El Yunque
El Yunque National Forest is one of Puerto Rico’s crown jewels with nearly 29,000 acres of lush, mountainous terrain scattered with waterfalls, rushing…
Must-see attractions in Puerto Rico
Culebra
Stretching for a mile around a sheltered, horseshoe-shaped bay, Playa Flamenco (Flamenco Beach) is not only one of Culebra’s best beaches, it also makes a…
Culebra
If you need a reason to hire a water taxi, Isla Culebrita (Culebrita Island) is it. This small island, just east of Playa Zoni, is part of the national…
Vieques
Locals claim that the magnificent Bahía Mosquito (Mosquito Bay), a designated wildlife preserve located on the island of Vieques, about 2 miles east of…
Cabezas de San Juan Reserva Natural
El Yunque & East Coast
A nodule of land on Puerto Rico’s northeast tip, this Para La Naturaleza–run reserve protects the Laguna Grande bioluminescent bay, rare flora and fauna,…
San Juan
A star of Old San Juan, brooding El Morro sits atop a headland, deterring would-be attackers. The 140ft walls (some up to 15ft thick) date to 1539 and it…
North Coast
Puerto Ricans reverently refer to it as ‘El Radar’; to everyone else it is simply the largest radio telescope in the world. Resembling a spaceship…
San Juan
The city's second major fort is one of the largest Spanish-built military installations in the Americas. In its prime, it covered 27 acres with a maze of…
San Juan
This museum presents an impressive overview of cultural development in the Americas, including indigenous, African and European influences. Four permanent…
San Juan
San Juan boasts one of the largest and most celebrated art museums in the Caribbean. Housed in a splendid neoclassical building that was once the city’s…
Culebra
Head to the eastern end of the island and you’ll eventually run out of road at Playa Zoni. Many locals think this is a better beach than Flamenco and it's…
San Juan
With countless tanned bodies lounging or flexing their biceps around the volleyball net, this urban beach basks in its reputation as the Copacabana of…
El Yunque & East Coast
Along with its must-visit kioskos, Luquillo is synonymous with its fabulous – and hugely popular – beach. Set on a calm, northwest-facing bay and…
Ponce
Brush Strokes in Flight, a bold primary-colored totem by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, announces the smartly remodeled MAP, where an expertly…
North Coast
Undeniably Puerto Rico's biggest, most bizarre attraction, the 362ft likeness of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) navigating toward the Americas is…
San Juan
The ‘Cathedral of Rum’ sits in vast grounds near the mouth of San Juan Bay. Three signature tours (45 minutes to 1½ hours) are offered throughout the week…
San Juan
Protected by offshore reefs and caressed by cooling seasonal trade winds, this wide sweep of diamond-dust sand is a favorite of locals. But this…
North Coast
An anomaly among Puerto Rican beaches, Playa Mar Chiquita isn’t alongside a main thoroughfare, has no long strand and isn’t good for swimming or surfing…
Culebra
This remote thin, white-sand beach has one of the best snorkeling areas in Puerto Rico thanks to a barrier reef that almost encloses the beach's waters;…
Puerto Rico
This small, squat building might not look like much from the outside, but it is actually one of the oldest surviving ecclesial buildings in the Americas…
Vieques
Part of Puerto Rico's national park system, this half-moon-shaped bay, less than a half-mile east of Esperanza, is the island’s balneario (public beach),…
Reserva Natural Humedal Punta Tuna
El Yunque & East Coast
This lush wetland reserve spans 1.4 miles of coastline, just north of the Faro Punta Tuna. Interpretive trails through the mangroves and along the beach…
Refugio de Vida Silvestre Iris L. Alameda Martínez de Boquerón
Puerto Rico
Drive south from Boquerón along Hwy 301 and you will arrive at the main entrance to this reserve at Km 1.1, an area encompassing beguiling mangrove forest…
San Juan
This sheltered arc's raked sand, decent surf breaks, local action and a 17th-century Spanish fort shimmering in the distance are the hallmarks of what's…
Puerto Rico
From the same parking space as that of Los Morrillos Lighthouse, or from another further on down the track bending left from the lighthouse-approach track…
Reserva Natural Humacao Efraín Archilla Díez
El Yunque & East Coast
Almost 3200 acres of former sugarcane plantation has been given back to nature at this gem of a nature reserve. Mangroves and palm trees provide shade for…
Puerto Rico
This brilliant, bold art space is the best museum west of Ponce. Opened in 2016, it focuses on work by Puerto Rican and Latin American artists from the…
Culebra National Wildlife Refuge
Culebra
More than 20% of Culebra is part of a spectacular national wildlife refuge, which was signed into law more than 100 years ago. Most of it lies along the…
Vieques
Calm and clear, this beach is reached on a paved road and has gazebos with picnic tables to shade bathers from the sun; there's excellent snorkeling –…
North Coast
Even the surfers rarely make it to remote Playa Survival, best reached by a 45-minute walk west from Playa Shacks. The narrow strip of sand found…
Vieques
This secluded beach is as far east as you can go at present, spread across a mushroom-shaped bay with icing-sugar sand and a calm sea that shimmers with a…
Vieques
A favorite with locals, this gorgeous playa at the eastern end of the main road is long and open with occasionally rough surf. It's easy to find your own…
San Juan
Close to the Museo de Arte Francisco Oller, this modern museum features thought-provoking work from emerging artists in Puerto Rico and beyond, including,…
Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes
Ponce
The ancient ceremonial center of Tibes is one of the Caribbean's most important archaeological sites, due largely to evidence found here of pre-Taíno…
Ponce
Within this elegant square you’ll discover Ponce's heart as well as two of the city’s landmark buildings, Parque de Bombas and Catedral Nuestra Señora…
Puerto Rico
Fanning out immediately south of Boquerón town, the Balneario Boquerón arguably ranks among the best public beach facilities in Puerto Rico. The mile-long…
North Coast
These two lakes – each more than 2 miles long – fill a deeply cleft valley at a point where karst country gives way to the jagged spine of the central…
North Coast
This 5000-acre forest just off Hwy 621, halfway between Arecibo and Utuado, sits amid some of the island's most rugged terrain. In the bosom of karst…
San Juan
Since 1780, tens of thousands of penitents have come to pray for miracles at the Capilla del Cristo, the tiny sanctuary at the end of a pedestrian street…
San Juan
First constructed in 1521 as a residence for Puerto Rico’s pioneering governor, Juan Ponce de León (who died before he could move in), Casa Blanca is the…
