The Caribbean - First Time Visitor to San Juan, where to stay, what to do?

Spouse and I will have 3 nights in San Juan, May 2-5th, which is Sun-Wednesday.

Looking for a good 2/3 star hotel near interesting things to see and nice sidewalk cafes to leisurely sip cold drinks, people watch, and eat native cuisine.

Not really into basting on the beach.

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

Should we Priceline? If so, what areas to pick/avoid?
Anyone have any PL success stories? Hotel, stars, price? (Is <$50/night realistic?)

thanks very much,

Can't help w/where to stay but a few places to enjoy!
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If you're planning on venturing out further be prepared for traffic. Traffic lights don't mean a whole lot and driving on the shoulder is quite common.
Use common sense for safety.
Food is probably good in most places, some places can be somewhat spendy.
Try the coconut ices from the street vendors. Excellent.

El Morro! A great place to tour right in San Juan. It was a fort built several hundred years ago.Nominal entrance fee. Well worth it
If you want to venture out further there's the
Bat Caves in the town of Camuy
The Observatory where the huge telescope is. It was featured in a movie with Jodie Foster.
The Bacardi Rum tour.
El Yunque, which is the rain forest, nice drive.
If you're into baseball, there's a new stadium where they feature some excellent talent.
Check what days they're open as they do close one or two days/week.
Good luck and have a fun safe trip.

thanks for the info!

having been all over Puerto Rico, I thought I would post my notes on dining & activities.


In Old San Juan:

Chef Marisoll, 202 Calle de Cristo. Contemporary. I had a curried chicken w/papaya and cilantro YUM!

Amadeus, Calle San Sebastian 106. Caribbean, but w/a gourmet twist.

Just next door to Amadeus is El Patio de Sam.
A busy, but fun place for drinks. I would not recommend the food. It is across from the Church de San Jose where there are usually some festive happenings, which are fun to take in after dinner (at Amadeus!).

One of our favorite restaurants is newcomer The Parrott Club at 363 Fortaleza. Very, very, very good PR and Caribbean food. Also live music at night. Very lively atmoshpere.

Brunch:

IMO, hands down it is the sunday brunch at the Caribe Hilton. What a spread!

In Condado Area:

Los Faisanes, Avenida Magdelena 1108. International. Being lovers of great pheasant (Faisanes) dishes, Los Faisanes always has at least two on the menu. Never disappoints.

Ramiro's, Avenida Magdelena 1106. International/Spanish. While the service is great, we've never been bowled over by the food at Ramiro's. Although most others we've talked to have. Just a personal opinion I guess.

Chayote, Avenida Miramar 603 (Olimpo Hotel).
Puerto Rican/Seafood. Always very good!!!

Compostela, Avenida Codado 106. Spanish. We like Compostela over Ramiro's anyday!!!

Urdin, Avenida Magdelena 1105. Seafood/PR.
Had a divine dish of Halibut w/a chutney of raisins and bananas over it.


AJILI MOJILI, Calle Joffre 6. If you want to try Puerto Rican food as the Moms of Puerto Rico cooked it, try this restaurant!!!! WE ALWAYS EAT HERE, EVERY TIME IN PR!!!! Very fun and good value. Anything w/the Ajili Mojili sauce (a very garlicky chili salsa) is awesome.


In Isla Verde:

While we have stayed at the El San Juan, we have never really enjoyed the food or thought it was a good value, seeing the tremendous other restaurants in San Juan. So I can't recommend anything here......EXCEPT!!! goto the open air rooftop bar at the ESJ, get a magarita and have guacamole made tableside.
Very yummy and great views.

In El Yunque/Luquillo Beach:

I highly recommend driving to El Yunque Park. It is the only rainforest in the US park service. Great hiking. Afterwards wash yourself off in the ocean at Luquillo Beach, just don't go on weekends when it will be packed!!!! The good eats are the various bungalows along the beach (not in the beach park, but down from the beach area) you'll see when driving twoards the beach park. The various grilled meats and empanadas go great w/the cold Medalla beer.

In Ponce:

The only restaurant we've eaten is La Hacienda/La Cava de la Hacienda which is located in the Ponce Hilton. Good International cuisine, but pricy. a better bet is to drive 20 minutes West to the following:

In Guanica:

One of our favorite places to stay (and eat) on the south side of the Island is the Copamarina Beach Resort whose Ballena's restaurant is very good. Service is slow here, but the food is well worth it.

In Rincon:

Rincon is 8 miles north of Mayaguez on the West side of PR. The Horned Dorset Primavera Hotel. This is THE best hotel in PR for couples (no kids under 12 allowed). It also has one of the most beautiful and delicious dining rooms in all of PR. Well worth the drive and $$.

La Paguera:

La Paguera is located on the SW side of PR.
If you should find yourself there on a dark night. Make sure to do two things.
Eat at the Parador Villa Parguerra, which serves seafood in a traditional PR manner. the fresh fish is ALWAYS pleasing.

After dinner, find the local boats that take you to Phosphorescent Bay. Once there, the tiny bioluminescent organisms in the water light up when disturbed by the swimmers. A very amazing sight and real fun being on the water at night.

Other activities:
the Observatory of Arecibo, the largest radar/radio telescope on earth
Rio Camuy Caves (about 1 hr drive from San Juan)
Scuba (we've gone out of the Copa Marina and Fajardo)
Oldest Church in the Western Hemisphere (text courtesy of Frommer's): One of the most noteworthy churches in Puerto Rico is Iglesia Porta Coeli (Gate of Heaven) (tel. 787/892-0160), which sits atop a knoll at the eastern end of a cobble-covered square, the Parque de Santo Domingo. Dating from 1606 and built in a style inspired by the Romanesque architecture of northern Spain, this is the oldest church in the New World. Restored by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, and sheathed in a layer of salmon-colored stucco, it contains a museum of religious art with a collection of ancient santos, the carved figures of saints that have long been a major part of Puerto Rican folk art.

We only had 2 1/2 days in San Juan.
We stayed at the Old San Juan on an upper floor in a huge room overlooking the cruise ship docks.

We ate at Ambrosia and at El Jibarito. The food at El Jibarito is in the home cooking style, we thought it was very good and quite reasonable.

Ambrosia was more expensive and seemed more bland. We ate Mofongo everywhere we could! Love the garlic butter sauce.

We spent most of one day walking the entire old walled city and visiting both forts.

Our 2nd day we spent at El Junque (rainforest)

That was it for our trip. The most memorable experience might be the taxi strike that left us nearly stranded at the hotel at 6AM. We were saved by another guest with a car who dropped us off at the airport on his way to work.