Things to do in Puerto Rico

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Family vacation to Puerto Rico in June. First trip there, but third or fourth to the Carribbean and that neck of the world.
Any recommendations on things to see, eat or drink?

Wife said we'll need to rent a car sightsee.

 

[Vombatus]

I will tell you one thing for safety reasons: be VERY ****ing careful at intersections when driving. Folks down there treat red lights and stop signs as optional. Drive defensively. Always assume someone might blow through an intersection.

 

[Vombatus]

Oh, you might want to brush up on traffic signage in Spanish too. Avis hands you a piece of paper with translations. I got on the road before reading that - big mistake.

 

[Earthman]

Would not think of driving a car there. It's like driving in the Bronx. The traffic is ridiculous.
I would tour Old San Juan and then GTF out and stay around your resort. You don't want to waste half your vacation in a traffic jam.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Hmmmmm ...

Yeah... This was my concern: Not warm to the idea of renting a car. I HATE driving in large cities.

 

[cranberry]

You'll want to see Old San Juan, but that's not much more than an afternoon. I love the El San Juan hotel. It's old and the rooms are nothing special, but it has a beautiful, ornate lobby and a nice casino. Rooftop bar is a great place to chill with some beveragss, guacamole and chips.

 

[Key]

We visited a couple months ago and rented a car from the resort and drove to Old San Juan. Easy drive. Nothing too crazy, really. The hardest part was trying to explain to the counter lady at the gas station that I wanted to fill the tank up - no credit card swipe at the pump.

Old San Juan was a lot like New Orleans. Go to the Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Pretty impressive. Try some mofongo. We just popped into a couple places, nothing worth remembering or recommending. The best place we ate was outside the resort at El Verde BBQ where we had lechon (pork), arroz amarillo (yellow rice) and mofongo (tough to explain, but garlicky).

If you can drive in Atlanta, you can drive in San Juan.