Come spend 2 days with us in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A US territory, you do not need passports to travel to Puerto Rico from the US. All flight restrictions are the same as traveling from one US state to another, making it an easy Caribbean Island to visit.
How we get there:
To get to Puerto Rico from NYC, you can fly United, JetBlue, Delta, or Frontier. We flew JetBlue from JFK, a 4 hour, uneventful flight. We used a total of 72,000 JetBlue miles plus $33.60 to redeem this flight. 29,000 points was from a JetBlue card sign up bonus. The rest we transferred from Chase.
The main airport, SJU, is centrally located on the island. SJU airport is relatively small and easy to navigate. Uber is the only ride share company operating at SJU and in Puerto Rico in general. The pickup point is right outside the airport terminal. We took a $15, 10 minute, Uber to our hotel.
Where we stayed:
For accommodations, you have a multitude of options for high end resorts on the island. The Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve is a 34 minute ride from the airport and about a $30 Uber ride. We chose to go cheap and stayed at the Hyatt Place San Juan for just 12,000 Hyatt points a night. We transferred 36,000 Chase points to Hyatt to make this redemption.
Review of the Hyatt Place San Juan:
Hotel was cleaner than most Hyatt Place hotels in the US. It was, though, just as basic when it came to the actual room. We landed at night and were disheartened with the decor. However, the next morning, we went down to the pool area and immediately cheered up! The pool is beautiful, albeit small. There’s a little splash area with a bucket and a slide. Great spot to go with little kids (under 10). The pool was mostly empty throughout our stay and we really enjoyed that. There were also loungers, tables and umbrellas available on the patio. Additionally, the hotel is centrally located, making it easy to access most local spots and food. And Uber is super cheap.
Where we ate:
At first we shlepped everything along. From chicken for dinner, snacks for the hotel room, and cereal and milk for breakfast. We even took our Betty Crocker! We made use of our stash on day 1 up until lunch time. Then we discovered a kosher Mediterranean restaurant called OMRKT. Located in the Miramar Shopping Strip, it was a 3.5 dollar Uber from the Hyatt Place. The place was cute and the food was really good. They offer mostly Israeli style dishes plus cocktails and soups.
Day 1 dinner we ate in our hotel room. We hate doing that so we decided to order from Chabad for the next day. Chabad of Puerto Rico has a full service takeout plus a shoppable pantry that we discovered while picking up our order! The website to order takeout is easy to navigate. Orders have to be in by the night before, so we made sure to do that. We ordered Shnitzel, angel hair pasta, and a salad. When we went to pick up our order, we asked if there’s an extra chicken soup we can purchase. They brought one out on the house! Chabad does not have a sit down restaurant, however they had a sukkah set up for visitors. We enjoyed our food while shmoozing with other visitors. I highly recommend ordering from and visiting the Chabad House.
We also discovered, while talking to other travelers, that there’s a Walmart with lots of kosher items nearby. My takeaway is that you do not need to shlep food. Pick up a bunch of basics from Walmart, more specific items from Chabad and order food from the Kosher in Paradise (the Chabad takeout).
What we did:
There isn’t a whole lot to do in Puerto Rico. It’s a slow paced island. We visited a public beach, Old San Juan and T-Mobile District.
We didn’t particularly enjoy the public beach. We found it rough and lacking. We much prefer a private resort beach. After sticking it out for 45 minutes we packed back up and took a car back to the hotel, where we spent the rest of our time in the pool.
Old San Juan was charming and unique. While strolling the streets and alleys, you’ll see lots of brightly painted buildings. We spent about an hour exploring the area, walking up and down the streets, and perusing street vendors.
Make your way down to the sea and you might catch sight of a giant cruise!
T-Mobile District can be described as a mini, low key Times Square. With lots of big screens (there’s a humongous one on the ceiling!) and blaring music, it’s hip, fun, and the center of entertainment. The epicenter of the District is a huge swath of turf with adult and child rocking chairs as well as oversized connect 4 games available for the public.
Within T-Mobile District, you’ll find lots of restaurants, bars and the main attraction, Toroverde Urban Park. Inside you can enjoy arcades, rock climbing, a ropes course, zip lining, and many other physical activities. We played arcades both nights we were in Puerto Rico and had a grand time. There’s a good variety of traditional games, claw machines, and video games.
One attraction we were hoping to visit is the Museo del Niño de Carolina. Its a fun interactive children’s museum that lets children explore and discover fascinating topics such as aviation, animal life, machinery, etc. Entrance fee is very affordable. However, when we visited in October they were only open on weekends, which clashed with our days. I would go back with kids just to visit that museum, it looks that interesting online.
Final thoughts:
Overall Puerto Rico is a beautiful, convenient and affordable place to vacation. I probably wouldn’t go back with kids (except for a 1-2 day trip to visit the museum). However, it would make a fantastic kid free getaway. With enough food options, plenty options for high end resorts and accessibility to NYC, it’s an ideal spot for a little getaway.
Cost Breakdown:
I hope you enjoyed coming along with us to Puerto Rico. Check out my Instagram highlight to see more of our trip to Puerto Rico! Stick around for more trip reports in the future.
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