Vieques
This uninhabited pinprick of land lies a few hundred feet across the bay from Playa Esperanza. Part of the Mosquito Bay Reserve, many intrepid locals swim…
Must-see attractions in Puerto Rico
Parques Luis Muñoz Rivera & Parque del Tercer Milenio
San Juan
Spanning the broad swath between the Atlantic and Av Ponce de León, Parque Luis Muñoz Rivera injects a much-needed green space into the urban landscape…
Ponce
Ponce's history museum is extensive for a city of fewer than 200,0000 people – evidence of the city’s reverence for the past. Located in the Casa Salazar …
Puerto Rico
Mayagüez can boast not just one but two of Puerto Rico's most alluring urban parks, and this serene green space, a few blocks northeast of Plaza Colón, is…
Rincón
Nicknamed El Faro, the Punta Higüero Lighthouse dates from 1892 and rises almost 100ft. It was restored in 1922 after being severely damaged by a tsunami…
San Juan
Once the residence of a political reformer and Puerto Rico’s first representative to the Spanish court, this 18th-century house is now the headquarters of…
San Juan
Located in the former city hall on the plaza of Bayamón’s historic district, this art museum pays tribute to native son Francisco Oller (1833–1917), one…
Ponce
Perhaps the most grand of Ponce’s historical homes, this mansion was designed by Paris-educated ponceño architect Alfredo Wiechers. The carefully…
Museo de Entomología y Biodiversidad Tropical
San Juan
This small but fascinating museum houses one of the largest collections of insects in the Caribbean. The three rooms contain case upon case of winged…
Ponce
On the same property as the mammoth El Vigía, Museo Castillo Serrallés was the home of Ponce’s rum dynasty, the Serrallés family. Guides lead bilingual…
North Coast
A stroll through coastal scrub brings you to cliffs where impressive formations have been chiseled and hollowed out by the elements. You can descend…
El Yunque & East Coast
A block from Luquillo’s plaza, this is the place to catch a surf break, admire the sculpture by local artist Carlos Guzmán, grab a bite from a gourmet…
Puerto Rico
Built in 1843 in a neoclassical Creole style and said to be an excellent example of local 19th-century domestic architecture, this house is reputedly San…
San Juan
Set in a former marketplace, this small museum offers the definitive take on the city's 500-year history. A permanent exhibit showcases well-laid-out…
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico
San Juan
This museum sits just down the road from the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in an eye-catching neoclassical Georgian building – the former Rafael M de Labra…
Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria
Puerto Rico
Consecrated in 1760, Mayagüez’ original Catholic church was replaced by the current model in 1836. The cathedral suffered many blows over the subsequent…
Ponce
Facing the southern side of Plaza Las Delicias, Ponce’s city hall was built in the 1840s. The last public hanging on the island happened in its courtyard,…
Ponce
It doesn’t really compare with the hilltop cross in Rio de Janeiro, but the 100ft reinforced-concrete Cruceta del Vigía looking over Ponce is one of the…
Puerto Rico
A grand, crisply renovated, colonnaded facade announces this engaging, well-curated museum. Its seven exhibition halls are dedicated to local heroes such…
Ponce
The name for this island off shore from Ponce translates as 'coffin island' – at one point it was supposedly thought that its silhouette resembled a…
North Coast
Said to be Puerto Rico's second-largest church, Arecibo's eye-pleasingly symmetrical neoclassical cathedral is a 19th-century replacement for an 18th…
North Coast
If you follow the road past the Faro de los Morrillos lighthouse for less than a mile, you come to the Balneario Morrillos. There is a big parking lot…
North Coast
A narrow road (Hwy 6671) squeezes between Laguna Tortuguero and the Atlantic, passing through coastal forest a few kilometers northeast of Manatí. Here is…
Aguadilla
Rough, lonely Playa Wilderness is a favorite with surfers. Off Hwy 107 to the left (west) as you follow the road north from Aguadilla to the Ramey Base,…
Jardín Botánico de la Universidad de Puerto Rico
San Juan
This 75-acre urban green lung has hiking trails through arches of bamboo leading to a lotus lagoon, an orchid garden with more than 30,000 flowers and a…
Puerto Rico
Founded in 1912, this university is now the largest private facility of its kind in the western hemisphere. The 267-acre campus just west of San Germán is…
North Coast
Calle 13 on the eastern side of Dorado terminates in a tan-colored stretch of tree-backed sand, and is freer from beachgoers than Balneario Manuel Morales…
Aguadilla
An undulating road winds down to a car park, snack stands, a pier and a swathe of ocher sand. It got its name because the air force used to keep rescue…
Puerto Rico
Mayagüez' central square is one of Puerto Rico's most attractive and intimate, shaded by the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria on its east side…
Museo de la Historia de San Germán
Puerto Rico
Recently spruced up, the town’s museum is one of the few historical buildings in San Germán where you can enter, look around and fully experience local…
El Yunque
Baño Grande, a former swimming hole built during the Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps, lies across Hwy 191 from the Palo Colorado Information…
Centro Cultural Ecoturístico de Piñones
San Juan
This center hosts a number of cultural activities, many promoting Afro-Caribbean music and dance. It also houses the Corporación Piñones Se Integra, a…
Panteón Nacional Román Baldorio de Castro
Ponce
A fraction north of the city center, in the shadow of El Vigía, Ponce's city cemetery is a grand mid-19th-century conglomeration of – unusually – both…
Vieques
Bored of all that powdery, blindingly white sand? This beach lives up to its name with dark, sparkly sand derived from offshore volcanic rocks. This…
San Juan
Condado's official public beach is Balneario Condado, a small arc of sand, adjacent to the Dos Hermanos bridge, that faces west toward Fuerte San Gerónimo…
El Yunque
This 65ft, Moorish-looking stone tower was built as a lookout in 1962. It's the first good spot for vistas of the islands to the east, but there are…
Rincón
With its popular Thursday evening art walk, its pleasantly designed amphitheater and general leafiness, this is definitely one of Puerto Rico's nicer…
Ponce
This small museum commemorates the Ponce Massacre, the fated pro-independence demonstration of the 1930s during which almost 20 protestors (and two police…
Puerto Rico
Situated on the San Germán main drag, this 1920s estate has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986. Its eclectic architectural style,…
Puerto Rico
This Victorian-era house was built soon after the American occupation in 1898. With its gables, porches and roof turrets, it's redolent of a Queen Anne…
