The Caribbean - Tips for St. John and San Juan

My wife and I are taking advantage of Westin's buy one night, get one free program at the Westin in St. John. We're going in August, and spending two nights in San Juan, P.R. on the way, staying at the San Juan Marriott Resort (on points http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif).

I'm looking for tips on where to eat, what to see, etc. Also, since both the USVI and P.R. are US territories, does tipping work the same way it does in the US?

Thanks in advance!

If you have a car in Puerto Rico, take a drive to El Yunque, the rain forest. It is quite interesting and tranquil and affords some great views. Later that day, drive down to Luquillo beach, a very pretty beach with decent facilities. A walk though the streets of Old San Juan is good too. It can be interesting to take a tour of the old forts there if you're into that kind of thing. A tour of the Bacardi factory is not bad. Also worth seeing is the Observatory at Arecibo. It is a nice drive there and it is very cool. There are some caves near Arecibo that you can tour if the weather is good. They don't conduct the cave tours if it is raining.

Don't know if I'm spelling it right, but there's a great restaurant called Masquerina Atlantica. Wonderful food and service and not overpriced at all. Great fish and pasta dishes.

I just got back from St. John yesterday so hopefully I can give you the latest and greatest info...

St. John eating- definately eat at The Fish Trap. Great selection of fresh fish. Morgan's Mango and The Lime Inn were also very good, but not quite to the same level. Have drinks at Duffy's Love Shack. If you have a car, definately go out to Vie's Snack Shack on the East end of the island. Her garlic chicken is incredible.

St. John activities- The snorkeling last week was great. Lots of turtles, rays, squid, fish...I would recommend Waterlemon and Jumbie beach as the best places on the island that we went to, but Trunk, Francis, Hawksnest and most of the others all had at least one thing that made them different and worth seeing. I would also recommend doing a day rental of a Nauti Nymph powerboat from the Westin dock. We were able to visit three great spots in the BVI's and had the flexibility to determine how long and where to go for only a little more than an organized tour would cost. I would suggest getting a captain if you do this unless you have a significant amount of boating experience. Our captain, Theressa, was great.

San Juan eating- The condado area where the Marriott is has several great restaurants. My personal favorite is Miro. It is a Spanish tapas/seafood restaurant about two blocks South of Walgreens (you'll see when you get there). I also highly recommend The Parrot Club (Latin Fusion) in Old San Juan, Metropol in Isla Verde (Cuban, don't go to the one closer to the Marriott, this one is the best).

Enjoy your trip!
Blake

Thanks much for all your replies! Now that I'm armed with visions of blue water and good food, August can't come quick enough.

for San Juan Dining/activities:
http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/Forum47/HTML/000003.html

NEVER eat at a hotel in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is one of those islands where food is incredible most places, everyone has an English menu.

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hhonorman:
There are some caves near Arecibo that you can tour if the weather is good. They don't conduct the cave tours if it is raining. </font>

Rio Camuy caves.

Whatever you do..don't eat at the Westin. Twelve bucks for a chicken sandwich nearly made my husband choke on it. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

The Lime Inn is great. But since we were on a budget we tended to frequent Woody's which has great Fish Sandwiches and Smokey Joes BBQ which had excellent ribs.

Enjoy your trip.

Phoebe