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Ponce Attractions
Most visitors go to Ponce to see the city's rebuilt historic section. The renovations beautifully restored much of the city's whimsical architectural style. While the city dates back to 1692, its unique "Ponce Creole" architecture, mixing Spanish colonial, Caribbean, and contemporary influences, was mostly created from the 1850s through the 1930s. The style is marked by the use of wide balconies, distinctive masonry work, and neoclassical touches: plaster garlands, punched tin ceilings, and stained glass panels. Other architectural motifs such as metal grill work are present within specific geographic areas of the city. The style takes European concepts, but adapts them to the city's tropical climate by using pastel colors on building facades and adding high ceilings that help keep houses cool.
The city's unique architecture was created during the years of Ponce's heyday, in the 19th century, when it trumped San Juan as the island's most important city and rose as a regional trading power. Cut off from San Juan because of geographic barriers, Ponce's trade brought foreign influences and style, which shows in its architecture, as well as its wider culture, including music and cuisine.
The weekday marketplace, open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, at calles Atocha and Castillo, is colorful. Perhaps you'll want to simply sit in the plaza, watching the Ponceños at one of their favorite pastimes -- strolling about town.
10 Results
- Religious Site
Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe
In 1660 a rustic chapel was built on this spot on the western edge of the Plaza Las Delicias, and since then fires and earthquakes have razed the church repeatedly. In 1919 a team of priests collected funds from local parishioners to construct the Doric- and Gothic-inspired building… - Museum
El Museo Castillo Serralles
An Andalusian-style castle, built during the 1930s by the rum-making Serrallés family, this Spanish Revival beaut is built atop the most iconic hilltop along the southern coast. Architect Pedro Adolfo de Castro, also an accomplished poet and musician, designed the residence as well… - Natural Attraction
El Vigía Hill
The city's tallest geologic feature, El Vigía Hill (300 ft./91m) dominates Ponce's northern skyline. Its base and steep slopes are covered with a maze of 19th- and early-20th-century development. In addition to the castle, as soon as you reach the summit, you'll see the soaring Cruz… - Historic Site
Hacienda Buena Vista
Built in 1833, this hacienda preserves an old way of life, with its whirring water wheels and artifacts of 19th-century farm production. Once it was one of the most successful plantations on Puerto Rico, producing coffee, corn, and citrus. It was a working coffee plantation until the…Outskirts
- Museum
Museo de Arte de Ponce
This superb art museum, the largest in the Caribbean, holds 4,500 works encompassing the finest collections of European and Latin American art in the region, with works dating back 500 years, and a growing collection of contemporary art. Iconic pieces include Fredrick Lord Leighton’s… - Museum
Museo de la Masacre de Ponce
On Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, a pro-independence, Nationalist Party march, intended to protest the incarceration of party founder and independence icon Pedro Albizu Campos, turned deadly. Police set up a blockade to stop the march after a permit was cancelled and ended up killing…Around Town - Museum
Museum of Puerto Rican Music
A quaint museum housed in a dazzling restored turn-of-the-20th-century mansion designed by Alfredo Wiechers, it showcases historic Spanish, African, and Taíno musical instruments, some of which can be played; the guitar collection is a highlight. There are also exhibits on the… - Museum
Museum of the History of Ponce (Casa Salazar)
Opened to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the city’s founding, this museum traces the history of Ponce back to its roots in the days of the Taíno. There are exhibits on ecology, architecture, the economy, medicine, politics, and the people of Ponce. It’s housed in the Casa… - Landmark
Parque de Bombas
Constructed in 1882 as the centerpiece of a 12-day agricultural fair intended to promote the civic charms of Ponce, this building was designated a year later as the island's first permanent headquarters for a volunteer firefighting brigade. It has an unusual appearance -- it's…Around Town - Historic Site
Tibes Indian Ceremonial Center
Bordered by the Río Portuguéz and excavated in 1975, this is the oldest cemetery in the Antilles. It contains some 186 skeletons, dating from A.D. 300, as well as pre-Taíno plazas from A.D. 700. The site also includes a re-created Taíno village, seven rectangular ball courts, and two…
Ponce Shopping
Ponce’s historic downtown has a small but vibrant shopping district that radiates from its central Plaza Las Delicias. The Atocha Pedestrian Mall, which runs north of the plaza along a single block, is a decidedly local affair, with sidewalk merchants hawking homemade sweets and cheap colorful jewelry in front of electronics and clothing shops. Follow it to the end to reach the city’s Plaza de Mercado, the recently renovated traditional farmers market selling fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, flowers and much more. The area has been a commercial district for centuries.
The historic district has many shops attuned to the cultural wonder that surrounds them, with beautiful handmade crafts and high quality works of art for sale. Many stores are a throwback to a simpler time
For artisans’ work, Mi Coquí, Calle Marina 9227 (tel. 787/812-0216), right on the plaza near the ice cream shop, is much more than a souvenir shop. They do sell many of the higher quality souvenirs you have seen before, but there are also real works of art, quality santos, vejigantes carnival masks, and original prints and paintings. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful, informative and friendly. Prices are quite good for many pieces when the quality is considered.
Utopía, Calle Isabel 78 (tel. 787/848-8742), also right on Plaza Las Delicias, is another fine shop dedicated to high quality crafts and works of art, including the colorful carnival masks for which the city is famous. Gourmet items, handmade jewelry, and more are on offer. The store also carries indigenous arts and crafts from elsewhere in Latin America.
El Candil, Plaza Vilariño, Corner Calles Unión and Sol (tel. 787/242-6693), has a fine book and music selection and an excellent cafe, with gourmet coffee and tea as well as wine and tapas. There are more than 500 titles available; selections are weighted towards Spanish titles, but there are several fine editions regarding Puerto Rico and the arts that visitors will find interesting.
Plaza del Caribe , Hwy. 2 ([tel. 787/848-5566 or 848-1229), is the biggest mall in the south, with many of the same stores that are found in your local mall back home (Sears, JCPenny’s, and American Eagle Outfitters, among others), you may for a moment forget where you are. But with local surf and clothing shops, Caribbean cuisine in the food court, and Spanish titles dominating music and print choices, this is not quite home. Like other big malls in Puerto Rico, there is always some festival or other event taking place in the mall’s wide passageways, be it fresh Puerto Rican coffee, or a boat show, that expands on the shopping possibilities.
