*Don't go to the Plaza las Americas... it's a mall... just like the one down the street from you
*Watch the drink costs because they vary wildly. A Medalia beer (local) at one restaurant will cost $3 while the next will be $8 -- ask before you order, especially if you plan on consuming more than one. It's never fun to look at your bill and see $24 for three beers.
*Watch the bill -- the restaurants we went to that added the gratuity never tell you, they just add it on hoping you won't catch it.
*Try to catch a taxi with a group of people going to Old San Juan. What will cost a family of three $12 will only cost them $6 if they can find another couple or two to share the ride.
*If you have one, let the concierge make the phone calls. Then the local ones are free.
*Always make sure your server knows you don't want bottled water. The water in Puerto Rico is pure and delicious -- much better than Orlando water.
*Go to the forts -- even if you aren't a history buff, the views from the top are AMAZING
*Go to the rain forest
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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gatorgirlie
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Location: Orlando, FL
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