Getting There

Puerto Rico is by far the most accessible of the Caribbean islands, with frequent airline service. It's also the major airline hub of the Caribbean Basin.

By Plane

With San Juan as its hub for the entire Caribbean, American Airlines offers nonstop daily flights to San Juan from Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Hartford, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York (JFK), Orlando, Philadelphia, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Washington (Dulles), plus flights to San Juan from both Montreal and Toronto with changes in Chicago or Miami.

Delta has three daily nonstop flights from Atlanta Monday to Friday, six nonstop on Saturday, and six nonstop on Sunday. Flights into Atlanta from around the world are frequent, with excellent connections from points throughout Delta's network in the South and Southwest.

United Airlines and American Airlines offer daily nonstop flights from Chicago to San Juan. KLM Royal Dutch Airways and Northwest Airlines offer three nonstop flights weekly to San Juan from Detroit, while Continental offers one weekly flight. United also offers flights to San Juan from both Memphis and Minneapolis, with a schedule that varies according to the season and the day of the week.

US Airways has several daily direct flights between Charlotte, NC, and San Juan. The airline also offers three daily nonstop flights to San Juan from Philadelphia, and one daily nonstop Saturday and Sunday flight to San Juan from Pittsburgh.

Continental Airlines flies nonstop daily from Newark, Houston, and Cleveland. The airline also flies from Newark direct to the northwestern airport outside Aguadilla should you wish to begin your tour of Puerto Rico in the west. In winter, service is increased to daily flights. JetBlue flies two times a day from New York's JFK airport to San Juan. The airline also serves 20 other U.S. cities, including Boston, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Seattle. Spirit Air offers two daily nonstop flights from Orlando, and one from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan.

Canadians can fly Air Canada from either Montreal or Toronto to San Juan.

Puerto Rico is the major transportation hub of the Caribbean, with the best connections for getting anywhere in the island. In addition to American Eagle, Cape Air links two of the major islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. Croix, as well as Tortola in the B.V.I., with San Juan.

Seaborne Airlines offers daily links between St. Croix and St. Thomas with San Juan. The one-way cost from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico is $146 per person. The planes are small and frequent, carrying 15 to 19 passengers. Often there are more than 50 flights a day.

LIAT provides an air link to the Lesser Antilles islands.

British travelers can take a British Airways weekly flight direct from London to San Juan on Sunday. Lufthansa passengers can fly on Saturday (one weekly flight) from Frankfurt to San Juan via USAir from Philadelphia. And Iberia has two weekly flights from Madrid to San Juan, leaving on Thursday and Saturday.