San Juan

San Juan is where most visitors land, and for a lot of trips it's also where they base themselves for the whole week. The metro area stretches from the five-century-old streets of Old San Juan through the beach-hotel strip of Condado and Isla Verde, so "San Juan" covers a lot of different kinds of days depending on which stretch a traveler is standing in.

It's also the departure point for most of the island's most-booked tours: El Yunque rainforest day trips, catamaran sails, snorkel boats, and cave adventures all typically pick up from San Juan hotels even when the destination itself is an hour or more away. That makes San Juan less a single attraction and more a hub, useful for travelers who want one home base with day trips radiating out from it.

For a walkable, historic day, Old San Juan (covered on its own page) is the draw. For beach time without leaving the city, Condado and Isla Verde front the ocean directly. Both fit into a San Juan stay without renting a car, though a car, or a booked tour with pickup, opens up El Yunque, Fajardo, and the rest of the island.