Puerto Rico

[WeezyBengal]

Has anyone ever been to Puerto Rico before? I am thinking about going in June. Flights are only like 300 dollars and it seems like a cool place.

My question is, what city is the best to stay in? I know San Juan is the big touristy one but the group I am going with wants a more relaxed chilled atmosphere with really nice beaches, restaurants, bars, etc.

Does anyone have any tips or experiences with Puerto Rico?

[Who2Dey]

Never been be safe and stay with the tourist. One block can be the difference between resort and third world.

[x_Bengals_x]

Never been and never want to go. Good luck down there with the natives.

[WeezyBengal]

Originally Posted by Who2Dey

Never been be safe and stay with the tourist. One block can be the difference between resort and third world.

Im hoping to not wake up in someone bathtub with ice all over me and my organs missing.

[Helldog]

Enjoy your trip and update us on your experience post-vacation. I wouldn't mind going down there someday.

[Who2Dey]

Originally Posted by WeezyBengal

Im hoping to not wake up in someone bathtub with ice all over me and my organs missing.

I was thinking a simple kidnap/ransom scenario. Poor American has it pretty well off compared to poor Puerto Rican.

[Bengalzona]

I've been there. We stayed one day at San Juan and then traveled to the south side of the island and stayed several days at at a nice hotel on the beach just outside of Ponce.

San Juan is crowded and most of the people are low income. As you fly in, you can see the many tenement buildings. We stayed in the tourist area along the main strip. The traffic on the strip runs all night long. If you get a hotel room there, get a room that faces the water, not the road. I couldn't really say whether you would be safe going outside the tourist areas, since I didn't go. I will say this much, I have yet to meet a person from the PR that I didn't like. They are generally good people.

There's a few things to see in San Juan. I spent half a day and walked to the old quarter and Fort San Cristobal. Rum makes a nice take-home gift.

I'm pretty glad we spent most of our time on the south side of the island. The island is bigger than it looks. It takes a couple of hours to get from San Juan to Ponce. I can't remember what hotel we stayed at (it was over 10 years ago), but it was nice. One thing, don't expect to watch any football. I went over Super Bowl weekend and when I asked where I could view the game, the response was "What is 'Super Bowl'?". Stay at a hotel along the water if you can. The water is where it is at down there. The south of the island is extremely peaceful and relaxing.

Have a great trip!

[BANJAXED]

The drug trade is big there but the murders are almost always between rivals. Stick to the resort you stay in and dont drive around outside of the immediate area at night as car jackings (while they have reduced considerably) happen.

Other than that - you should have a great time!

[fredtoast]

Originally Posted by Who2Dey

Poor American has it pretty well off compared to poor Puerto Rican.

Aren't Puerto Ricans American's?

[Who2Dey]

Originally Posted by fredtoast

Aren't Puerto Ricans American's?

Barely...you know what I mean.

[wcu]

I've been to San Juan a few times. There's nice areas and bad ones, just like anywhere else. Of course there's more bad ones there and they're worse than your normal bad places hehe. Lots of good food, neat historical places, great beaches and nice people. It's a cool trip if you can make it.

[wildcats forever]

I had a project in Cayey in '95/96 for P&G, travelling between Cincinnati and San Juan for close to a year - every Monday I'd fly down, and back on Thursday nights. While there, I stayed at the Condado Plaza, a nice hotel/casino with a fantastic pool bar. Great scenery.
As Zona said, the locals are pretty nice folks, though like most places you can meet some you'd just as soon avoid. I was told that PR men treat their women rather poorly, and as a result a lot of of women were trying to hook up with Americans as a way off the island. I was impressed by how friendly some of those ladies were

My first rental car was missing a rear bumper, and when I pointed this out to the agent, he got kinda serious about warning me to never stop if someone ran into the back of mine, that I should proceed directly to a police station instead. A few people had been classically mugged by this form of a scam; they run into your car, you get out, they knock you out and rob you etc.

The food was not overly terrific, as compared to Jamaica. Plantain grows everywhere there, and all restaurants serve it in some form or another. I almost gag thinking about that stuff. But the rum is fantastic! Never knew there were so many different styles of rum until I went there. And thanks to the pool bar bartender, I think I managed to try most of them. My memory is fuzzy for a few weeks of my stay there....

Ponce is THE place to hang out there, or was back then. Outside of that most areas besides the tourist spots are very poor, and some looked a little scarey (at the risk of sounding paranoid). Some parts of the island looked like a hurrican just blew through - buildings with no roof, cars on their side, downed trees etc and was just left to rot away. Other parts were absolutely gorgeous - typical tropical island natural beauty. When i was there, they were having problems with drug trafficking originating from the Dominican Republic with some well-publicized violence that the officials couldn't quite control. Most of this was in San Juan adjacent to Condado at the time.

I haven't been back, preferring to go to Jamaica when I get the itch to head in that general part of the world, but some of that has to do with having friends that live there. Jamaica is generally nicer than PR in my opinion though Kingston is best to avoid.

Good luck if you go. I'd like to hear what your experience was.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

Originally Posted by Who2Dey

Never been be safe and stay with the tourist. One block can be the difference between resort and third world.

Kind of like Detroit or Cleveland?

[WeezyBengal]

Thanks for all the replies yall. I am going to report back to the group I am going with and hopefully we can get this thing booked. I will let you all know how it goes!

[XenoMorph]

Ill visit there when those A-Holes become the 51st state and start paying their taxes...

[Sher Khan]

Originally Posted by BengalsFan024

Ill visit there when those A-Holes become the 51st state and start paying their taxes...

Maybe their job creators...

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by Sher Khan

Maybe their job creators...

Maybe they use better grammar

[ishouldbegm]

Originally Posted by WeezyBengal

Has anyone ever been to Puerto Rico before? I am thinking about going in June. Flights are only like 300 dollars and it seems like a cool place.

My question is, what city is the best to stay in? I know San Juan is the big touristy one but the group I am going with wants a more relaxed chilled atmosphere with really nice beaches, restaurants, bars, etc.

Does anyone have any tips or experiences with Puerto Rico?

i just go to atlantic city it's pretty much the same minus the weather

[ishouldbegm]

Originally Posted by Who2Dey

I was thinking a simple kidnap/ransom scenario. Poor American has it pretty well off compared to poor Puerto Rican.

in about 25 other countires i am a multi millionaire

[Sher Khan]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

Maybe they use better grammar

I dunno, I watched the Polar Express in Spanish and couldn't make out a word of it. Santa Clause was pretty funny though.

[ajustyle]

Originally Posted by WeezyBengal

Has anyone ever been to Puerto Rico before? I am thinking about going in June. Flights are only like 300 dollars and it seems like a cool place.

My question is, what city is the best to stay in? I know San Juan is the big touristy one but the group I am going with wants a more relaxed chilled atmosphere with really nice beaches, restaurants, bars, etc.

Does anyone have any tips or experiences with Puerto Rico?

I was just there for a week in Novemeber. I stayed at the El Conquistador hotel. It was awesome. It was about a 45 minute drive away from San Juan. The plane trip wasn't too bad and the tickets weren't bad either. I stayed at the resort the whole time. The scenery was magnificent. Definitely bring an extra 500 bucks so you can do cool stuff like zip-lining and jet skiing. And also eating out at nice restaurants. I found a clip of the resort here.

[nevergonnachange]

I've been to PR once, stayed in the Isla Verde section of San Juan, the hotel faced a sports arena (**** fighting...not joking). The beaches are great, if you're a history buff, I'd hit El Morro, a 400 year old fort. If you like nature and want to check out a rain forest, there's El Yunque.

As mentioned by others, watch where you go, I visited some of my wife's family in the nicer parts of San Juan and noticed things to keep the riff raff out. It's odd seeing something akin to razor wire surrounding an apartment complex.

Also, don't drive if you can help it. Street signs are more suggestions than commands and the streets in Old San Juan are very narrow.

[Sher Khan]

Originally Posted by ajustyle

I was just there for a week in Novemeber. I stayed at the El Conquistador hotel. It was awesome. It was about a 45 minute drive away from San Juan. The plane trip wasn't too bad and the tickets weren't bad either. I stayed at the resort the whole time. The scenery was magnificent. Definitely bring an extra 500 bucks so you can do cool stuff like zip-lining and jet skiing. And also eating out at nice restaurants. I found a clip of the resort here.

A Tralolololo singing vid? I was expecting to see the El Conquistador resort. Instead I get a Mel Torme' impression?