Fodor’s Travel Puerto Rico

by Fodor’s Travel Publications Inc.

Publisher: Fodor’s Travel
Ginasbookreport Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Non-Fiction
Read This If You Love: Love to travel

To celebrate a milestone birthday, we headed off to Puerto Rico in May. We picked up the Fodor’s Travel Puerto Rico guide to help plan our visit…where to stay, what to do, where to eat, what foods to try, shopping, outings, etc. There were some hits and some misses, but overall the guide was a good way to build our vacation.

Stay…

We booked our stay at La Concha Resort and while the guide did mention that is a club spot, I had no clue it was going to be such a party place. Not having children, we were looking for a place with minimal little ones. While there were a few families with kids at the resort, it was mostly 20-40 year olds and LOTS of loud thumping music at all hours. If this is what you are looking for, great. If you need some sleep and quiet time, book another place. On the positive side, the facility was nice and we really enjoyed all four pools and the staff was great. They also have chairs set up on the beach for hotel guests and the staff will set up the umbrella for you. While there is a daily resort fee, you don’t have an additional charge for the beach chairs and umbrella like you do in many Florida resorts (where you also have a resort fee, too). One other HUGE note about this resort, the ocean is rough in front of it and there are some dangerous tides that pull to the rocks. If you want to swim in the ocean, you’ll need to walk much further down to a safer area. We actually saw lifeguards pulling someone from the water and providing medical assistance. 

Outings…

We had several outings planned, but one was cancelled due to weather, one was cancelled due to a mechanical boat issue, and a few others we opted to do something else. Unlike places like Hawaii, I do feel that you could probably wait until you are on the island to set up some activities and still be able to get booked. In retrospect, we scheduled too much out of caution from our experience on other islands. 

Our favorite activity was a tour and tasting at the rum distillery at Ron del Barrilito. We booked this in advance and I wanted to do the full tasting for my husband. If you are staying primarily in San Juan, this particular facility will give you a sense of the less populated are of the island. You get a cocktail upon arrival, and I am not joking to say the pina colada I had was the single best drink of my life. It was absolutely delicious. A few sips in and I was already feeling it while those around me seemed fine. I seriously thought I had something wrong with me, but then we started the tour and our guide went through the various rums they offer. He then mentioned that the one used for cocktails is 138 proof. UMMMMM….no wonder I was feeling like I’d just thrown back a bunch of shots. It was all super interesting (much more than a wine facility tour, imo) and then we were off to the tasting. You get to taste even their collectible high-end rums. To say my husband enjoyed his bit, is an understatement. What a treat! Everyone on the island highly recommended the Ron del Barrilito rum as the best on the island. 

Another day (actually two days because we liked it so much), we ventured to Old San Juan. Initially we had signed up for an official walking tour. After feeling how hot the afternoons were, we didn’t think it was worth it to be in a pack for 3 hours of walking. Instead, we went out on our own and hit the places that appealed to us. (I felt good about this decision after hearing other guests at the hotel say that they had done the tour and were miserable.) So we set off in the morning hours so that it was a bit cooler and had a great time. The travel guidebook does a good job of guiding you what to see and do in Old San Juan. However, here are some highlights we really loved.

The guidebook also talks about various shopping opportunities and souvenirs. I believe there are two hat stores listed and we decided hats would be our trip souvenir. The experience was so fun and unique. The staff helps you select the style and size you want and then custom fits the hat to you. We picked out the ribbons we wanted and got to watch the staff work their magic of putting it all together. It was fascinating. Additionally, they have you write on a label whatever you want and that is adhered with heat to the inside of the hat. Given that this was for my milestone birthday, we added our names, date, and occasion. It’s a great memory that we got to bring home and they are super nice to wear on these sunny midwestern days.

Do NOT miss getting a cool treat at Senor Paleta’s. Oh my goodness! The birthday cake pop was my favorite. It was so creamy and packed with cake and sprinkles. My husband really enjoyed a strawberry pop. If you get one of these at the start of your trip, you will most certainly go back for more.

The most iconic street in Old San Juan is Fortaleza, which is also known as “Umbrella Street.” There were tons of people milling about, but it is worth grabbing a photo in front of the display. It really is fun and beautiful. We got our photos and then went back onto the other streets for a delicious meal.

A note about the food. I love to try new foods when we travel, and we loved the empanadas that we found at a little dive across from our resort. You will find that many of the foods on the island are fried and that can be a challenge for those looking to eat healthier options or avoiding an upset belly. We did venture out to many restaurants in the Condado area. The guidebook lists some yummy restaurants and I will say that reservations are a must and most places did require more elevated dress than we have done on other beach vacations. We also felt perfectly safe walking to and from the restaurants during the evening hours. All in all, I would absolutely use this book to plan a trip.