Insight Guides Puerto Rico (Travel Guide eBook)

By Insight Guides

This Insight Guide is a lavishly illustrated inspirational travel guide to Puerto Rico and a beautiful souvenir of your trip. Perfect for travellers looking for a deeper dive into the destination's history and culture, it's ideal to inspire and help you plan your travels. With its great selection of places to see and colourful magazine-style layout, this Puerto Rico guidebook is just the tool you need to accompany you before or during your trip. Whether it's deciding when to go, choosing what to see or creating a travel plan to cover key places like Old San Juan, El Yunque National Forest, it will answer all the questions you might have along the way. It will also help guide you when you'll be exploring Río Camuy Cave Park or discovering Río Abajo Forest Reserve on the ground. Our Puerto Rico travel guide was fully-updated post-COVID-19.

The Insight Guide PUERTO RICO covers: Old San Juan, Metropolitan San Juan, The Northeast, The Southeast, The North, The West, The South, Cordillera Central, Outer Islands.

In this guide book to Puerto Rico you will find:

IN-DEPTH CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES  
Created to provide a deeper dive into the culture and the history of Puerto Rico to get a greater understanding of its modern-day life, people and politics.

BEST OF
The Top Attractions and Editor's Choice featured in this Puerto Rico guide book highlight the most special places to visit.

TIPS AND FACTS
Up-to-date historical timeline and in-depth cultural background to Puerto Rico as well as an introduction to Puerto Rico's food and drink, and fun destination-specific features.   

PRACTICAL TRAVEL INFORMATION
A-Z of useful advice on everything, from when to go to Puerto Rico, how to get there and how to get around, to Puerto Rico's climate, advice on tipping, etiquette and more.

COLOUR-CODED CHAPTERS
Every part of the destination, from Metropolitan San Juan to Cordillera Central has its own colour assigned for easy navigation of this Puerto Rico travel guide.

CURATED PLACES, HIGH-QUALITY MAPS
Geographically organised text, cross-referenced against full-colour, high-quality travel maps for quick orientation in Las Cabezas de San Juan, Phosphorescent Bay and many other locations in Puerto Rico.

STRIKING PICTURES
This guide book to Puerto Rico features inspirational colour photography, including the stunning El Yunque and the spectacular Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Park.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781839053641

Insight Guides

Pictorial travel guide to Arizona & the Grand Canyon with a free eBook provides all you need for every step of your journey. With in-depth features on culture and history, stunning colour photography and handy maps, it’s perfect for inspiration and finding out when to go to Arizona & the Grand Canyon and what to see in Arizona & the Grand Canyon. 

Book preview

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How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Puerto Rico, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Puerto Rico. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Puerto Rico are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Puerto Rico. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2023 Apa Digital AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

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Table of Contents

Puerto Rico’s Top 10 Attractions

Editor’s Choice

A heady mix

The people of Puerto Rico

Decisive dates

Beginnings

The Spanish settlers

A fight for autonomy

Modern times

Puerto Rican cuisine

Island art

Insight: Folk art with a flavor all its own

Rhythm of the tropics

Insight: A land of fantastic festivals

The language of Puerto Rico

A sporting life

Places

Old San Juan

Metropolitan San Juan

Insight: Rum: holding its own in the spirits world

The Northeast

The Southeast

The North

The West

Insight: Puerto Rico’s fantastic flora

The South

Cordillera Central

Outer Islands

Transport

A-Z: A Handy Summary of Practical Information

Further Reading

PUERTO RICO’S TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS

Top Attraction 1

Old San Juan. On a spit of land jutting out into the sea is this beautifully preserved Spanish colonial city, colorfully decorated in pastel shades with cobbled streets, enticing bars and restaurants, quirky shops, and atmospheric hotels. It is guarded by fortresses built to protect this jewel in the Spanish Empire. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 2

Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan. This converted hospital in Santurce houses works by well-known Puerto Rican artists dating back to the 17th century, as well as regional and international works. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 3

Cueva Ventana. In highland forest 800ft (245 meters) above sea level, this small cave system has a big impact, with its stunning window-like view, ancient petroglyphs, and fascinating wildlife. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 4

El Yunque. The highest and wettest part of the island is the perfect habitat for endemic species: 26 animal, 15 bird, and 23 plant. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 5

Playa Flamenco, Culebra. This is a perfect, uncrowded, half-moon beach of white sand and translucent turquoise water, unspoiled by tourism after decades of occupation by the US Navy. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 6

Las Cabezas de San Juan. Draped across the far northeastern tip of the island, this nature reserve comprises an incredible diversity of landscapes, with beaches, lagoons, mangrove forest, and coral reefs among them. An excellent spot for wildlife-watching and walks. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 7

Arecibo Observatory. Sitting in the heart of the karst country, Arecibo has the second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. It has been silently scanning the universe, making maps of distant solar systems, and listening for messages from other planets since 1963. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 8

The Carnival at Ponce. Carnival usually falls in February, and is always a riotous affair, with lots of dressing up, dancing, and – of course – rum. For more information, click here.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 9

Bioluminescent Bay, Vieques. Its glowing waters are the result of a high concentration of bioluminescence generated by microscopic organisms in the water. Take a kayak trip into the bay to agitate the trillions of dinoflagellates, and watch them light up. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 10

Tibes Indigenous Park. One of the Caribbean’s most important Native American archeological sites. Visit the museum to find out more about the region’s Native peoples. For more information, click here.

Dreamstime

EDITOR’S CHOICE

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The ever-popular Luquillo Beach.

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BEST BEACHES

Playa Luquillo, east of San Juan. This is a popular beach with families, and a safe spot for swimming. Kiosks, selling all manner of food and drink, thrum with activity at weekends. For more information, click here.

Playa Resaca, Culebra. A challenging hike through forest is rewarded with an arc of empty white sand – just what leatherback turtles like. For more information, click here.

Sun Bay, Vieques. A crescent of white sand backed by palm trees, sea grape, almond, and quenepa. An easily accessible paradise. For more information, click here.

Playa El Combate. A nature trail runs parallel to miles of white sand, lapped by crystal-clear waters. Sunsets are lovely, and the town is buzzing. For more information, click here.

Isla Verde. Only a minute from all the main resort hotels in San Juan, this white sand beach is one of the most popular on the island. For more information, click here.

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Powder-soft sands of Sun Bay, Vieques.

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Local host at the Fiesta de San Sebastián.

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BEST FESTIVALS

Carnival in Ponce. A colorful, exuberant, and noisy fiesta, with vejigantes, parades, music, food, drink, and fun for all the family. For more information, click here.

Loíza’s Santiago Apóstol festival. A blend of African and Christian traditions, with bomba music, masqueraders, and masked vejigantes. For more information, click here.

Fiesta de San Sebastián. A five-day street party with a carnival atmosphere in Old San Juan, attracting thousands of revelers. For more information, click here.

Aibonito Flower Festival. Growers and artisans come together in June/July to compete, display, and sell plants and crafts in a riot of color. For more information, click here.

Día de las Máscaras, Hatillo. A boisterous December festival when men dress up with colorful masks enacting the murder of boys by King Herod. For more information, click here.

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Exploring Puerto Rico’s amazing underwater world.

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WATERSPORTS

Diving. If you can’t get out to Desecheo or Mona Island (the Puerto Rican Galápagos),Vieques and Culebra are more accessible. For more information, click here, here, and here.

Kayaking. Paddle along a channel through the mangroves to reach Laguna Grande, Fajardo – fantastic at night for its bioluminescence. For more information, click here.

Surfing at Rincón. On the west coast is the Caribbean’s stellar surf strip, where huge waves crash down on the shore, particularly in the winter months. For more information, click here.

Kiteboarding. The cays off La Parguera offer the best flat-water kiting on the island, with consistent wind December to August. For more information, click here.

Sailing. A variety of craft can be rented from the marinas at Fajardo for picturesque boating around the cays or trips to Vieques and Culebra. For more information, click here, here, and here.

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Small waterfall in El Yunque National Forest.

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FOREST AND NATURE RESERVES

Río Abajo Forest Reserve. In the karst country is subtropical wet forest with limestone caves, streams, and the endangered Puerto Rican parrot. For more information, click here.

El Yunque National Forest. Looming above mangroves, beaches and lagoons, the peaks of El Yunque cradle a richly biodiverse area, ideal for hiking, cycling, and nature-watching. For more information, click here.

Guánica. The best example of a subtropical dry forest in the Caribbean, with an estimated 700 plant species and 185 bird species. For more information, click here.

Boquerón Nature Reserve. A fabulous mangrove forest and bird refuge for migratory and resident species. Close by is the Cabo Rojo Wildlife Refuge, too. For more information, click here.

Jobos Bay Estuarine Reserve. This reserve protects mangrove forest, cays, and salt flats, and is home to large numbers of fish and rare birds. For more information, click here.

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Kayaking is a wonderful way to explore the island.

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ADVENTURE SPORTS

Caving. Keen spelunkers will find the karst country in the northwest riddled with limestone sinkholes, caves, and underground rivers to explore. For more information, click here.

Mountain biking. Get muddy in the forest, test your mettle on the steep hills of Domes, Rincón, or ride to the wildlife-rich beach in Guánica State Forest. For more information, click here and here.

Ziplining. Whiz through the canopy near El Yunque or fly a mile across a valley at Toro Verde in the Cordillera Central. For more information, click here and here.

Canyoning/Rappeling. Opportunities abound for clambering over boulders, rappeling down waterfalls, and being adventurous in rivers, like Cañón San Cristóbal or around El Yunque. For more information, click here.

Hiking. State forests have well-maintained trails for walks in a wide variety of habitats, at sea level, or up mountains for a 360-degree view. For more information, click here and here.

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Dancing: a way of life in Puerto Rico.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

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Music forms a big part of Puerto Rican culture.

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Puerto Rican maracas.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

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Carnival dancer in Ponce.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

A HEADY MIX

Multi-faceted history, colorful culture, breathtaking scenery, and distinctive rhythms make Puerto Rico a truly rich port.

The pulse of Puerto Rico beats to a Latin rhythm, quickened by African drumming. Music is the lifeblood of the people, whether it is the folk music of the countryside, sultry salsa, or the latest urban trend from New York, brought back by Stateside Puerto Ricans who’ve migrated to the Big Apple for work. This is a modern country, heavily industrialized and American-influenced in parts, yet with a strong sense of its Spanish colonial history and Native American heritage linked to an agricultural way of life. Teenagers ride horses bareback, while their parents drive the latest SUVs; families celebrate special days with a feast of traditional food, yet burgers and pizza are equally popular for a special treat.

Columbus christened the island San Juan Bautista (St John the Baptist) in 1493 but Juan Ponce de León switched its name with that of the capital, Puerto Rico (Rich Port). The original settlers – the Taínos – knew it as Borikén, the great land of the valiant and noble Lord. Once Spain’s most important military outpost in the Caribbean, it has blossomed into a successful vacation destination.

Located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico is the smallest of the four Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico): 100 miles (160km) long and 35 miles (56km) from north to south. It is blessed with glorious sandy beaches, spectacular mountain ranges, the greenest of green rainforest, and dry, tropical forest, giving it a range of climates, natural attractions, wildlife, and outdoor activities.

The past is always present: in Taíno carvings, colonial architecture, first-class cuisine, and even in farming techniques. Yet the island has kept pace with the rest of the world – as its various designer stores, museums and art galleries, symphony halls, communications technology, and championship golf courses all attest. Puerto Rico is enigmatic: the modern mixes naturally with the historic, whether you are choked by traffic fumes in the metropolis, singed by the sun’s rays on the beaches, or cleansed by the rain and fresh air of the mountainous rainforest.

Dancer in traditional costume.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO

Many centuries of immigration and a wide range of ethnicities have merged into a proud and dynamic Hispanic culture.

Puerto Rico is a vibrant, modern, bilingual, and multicultural society, with a keen sense of its history. Since the first inhabitants arrived thousands of years ago, this beautiful island has been home to Indigenous people, Spaniards, Africans, and more.

Over four centuries, the Spanish laid the foundations of the island’s culture. They constructed towns, roads, fortresses, and churches. Although the Taíno population was once thought to have been all but wiped out within a few years of Spanish colonization, 61 percent of the population carry Taíno DNA. Spanish farmers married Taíno women and although few of these, known as jíbaros, remain today, their cultural imprint survives. Others hid out in the Cordillera Central, forming alliances with groups of runaway slaves. Farming methods, tools, food, and vocabulary survive from the Taínos.

Data from a University of Puerto Rico study for 2005−09 reveals that 95 percent of Puerto Ricans speak a language other than English at home (Spanish), and 85 percent admit to not speaking English very well.

Enslaved Africans were forced to work the plantations, and they, in turn, contributed to the island’s language, customs, music, and culinary traditions. Later, other Caribbean islanders arrived seeking jobs. Spanish loyalists sought refuge here, fleeing Simón Bolívar’s independence movement in South America. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, French settlers migrated to Puerto Rico, escaping upheavals in Louisiana and Haiti. Even farmers from Scotland and Ireland ended up on the island, hoping to benefit from its rich sugar cane economy. Chinese workers came to build roads, followed by Italians, Germans, and Lebanese. After 1898, US expatriates sought the island as a home and, more recently, Cubans, Dominicans, and Argentinians have settled here.

A typical smiling Puerto Rican welcome.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Hispanic America

After the struggles for independence, and power tussles with the Dutch and English, Puerto Rico eventually arrived at a strangely fruitful relationship with the United States and is essentially a crossroads of Hispanic and Anglo cultures. The island has been a part of the United States since 1898, and Puerto Ricans have been US citizens since 1917.

Many US corporations have bases on the island, and millions of Puerto Ricans spend their working lives on the mainland. In referenda (plebiscites) in the 20th century, Puerto Ricans voted against becoming America’s 51st state, but in 2012 and 2017, the majority of voters opted for statehood (for more information, click here). The balance between adopting parts of an American lifestyle while preserving their Hispanic, Taíno, or African customs, which are more rural and Catholic in outlook, was increasingly threatened by the island’s economic problems.

Puerto Rico is a multiracial country.

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SANTERIA

Puerto Rico is predominantly Roman Catholic, blended with some Taíno and African traditions. Santería descends from religious practices brought over by enslaved West Africans during colonial times. Although many aspects of the source religion are preserved in Santería, it has developed into its own unique tradition heavily influenced by Catholicism. For instance, santeros conflated the traditional gods – the Orishas – with the Catholic saints, thus keeping their ancestral practices alive while performing Catholic ceremonies. Espiritismo, founded by the 19th-century French philosopher Allan Kardec, also has its devotees. It, too, may intermingle with Catholicism and Santería.

Although English is spoken, Spanish is predominant – but it, too, is a mix. There is a heavy influence from the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands, with words borrowed from the pre-Columbian Native tongue, the languages of enslaved West Africans, and English. Both Spanish and English have official status, with Spanish designated the primary language. In the early 1990s, English was abolished as an official language for political reasons, but was restored in 1993. However, regardless of the law, fewer than a quarter of Puerto Ricans are completely bilingual; outside the big cities, you will find it useful to know at least a handful of basic Spanish words and phrases to help you get around.

Even the island’s weights and measures are split between the US and Hispanic methods. Confusingly, the island adheres half-heartedly to the metric system, which means that all distances are posted in kilometers, and gasoline is sold at pumps by the liter. Nevertheless, tem­peratures are still given in Fahrenheit, and speed-limit road signs are still listed in miles per hour.

Pleasure and leisure

Puerto Ricans are, by large, a friendly and passionate people, vivacious and expressive in their conversations – and their dancing. Even the youngest children have salsa in their blood, and it is no accident that the world’s best Latin singers, musicians, and dancers have their roots in the island. Music and food are two elements that the people use to help them celebrate life to the fullest.

A typical Friday night in Plaza Mercado, Old San Juan.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

In Puerto Rico, work is seen not as an end in itself, but merely as a means to fund subsequent enjoyment. Weekends are taken very seriously, while fiestas and saints’ days are also widely observed and celebrated. Eating local food, comida criolla, is a social occasion, and Puerto Ricans especially like trawling roadside snack bars − kioskos − at weekends. These are often little more than shacks, but offer cold beer, snacks, or a full meal, often with music on Friday and Saturday evenings. Many have been run by the same family for decades. Luquillo is famous for its string of 60 kioskos (all now permanent structures) along the beach road.

In the United States, Christmas lasts perhaps a week; on the island, the celebrations begin in late November and don’t completely stop until mid-January. In addition to Christmas Day, Puerto Ricans celebrate Three Kings Day, or Epiphany, on January 6. Local children cut grass (to feed the Wise Men’s camels), put it in boxes and place these under their beds on January 5, just before they go to sleep. The next morning, the grass is gone, and gifts have been left mysteriously in its place – much to the delight of the youngsters.

During this extended holiday period, it’s presumed by residents that there will be company, people coming from far away to visit or neighbors stopping by from roughly December 15 (also the official start of the Puerto Rican tourist season, which ends on April 15 the following year) until the last pasteles are eaten and the last glasses of coquito – a delicious mixture of condensed milk, rum, vanilla, cream, coconut milk, and cinnamon – knocked back.

Stateside Puerto Ricans

Puerto Rico is one of the world’s most densely populated countries. High birth rates and medical advances caused the death rate to plummet shortly after the Spanish–American War. Puerto Rico’s population jumped to about a million by 1900, and 3.8 million by 2004, although the last census in 2020 showed it had fallen to 3.20 million. That same census gave a population density of about 959 per sq mile. The decline in population is attributed partly to a falling birth rate which, together with an aging population, is expected to see the demographic trend continue, and to emigration. Waves of migrations since World War II meant that there were more people (5.1 million in 2013) in US cities such as Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and east coast cities, particularly New York, than there are on the island.

Hurricane Maria, in September 2017, provoked the largest exodus of Puerto Ricans in history; almost 4 percent of the population fled the island. The number of Puerto Ricans living in New York is estimated to be almost three times the number living in metropolitan San Juan (374,682 in 2013). Puerto Ricans who have migrated to the mainland have usually moved there for economic reasons, taking advantage of their US citizenship to improve their employment prospects.

They, and their descendants, are known as Stateside Puerto Ricans, and form the second-largest Hispanic group in the US after Mexicans. Community spirit and identity is strong among the diaspora, culminating in the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City as well as in many other cities. Even second-generation Stateside Puerto Ricans have strong ties to the island, where they still have family. They send home remittances to their relatives and are important contributors to tourism revenues when they return home for visits.

However, the disparity in income is not as great as in other Latino communities in the US, and it is not unknown for Puerto Ricans living there to be supported by remittances from their families on the island.

Patriotism

Despite all varieties of political difference, pride is universal and strong. Though US flags fly alongside all Puerto Rican flags in public places (by law), and schoolchildren sing The Star Spangled Banner before La Borinqueña, the island’s own beautiful anthem, being Puerto Rican always comes first. This isn’t without its paradoxical side. The people who’ve chosen to live here, Puerto Ricans and Continentals alike, love the island intensely yet know that things are far from perfect.

Although officially adopted in 1952, Puerto Rico’s flag was first used in 1895; its lone star was the guide of the patriots.

Along with the islanders’ resilient humor, there is also an ongoing sense of rebellious resentment in the face of authority, especially towards the US Navy. This became acute in 1970 when, after decades of Culebra being used for military exercises and bombing practice, the islanders decided enough was enough. A campaign of legal procedures, lobbying, demonstrations, and protests took place on Culebra and the main island. One protest at Flamenco Beach lasted for many weeks in 1971. It was led by independence advocate Rubén Berríos, who, with several others, was imprisoned for trespass on US military land. Success came at the end of 1975 when all military operations were halted.

Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

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In 1999, the controversy of the naval presence in Vieques blew up as David Sanes Rodríguez, a civilian worker for the Navy, was accidentally killed by naval ordnance. This instantly sparked local protests, leading to invasions of military land. The cause gained international support in 2000, and in May 2003, the Navy finally left the island.

Poetry, poverty, and politics

Puerto Rico is a place where politics and poetry often merge; a place where its most celebrated leaders, among