The PR.

I have been wanting to visit Puerto Rico since I began flying two years ago. When my boyfriend said his parents were going and wanted us to join I was more than happy to get the time off! Carry along with me to see us old San Jaun and the beautiful beach area we stayed at.

Route:

Using flight benefits we flew ORD-MIA the day before the vacation started and stayed with my boyfriends parents. They had confirmed seats on a Southwest flight, which happened to have open seats. We hopped on that same flight going FLL-SJU.

If you are looking into going, there are many options on American, Spirit, JetBlue and Southwest out of the MIA/FLL area.

Coming home I went on a direct SJU-MDW (Chicago Midway) via Southwest.

Going:

ORD-MIA FLL-SJU
Coming:
SJU-ORDWe had the best time on Southwest.

Lately, I have been flying on them and their crews are so sweet. Highly recommend checking them out.

Old San Juan.

The part of San Juan known for being the old city is an iconic area of Puerto Rico and a space filled with history and color. We spent the day roaming around the city, eating Puerto Rican food and enjoying the perfect spring weather.

If you take a look at where the old city of San Juan is situated on the map you will notice it is mostly surrounded by coastline. There are two forts on the northwest and northeast portions of the city, you can spend time touring. They have paid tours, less than $10 per person, that can be done allowing you to see interior of the fort. Keep scrolling to see more of the city.

Stop at Parque las Palomas where you will find so many pigeons flying around asking for food. There is a nice outlook onto the coast, just make sure no birds make a mess on you!

Stroll down Fortaleza and see the picturesque street covered with umbrellas. The ends of the street will bring you to La Fortaleza, home of the governor.

Heading up the hill towards Castillo San Felipe you will also encounter San Jose Church; one of the first buildings in San Juan.

Castillo San Felipe has a large grass area which was packed with kids flying kites on the very windy day.

Garitas are guard towers that you will see throughout the fort areas in old San Juan. I imaged what it was like for soldiers sitting around during long shifts, guarding the city from ships coming in.

At San Cristobal one of the towers (pictured below) is known as “Garita del Diablo.” The name was given because story goes that a soldier went missing while sitting at his post one night. Some say he escaped and ran away to be with a woman he loved.

Luquillo.

Located towards the northwest corner of the island this was the perfect spot to stay. The beach had beautiful soft sand and during the week was really chill. We enjoyed walking along the beach because both directions had different esthetics. I loved how to the east the land was uninhabited so it was just so calm and clean.

Besides strolling down the beach we visited the Kioskos de Loquillo. Here is a set up of shacks selling food and drinks. The favorites for us there was the fried cod called bacalaitos and the fried pizza empanadas. I tried my first fresh coconut water here too.

El Yunque.

Visiting El Yunque is a national forest is a great side trip to do while visiting. Many of the trails were still closed due to damage from the hurricane, but the streets were still drivable. I recommend going early because there is a capacity of people allowed in and we waited in line for a while. The views are amazing and worth it.

PR Food.

Now let’s chat food! I did’t get the chance to get a lot of pictures of my food, but we really ate good while we were down in PR. Some of the typical food in Puerto Rico includes mofongo, plantain and is the birthplace of pina coladas!

When roaming around Old SJ if you want to eat some authentic Puerto Rican food stop at El Jibarito. I live for guava flavored anything (we had guava BBQ! YUM!!!) so naturally I got a guava juice, casava mash and fried corn sticks.

At one of the main plazas we ate coconut and guava sorbet while walking around. Another tourist spot that will serve you traditional food and is an experience is Raices.

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Puerto Rico.