There are many things to do when you visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico. Whether it’s touring the historical sites of Old San Juan, or enjoying steaming empanadillas at the Mercado de Santurce, you’ll find no shortage of ways to fill up your days in San Juan. There more than 15 places that can you visited, any visit to San Juan must include at least a day spent in Old San Juan, the city’s historical heart. Here you’ll walk centuries-old blue cobblestone streets, winding past 16th and 17th century architecture on your way to one of the town’s many historical sites. Relax with a coffee at one of the many open-air cafes, or just people-watch from the town’s historic plazas. Art lovers and bargain hunters alike will enjoy at trip to the Haitian Gallery, which specializes in Haitian carvings and paintings, while history buffs must take a trip to the massive El Morro, the fort that has stood guard over San Juan harbor since the 16th century.
San Juan officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista (Municipality of the Capital City, Saint John the Baptist), is the capital and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. San Juan is located along the north-eastern coast of Puerto Rico. It lies south of the Atlantic Ocean; north of Caguas and Trujillo Alto; east of and Guaynabo; and west of Carolina. The city occupies an area of 76.93 square miles (199.2 km2), of which, 29.11 square miles (75.4 km2) (37.83%) is water. San Juan's main water bodies are San Juan Bay and two natural lagoons, the Condado and San José. San Juan has a tropical monsoon climate and enjoys an average temperature of 79.9 °F (26.6 °C) although 90 °F (32 °C) or higher temperatures are often felt during the wetter months of the northern summer, especially if the winds come from the south. In the winter, temperatures can drop to around 60 °F (16 °C), though the average winter low is 71 °F (22 °C). The coolest temperature ever recorded was 60 °F (16 °C) on March 3, 1957, and the hottest was 98 °F (37 °C) on October 9, 1981.[33] Rainfall is well-distributed throughout the year, but the months of January, February, and March are the driest; as February averages just under 1.95 inches (49.5 mm) of rain, the city falls under the tropical monsoon category.
1. Old San Juan
Old San Juan is the oldest settlement within Puerto Rico and is the historic colonial section of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1972 as "Zona Histórica de San Juan" (San Juan Historic Site), and declared a National Historic Landmark District in March 2013. Old San Juan is located on a small and narrow island which lies in the north coast, about 35 miles (56 km) from the east end of Puerto Rico, and is united to the mainland of Puerto Rico by the three bridges. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and to the south by San Juan Bay or "Bahia de San Juan" which lies between the city and the mainland. On a bluff about 100 feet (30 m) high at the west end of the island and commanding the entrance to the harbor rise the battlements of Fort San Felipe del Morro, in which there is a lighthouse.
2. Isla Verde
Isla Verde is a District of Carolina located east of Santurce (south western front of Piñones) next to the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport above the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge. Isla Verde is the area just outside the capital of Puerto Rico that links with the college town of Río Piedras and the residential counterpart surroundings of Hato Rey which includes the neighborhoods of Baldrich and University Gardens revolving around Golden Mile's financial district.
3. The Camuy River Cave Park
The Camuy River Cave Park is a cave system in Puerto Rico. It is located between the municipalities of Camuy, Hatillo and Lares in northwestern Puerto Rico, but the main entrance to the park is located in Quebrada, Camuy. The caverns are part of a large network of natural limestone caves and underground waterways carved out by the third-largest underground river in the world, the Río Camuy (Camuy River). The cave system was discovered in 1958 and was first documented in the 1973 book Discovery At The Río Camuy (ISBN 0-517-50594-0) by Russell and Jeanne Gurnee, but there is archaeological evidence that these caves were explored hundreds of years ago by the Taíno Indians, Puerto Rico's first inhabitants. Over 10 miles of caverns, 220 caves and 17 entrances to the Camuy cave system have been mapped so far. This, however, is only a fraction of the entire system which many experts believe still holds another 800 caves. Only a small part of the complex is open to the public. The 268-acre park built around the cave system features tours of some of the caves and sinkholes, and is one of the most popular natural attractions in Puerto Rico.
4. Castillo San Felipe del Morro
Castillo San Felipe del Morro also known as Fort San Felipe del Morro or Morro Castle, is a 16th-century citadel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lying on the northwestern-most point of the islet of Old San Juan, Castillo San Felipe del Morro is named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. The fortification, also referred to as el Morro or 'the promontory,' was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan from seaborne enemies. In 1983, the el Castillo was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in conjunction with the San Juan National Historic Site. Over two million visitors a year explore the castillo, making it one of Puerto Rico's leading tourist attractions. Facing the structure, on the opposite side of the bay, a smaller fortification known as El Cañuelo complemented the castillo's defense of the entrance to the bay.
5. La Fortaleza (The Fortress)
La Fortaleza (The Fortress) is the current official residence of the Governor of Puerto Rico. It was built between 1533 and 1540 to defend the harbor of San Juan. The structure is also known as Palacio de Santa Catalina (Santa Catalina's Palace). It is the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the New World. It was listed by UNESCO in 1983 as part of the World Heritage Site "La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site". During the 1640 reconstruction, the chapel of Santa Catalina, which originally existed outside of the walls, was demolished and was integrated to the walls of the structure, resulting in the alternate name Santa Catalina's Palace.
6. The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico
The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, abbreviated MAPR) is an art museum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. MAPR is a 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) neoclassical building from the 1920s formerly known as the San Juan Municipal Hospital. It is one of the biggest museums in the Caribbean and a local house for collections from the 17th century. The new east wing, which is dominated by a five-story-tall stained-glass window, is the work of local artist Eric Tabales. The museum is located in the heart of Santurce, steps away from the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center and the Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art. The historical building that houses part of the MAPR was built during the 1920s by architect William Shimmelphening. A new wing, designed by architects Otto Reyes and Luis Gutierrez in 1996, was added to the existing building to create what is now the complete structure.
7. San Juan National Historic Site
San Juan National Historic Site in the Old San Juan section of San Juan, Puerto Rico, includes colonial-era forts, bastions, powder houses, and three fourths of the old city wall. By a February 14, 1949 decree the site was established, and noted the need to protect the fortifications as monuments as well as preserve their historical and architectural value. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. On December 6, 1983, the park and La Fortaleza were together designated a World Heritage Site under the name "La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico". Only 12 national park areas in the United States are considered World Heritage Sites.
8. The Museo de Vida Silvestre
The Museo de Vida Silvestre (in English, the Wildlife Museum) is a Museum located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was inaugurated in November 1, 2010 and houses more than 200 specimens in their respective habitats. The museum has garnered popularity in the island, receiving more than 100,000 visitors shortly after its first year. The Museo de Vida Silvestre is located in the John F. Kennedy Avenue in San Juan, inside a 55,000 square feet, 2-story building. The building features several environmentally friendly elements within its structure, like the installation of ivy around it, and the use of photovoltaic cells to provide partial energy to the facilities.
9. The Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center
The Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center, or Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré (CBA) in Spanish, is a multi-use performance centre located Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It features three main concert and theater halls for plays, ballet, operas and concerts. It was renamed in 1994 after the late Puerto Rican politician and philanthropist Luis A. Ferré. The Center opened on April 9, 1981 under the administration of then Governor Carlos Romero Barceló (PNP) after 10 years of planning, project financing, and construction. Since then, it has become the most important performing arts venue in the Puerto Rican capital, presenting the highest level of commercial theater in Puerto Rico along with ballets and operas, and also hosting internationally renowned stars such as Plácido Domingo. The Center is home to the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the annual Casals Festival. Lately, and not without criticism, it has opened its doors to urban music.
10. The Cathedral of San Juan Bautista
The Cathedral of San Juan Bautista is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico. The cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in San Juan, located in Old San Juan, and is the second oldest cathedral in the Americas. The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, is the oldest. The original cathedral in what was the city of Puerto Rico (changed to San Juan after the Spanish-American War) was constructed from wood in 1521. It was destroyed by a hurricane and the current structure constructed in 1540, being reshaped in later centuries, the last time being in 1917. The cathedral contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer and settlement founder Juan Ponce de León. It also has a shrine to the Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Santiago, the first Puerto Rican, the first Caribbean-born layperson and the first layperson in the history of the United States to be beatified.
