Puerto Rico | February 2023
Puerto Rico:
Weather:
Mid 80's. Beautiful and sunny.
Transportation:
We used Uber. It was NOT cheap. It probably would've been cheaper to rent a car. Most of our activities were over an hour away from San Juan, and each way was around $75-$100. Also, Uber is not available in some areas (i.e. Toro Verde) so you need to call taxi companies and they only take cash.
Super Taxi: (787) 938-7584
Luis Rosa: (787) 448-7967
Fajardo Taxi: (787) 513-7685
Mario: (939) 529-5663
Jireh Transportation: (787) 439-6099 / (787) 361-9741
Accomodations:
AC Hotel San Juan Condado - Clean and nice hotel. Part of the Marriot chain. It wasn't cheap, but it was the cheapest of the decent hotels. They give you complimentary drinks from the bar if you're over 18, but there are restrictions on which drink you can get. You can get soda there too, if you're not a alcohol girl;) They charge you for water from the lobby shop, but #lifehack go to the gym on the penthouse level - there are waterbottles there for free;) There's a really nice pool with cool chairs on the PH level too. The hotel is a couple of blocks from the beach and a 10 minute drive to Chabad. (20 minutes in traffic)
Kosher Food:
Chabad has a takeout/delivery option for Kosher food. They have quite a variety of meat and dairy food. The portions are generous, fresh and wholesome. You need to order food in advance and pickup ends around 6PM. Check out their website for details.
There is a CVS, Walgreens, and other typical American chain stores in the Condado neighborhood, so you can always buy OU products there.
Attractions:
El Monstruo Zipline - This is a MUST! Longest zipline in America, second to longest in the world!! We did the combo of the El Monstruo zipline + 7 more ziplines. It took around 3 hours altogether. It's cheaper to do the combo than to do just the Monster zipline. Keep in mind, you can't order a Uber from Toro Verde back to San Juan - you need to call a taxi. Click here to book.
El Yunque Rainforest Tour - SO MUCH FUN. The tour started at 8:30AM, with our tour guide, Pablo, picking us up from the hotel. It wasn't a completely private tour - three other people were part of our group. On the way to the rainforest, we stopped at a fruit store and bought enormous avocados. Pablo bought pineapple for us, but we didn't bring our own knife... so if you can bring a knife, that would be helpful. We then went to El Yunque. Hiked through a crazy muddy, slippery path. You will not stay clean!! Finally got to the water with rope swings and cliffs to jump off. It looks scary but it's actually SO FUN! We continued our rock climbing to a waterfall/natural water slide. It was a challenging hike, not gonna lie... We had to hold on to vines for dear life and climb up sheer walls of stone... but hey YOLO;) After washing off in the water, we hiked back through the mud and powerwashed ourselves before getting back into the car. We then went to a beach for 30 minutes or so, and then headed back to our hotel. Highly recommend this tour! It was exhilarating! Click here to book.
Kayaking in the Bioluminescant Bay - This was a super cool experience! There are supposedly only 5 bioluminescant bays in the world - three in Puerto Rico alone. It's basically a lagoon with microorganisms that light up when the water is disturbed. If you have a hard time kayaking, like I did... (mainly because I was on my own and against the current), one of the guides will tow you along. Kinda worked out better for me that way because the guide gave me a private lesson on constellations and planets, while my friends struggled on their kayak together lol. The whole tour was around 2 hours and well worth every penny! Click here to book.
If you need a driver, use Anthony: (787) 478-0806. It was $250 round trip, cash.
Old San Juan - Quaint little area, colorful buildings, perfect photoshoot location! If you take an Uber, it's around $9 from Condado area. Put in Calle Fortaleza, Plaza Colon as the destination. You can walk to the fort from there. Beautiful views, lots of history, and daily tours. We went on a Tuesday and it was free admission. Not sure why it was free, but we don't ask questions;) Otherwise, $10/per adult.