Introduction to Dorado

18 miles (29km) W of San Juan

Dorado -- the name itself evokes a kind of magic -- is a world of luxury resorts and villas that unfolds along the north shore of Puerto Rico. The elegant Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort & Country Club sits on the choice white-sand beaches here.

The site was originally purchased in 1905 by Dr. Alfred T. Livingston, a Jamestown, N.Y., physician, who developed it as a 1,000-acre (400-hectare) grapefruit-and-coconut plantation. Dr. Livingston's daughter, Clara, widely known in aviation circles as a friend of Amelia Earhart, owned and operated the plantation after her father's death. It was she who built the airstrip here.