Read on for the most recent changes for travel to this Caribbean gem including new hotels, restaurants and tours.
San Juan
Caribe Hilton, Called Los Rosales (tel. 800/HILTONS or 787/721-0303), is slated to become the largest hotel resort on island. Under development is Paseo Caribe, next to the present hotel. When completed, this complex will give guests another 264 luxurious Concado Lagoon Villas. Phase One is expected to be completed in the winter of 2004 and early 2005, consisting of 168 villas. The additional villas should be ready for the following winter season of 2005-2006. In all, the Hilton will be expanded to a total of 910 guest rooms. The new villas will be among the most luxurious on island, with a spacious master bedroom, a kitchen, a dining room, a walk-in closet, and a studio with a bedroom with two double beds and one full bathroom. New restaurants and boutiques will also be added.
Legends of Puerto Rico (tel. 787/605-9060; www.legendsofpr.com), is giving some of the best island tours-informative, varied, and entertaining. Walking tours, for example, take in world heritage sites in the once fortified Old Town or else a night walk where a guide entertains with local legends. These tours cost $30 to $38.
Many other island tours are offered, including a coffee plantation tour taking you up into the mountains 2,500 feet above sea level. Other tours explore the lushest parts of the island, including the Karst Country with Puerto Rico's largest hiking trail system; El Yunque (the rain forest), and a mangrove forest near the beach. Private tours can also be designed for individuals or groups.
Rincón
Horned Dorset Primavera, Route 429 Rincón (tel. 800/633-1857; www.horneddorset.com), a Relais & Château, remains the most choice address in western Puerto Rico. With an expansion of its landscaped grounds, the beautiful deluxe resort is today better than ever. It stands on an eight-acre hillside property onto views of the ocean. Aside from the plush surroundings and sublime cuisine, there's yet another reason to check in. The hotel bills it as the "Ultimate Late Check-Out," meaning that if you stay for three nights, the fourth day and night is complimentary.
There is now another hot new address in western Puerto Rico: Rincón of the Seas (tel. 866/274-6266; www.rinconoftheseas.com). Although it hardly knocks Horned Dorset Primavera off the charts, this Art Deco resort with its custom-made furnishings is a glamorous oceanfront address set in a botanical garden. With balconies opening onto sea vistas, the resort features 112 large bedrooms with all the modern amenities. Even the least expensive accommodations are deluxe, ranging upward to beach cabanas and suites. An award-winning chef, Roberto Ruiz, has been hired to turn out a combination of fusion cuisine, mainly continental, Mediterranean, and Asian-inspired specialties. This sprawling resort, along with Horned Dorset, provides yet another reason to head west from San Juan.
In Rincón you no longer have to depend on these two luxe properties for fine Caribbean dining. The opening of Tres Palmas Restaurant, Carretera 413 (tel. 787/823-6010) has improved the dining scene considerably here, featuring upmarket Nuevo Creole fare. Chefs specialize in some of the island's freshest fish and some of its most succulent steaks and chops, only for the best cuts such as aged beef. For appetizers, dig into the lobster or conch salad, perhaps the crab claws, following with such main courses as filet of mahi-mahi or "coconut lobster," a first for many diners. Desserts feature such fare as the accurately named pumpkin delight or else caramel pecan cake.
Ponce
In a small workshop outside Ponce, woodcarver Domingo Orta has been gaining international publicity for his santos, religious figurines depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and saints. Carved from cedar, he personally selects in the mountains of Puerto Rico, he creates figures usually 6 to 8 inches high, though some might be as tall as three feet. Devout locals believe that these santos have the power to perform good deeds. San Antonio of Padua, for example, is said to have great matchmaking skills, and is eagerly collected by unmarried girls. The works of Orta, hailed as the best in his field, are showcased at the Mi Coquí Gallery (tel. 787/841-0216) on Calle Marina lying off Plaza de las Delicias.
Central Puerto Rico
As of late, surveys have shown that many travelers are not coming to Puerto Rico just to sample its beaches, shopping and gambling. Many visitors are renting cars and exploring the center of the island, the great Cordillera Central mountain range. In addition to lush scenery, visitors can see a mixture of African, Taíno Indian, and Spanish architectural and cultural heritages that have often been obliterated from "high rise" Puerto Rico. In these little towns, life still centers around a plaza or village square, many of them centuries old. To reach central Puerto Rico, you can go west toward Arecibo, following the northern route, or head south toward Ponce along the southern route. Arm yourself with a good map and discover such towns as: Caguas with one of the great plazas of the island and a number of museums; San Lorenzo with its Iglesia Senora de Las Mercedes built in 1737 and a National Historic Site; Cayey, with its branch of the University of Puerto Rico, lying 2,401 feet above sea level; Comerío, where Río La Plata (the longest river in Puerto Rico), runs right through the town; and Orocovis, the geographic center of the island.
Mayagüez
The third city of Puerto Rico, the capital of the west, is gaining more visitors with new or improved attractions. Chief among these is its zoo, Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo, Route 108, just north of route 65 (tel. 787/834-8110), which has been considerably modernized and improved. In a savanna-like environment, giraffes and Bengal tigers, among other animals, roam about. You can now visit a modern Planetarium at Route 2 at Post Street (tel. 787/832-4040), on the University of Puerto Rico's campus. Closed in June and July. For shoppers, there is the new Mayagüez Mall, 975 Avenida Hostos at Route 2 (tel. 787/834-2760). This city has never been a shopping mecca until now, but this mall with its 150 stores has a little bit of everything, both practical merchandise and island crafts.
San Germán
This town is the most architecturally interesting and historic in Puerto Rico, but has always suffered from a lack of any real good accommodations. Along comes a new country inn, Villa Del Rey, (tel. 787/642-2627), to take up the slack. It's not posh but exceedingly comfortable and inviting, with well-furnished bedrooms and good food. Facilities include both a pool and Jacuzzi, and the hotel is ideal for families or couples. Right in the heart of everything, the hotel opens onto one of the town's two main plazas. The opening of this hotel is expected to increase visitor traffic to this gem of a town.
La Parguera
In southwestern Puerto Rico, this little town is famous for its "bioluminescent" bay where on moonless nights glass-bottom boat rides let you see single-celled dinoflagellates sparkle like stardust. A new 72-foot, 140 passenger, two-level glass bottom catamaran, Fondo de Cristal III, Route 116 (tel. 787/899-5891), takes passengers on these adventures. At other times, it offers daytime tours through the scenic cays in this lush part of the island.
Vieques
Now that the U.S. Navy has stopped using this offshore island for its bombing missions, Vieques is experiencing a land boom and becoming, of all things, chic, with the opening of new hotels such as the Wyndham Martineau Bay, the island's first major full service resort (previewed in the latest edition of Frommer's Puerto Rico). Once known for its low-key, laid-back atmosphere, a new tourist boom with inevitable results is now predicted for the island.
Those who want to keep the old way of life fear the change. Others hope to make money from the new developments welcome it.
The Navy owned some of the best beaches, and some were once used for military exercises. Today, that onus has been removed, and Vieques boasts some of the best strips of sand in the Caribbean.
In the booming real estate market, prices regrettably have jumped 25% since the Navy pulled out. One realtor, Lin Wetherby, compared current tourist development in Vieques to a "land rush." The island is the last undiscovered spot under the U.S. Flag in the Caribbean. Everything else, such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, has been overbuilt or overrun. Small plots on Vieques are now selling for $500,000 as mainlanders rush to snare vacation havens.
If you want to see Vieques before it's totally changed, head down there now.