clseale- Puerto Rico

[kellydelq]

I was searching the travel board for Puerto Rico info and I recognized your name from this board on a few of the posts, promise I am not a stalker!

My family of five plus my parents are heading to PR in January for my dad's 60th birthday for four nights. They are not interesting in hiking or any of those types of activities, just looking for a direct flight, no passports required, drink in hand by the pool type of place.
We are 99% sure we want to stay at Las Casitas which is part of El Conquestitor.... just looking for any advice or tips since you stayed there.
With my little ones I don't think we plan to leave the resort as a group for dinners or anything. My parents may go out to dinner 1-2 nights in the area but we plan to eat only at resort for convenience with the kids.  We are possibly going to rent a car one day per couple and leave the kids back at the pool for the day. Where would you suggest we visit? OSJ or somewhere else? Just looking for any input you can provide. Thanks so much!

[clseale]

Hi! Sooo...I don't know how much help I'm going to be (because we're big explorers), but I can tell you what we did.

We landed, picked up our car, had lunch in Old San Juan, and then got the hell out of the area. LOL Old San Juan was cute, but I feel like it was more touristy than I was expecting. We had lunch and walked around a bit, but all of the shops were full of souvenirs, and just not really our thing. It was also pretty empty when we were there, so maybe that's it. I feel like others have had a different experience there. We stopped in a couple of cool bars for drinks, but we were probably only there for a couple of hours. I can't imagine spending much more time there. We didn't do the fort, so that's something that could take up more time. The surrounding areas were chaotic, so I think we were all happy to get in the car, and head out of the city.

We stayed where we did, because we wanted to hike the rain forest, and we had a sail boat/snorkeling charter one day. We figured it made sense to stay where we wanted to play. Because of that, we didn't spend a ton of time at the resort. We did take advantage of the private island for two of the days that we were there, and that was nice! Those were blissfully lazy days of floating in the water, and lounging with our drinks. There's a very short hike to the top of the island, and the views are gorgeous! The pool was nice, but we all wanted to be on a beach, where we could really take advantage of the views. There was also decent snorkeling right off of the beach.

The only night we ate at the hotel was the first night, and we just ate at the little outdoor cafe that is directly on the water. It was decent. I think we all got some type of sandwich, so it's not like there's much to review. For food out of the resort, we spent a lot of time at the kiosks in Luquillo, but I don't know that I would suggest that to your parents. I actually had a friend that was there recently, and she was telling me about a great restaurant they tried in that area. I can ask her the name if you'd like. There was a tapas place on the main road up to the hotel that we tried (it had an upstairs balcony seating area) that was good.

If you have a car, you could certainly go back and check out areas around Old San Juan. You could also check out the Bacardi factory if that's of any interest, but my biggest regret of the trip is not visiting Vieques or Culebra. If you want a day without the kids, it might be worth taking a ferry out there and exploring. If we go back, it's definitely on my list.

That's all I can think of right now, but if you think of any other specific questions, let me know.

[kellydelq]

That is kind of how I felt about staying in San Juan, we live in a chaotic city, i don't want to vacation to one, which is why we chose La Casitas. All of this info is great! I guess I will look into prices for renting a car for the entire trip verses just the day. I think we are paying for transfer from airport to hotel. Being we are 7 people and two carseats needed it may be easier to just rent a car for the day. As of now I was thinking taking a ride to OSJ and doing exactly what you said, seeing the Bacardi distillery, take a little walk, grab lunch and maybe see the castle. We will definitely be doing one day at the private island and probably a half day at the water park to satisfy the kids. The rest of the time will be spent pool hopping since that is what satisfies the group.
I don't know anything about it but will look into Vieques as well, I just googled and see it is an island. I am assuming you would visit it by ferry to see the views, hike, snorkel, etc?
I am also looking to do a zipline or guided rainforest tour, not sure anyone else would be interested so it may be a solo trip. Did you just go on your own or use an outside company or someone from the resort?
ETA- also would like to do the electric boat ride in the glowing bay, did you guys do that?

[clseale]

Yes, Vieques is just another island. You can catch a ferry that departs from Fajardo. I think it's just over an hour ride. I've heard there is some great snorkeling out there, even prettier beaches, cute shops & restaurants, I think there is a fort & some ruins. Basically just more islandy stuff.

We didn't do a tour in the rain forest, but I think that would be a lot of fun. Zip-lining would have been very cool, and I know a lot of people who have done that and enjoyed it. Since we had a car, we just drove out of the hotel, somehow found our way to the visitor center at the park, and told them we wanted to go to the top. They gave us some maps & showed us which routes to take, and then we just hiked a ton. It was a fun day. There are great views from the top, and then from the bottom, there's another path you can take to some beautiful water falls.

Definitely check out prices on the car and compare. We knew we'd want it for the rain forest day, and for the charter we had booked. We also knew we wanted to check out some hole in the wall places, like the kiosks in Luquillo, so it made sense for us. We only needed a car that held 4 people, but if I remember correctly, it was maybe $30 a day...at most. It was cheap. You have to pay for parking at the resort, but split between your group, it wouldn't be bad.

[kellydelq]

Thanks so much! I am really excited now

[clseale]

You're welcome! It was a very laid back & relaxing trip. Here are some pics from the private island & rain forest.









While not native, there are a few of these big guys wandering around the private island. LOL

[lilles]

You should try Restaurante Raíces and the Chocolate Cortés restaurant

[kellydelq]

so beautiful!!!!! Thanks for sharing! Were there trails you could take right from the resort, I would love to take my son to see the waterfalls just not sure how far he would last hiking.

lilles- I am adding them to my list, thanks!

[workaholic]

I was in PR two weeks ago. Luquillo beach is gorgeous. Fyi most rental companies are franchises there and have some different charges (i.e. They wanted us to use their insurance for $20/day with $200 deposit. Otherwise I had to pay $500 deposit. It was annoying bc it added a bunch of time I wasn't planning on. I was irritated they sprung it last minute).
The ferry to Vieques/Culebra is ran by the government and always in disrepair or running behind schedule. Its not easy to get there and back in one day. Definitely check out the forums on TripAdvisor. They have fantastic advice and someone usually updates about the ferry.
The waterfalls are gorgeous but the hike down would not be good with little ones. Its a trail but a lot of climbing.
Have fun! I adore PR.

[clseale]

Yes, the ferry trouble is a very good point! We actually talked to a few couples at our resort, that went for a day trip with absolutely no issues, but I do remember reading very mixed review when I was researching it for our trip.

There are no trails from the resort. It was all from the rain forest. It all depends on what you think your son is up for. The waterfall trail didn't seem bad to us (though that might have been because we had just scaled a mountain hiking to the very top). There was definitely some elevation change, but there were plenty of kids along the trail. I guess it depends on the kid. I wouldn't hesitate to say that my 6 yr old niece could do it without much issue, but it would definitely take longer & more patience with a child.

ETA: And yes, I guess you should probably research your rental companies (I use trip advisor for everything!), because we didn't have the insurance issue. DH actually winded up getting the extra insurance because he was paranoid, but that was completely optional. 

It's also been almost 2 yrs since we were there, so workaholic's recent tips are probably helpful.