I’m going to be honest, Puerto Rico was not on my list of travel destinations. Our dream vacation this summer was to go to Japan, but my husband and I didn’t have quite enough time off together to make the trip worth it. So we brainstormed some other destinations with the requirements being a shorter (and cheaper) flight, somewhere they speak a different language and has places to surf. Bonus points were being able to bring our two little dachshunds who love traveling with us!
So that’s how we settled on Puerto Rico! It was a short, inexpensive flight and we were able to bring the dogs without any trouble since technically PR is part of the United States. We didn’t even need our passports! We decided to stay in Rincon for the majority of the trip since that seemed to be the best surf spot. Summer season, however, is not ideal for surfing and we weren’t sure we were going to have the opportunity at all.
Aside from basically choosing Puerto Rico somewhat randomly, I have to say it exceeded my expectations! I didn’t really know what to expect, but I’m really glad we went and got to experience it. I’m going to share everywhere we went and what I would recommend, as well as things that surprised us about Puerto Rico that you should know too!
Top Things to Do in Rincón, Puerto Rico
If you only have time for the highlights, here is what I would not miss:
- Swim in the bioluminescent bay at La Parguera, the one bio bay where you are actually allowed to get in the water (go on a night with no moon)
- Explore El Yunque National Forest, a gorgeous tropical rainforest with easy hikes and waterfalls
- Tour the caves at Parque Nacional de las Cavernas del Río Camuy
- Hike to the Gozolandia waterfalls and take a swim
- Wander Old San Juan and walk the grounds of Castillo San Felipe del Morro
- Eat fresh lechón on the Pork Highway
- Surf, or take a lesson, in Rincón
- Stop at the Túnel de Guajataca and walk through the tunnel out to the beach
- Cafe hop for some of the best coffee I have ever had
We flew into San Juan and had rented a car so we could drive all over the island. From San Juan we drove to Rincon where we had rented an AirBnB. Our first mission was to get coffee since our flight was super early. We found this place and I went in to get us a couple cafecitos and arepas which were delicious!
Since it was a 3 hour drive to Rincon, we stopped at a few places along the way to stretch our legs and see the sights. This first beach we stopped at was gorgeous!
It’s called the Túnel de Guajataca and you literally walk through this tunnel and out to the beach!
We hopped back in the car after our quick walk around the beach and made it to our destination for the week. It was a beautiful morning but started raining a bit as we drove into town.
We checked into our Airbnb and were greeted by this friendly neighbor dog. Our place was right in town but the street parking was on this narrow little alleyway and you had to walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the actually house. This dog escorted us to and from the house every day.
Once we got settled, we walked into town to find some food. We literally went into the first place we saw and it ended up being really good! It’s called Taqueria Vatos Locos and was one of the places recommended to us. It did not disappoint! The portions were huge and we ordered way too much food.
This was one of the dishes we ordered and I thought it might be a traditional Puerto Rican dish but when I asked, they said that it was an original recipe that the restaurant had come up with. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it definitely involved fried cheese. I got the birria tacos which were delicious!
The next day we walked into town to get our morning coffee and I got the cutest little cafecito from Friends Cafe. All the coffee we had during our trip was amazing and I am a bit of a coffee snob.
This was our view from the balcony of our Airbnb. It overlooked town and had an ocean view!
We got motivated after having our morning coffee and decided to go to the local CrossFit gym that is owned by a friend of a friend. We love dropping into CrossFit gyms when we’re on vacation and this was quite possibly the best one I’ve ever visited! We took a class taught by one of the owners, Cherese, and she was an incredible coach. My husband and I are both CrossFit coaches and I’ve actually owned a couple of CrossFit gyms so I’m a pretty tough critic. After class, Cherese and one of the gym members talked with us for quite a while and gave us a whole list of recommendations of things to do while we were in town. It was really helpful! So if you’re ever in Rincon and looking to get a few workouts in while you’re on vacation, definitely stop in to CrossFit Rincon and tell Cherese that Selene and Devin from Fort Lauderdale sent you!
After our workout, it was time for another coffee and this was one of the places recommended. It was only a block or two from the gym and it was a drive thru coffee shop built into a VW bus! How cool is that? Also I got a yummy iced coffee with homemade peanut butter whipped cream which was absolutely amazing! Holy crap it was good!
We went back to our place to pick up the dogs and take them for a walk. We walked to the beach in town which ended up being the best place to swim. This beach is called Playa Doña Lala Beach.
My brother was flying into town to meet us so we had to drive back to San Juan to pick him up. His flight got in super late so we decided to spend a night in San Juan before driving back to Rincon. We had a bit of a snafu with our Airbnb and ended up calling an audible and booking a hotel for the night. Basically the place we had booked looked like it was in a sketchy part of Old San Juan and I didn’t feel comfortable staying there. Thankfully we were able to book something last minute and it ended up being perfect! This is a picture of the street the hotel was on in Old San Juan. All of the buildings and streets look like this and I was drooling over the architecture and the bright colors and the old wooden doors. It was all so beautiful!
These were some of the floors I was obsessing over. Aren’t they gorgeous?
He has arrived! My brother lives in Oregon so we don’t get to see him as often as we would like. We convinced him to come on this trip with us and we were so happy to see him! This photo is right after picking him up at the airport at around 1 am after he had a ridiculously long travel day. What do you think? Do we look alike?
We were all exhausted and crashed immediately when we got back to the hotel. The next morning we walked around Old San Juan and found some coffee and breakfast at this little outdoor cafe in the middle of a plaza.
Old San Juan has a ton of history and some really beautiful things to see! The Castillo San Felipe del Morro is absolutely beautiful to walk around.
After spending the morning walking around Old San Juan, we drove back to Rincon. We walked around downtown and found somewhere to eat dinner.
I decided I wanted to try a different coffee shop every day since there were so many! This one was about a 10 minute walk from town and was the cutest little place. It had a small boutique shop upstairs and the coffee shop was downstairs. We got our drinks and sat outside to enjoy them. I was feeling adventurous and got one of their specialty drinks and it was very unique! It was a Blueberry Lavender Espresso Fizz! The place was called Isla Made Local Goods and Cafe.
We were a little nervous when we arrived the first day because there was a hurricane that was potentially going to hit PR. Luckily the storm did not end up making landfall but it did bring some swell which made for good surfing! Summer is not the season for surfing and normally there are no waves but because of the storm there was one day when conditions were good and we went for it! Devin had never surfed before so he wanted to take a lesson and we all needed to rent boards. My brother and I had both learned to surf years ago when we lived in Santa Cruz, California but it had been forever since either one of us were on a board.
We took a lesson and rented boards from Puntas Surf Shop. They drove the boards down to the beach for us and we followed. The lesson was great and our instructor ended up giving us some more local recommendations. Devin check off his bucket list item of learning to surf and managed to catch a bunch of waves! It was a fun day and great to be out on the water together. We even caught a few “party waves” where all three of us were riding the same wave together.
After surfing we went back to the house to eat lunch and relax for awhile. We had booked a bioluminescent tour for the evening but it wasn’t until 9PM. Later that evening, we drove to La Parguera which was where we booked our tour.
One of the things that was really surprising to me was how expensive most things were on the island. The exception to that was anything local was very reasonably priced. For example, we booked a private boat tour for $150! I would have paid ten times this much because it was such an unbelievable experience.
These pictures don’t do it justice, but it was absolutely incredible! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience and a bucket list item that we didn’t even know was on our list! I can’t recommend this enough. If there is one thing you do while you’re in Puerto Rico, let it be this!
Apparently this is the only place that they allow you to swim in the bioluminescent bay and that is what made it so incredible! It was like being in the movie Avatar or something. I have no way to describe it that will do it justice, you just have to experience it for yourself. Every movement you made, caused this trail of bright blue light! And if you moved slowly underwater and then lifted your arm out of the water you could see the individual pin prick size balls of light dripping off you. It was unreal!
Again these photos don’t do it justice but just trust me, this is something you want to do! It was a little scary swimming in the pitch black water but we got over it and jumped in. Make sure you go when there is no moon and call ahead to see if it will be a good day to go. Some days are better than others and our guide said this was a really good day. We got lucky!
Our tour guide was a lovely older gentleman who was a former marine biologist and was very knowledgable about everything, as you would expect. This was a 10 out of 10 experience!
After the tour, we were all pretty high on life and my brother and husband were extra excited to score some Medallas right before this restaurant closed down.
We got back to Rincon super late and slept in and had a lazy morning.
No day was complete without a morning walk to get coffee!
Today we tried the Solecito Coffee Shop and it was complete with chickens running around, iguanas and cute decor.
I got a cappuccino that had pink foam and sparkles!
My brother was feeling a bit extra and ordered two different drinks, the one on the left was an iced coffee (again with the pink foam) and the other drink was some sort of smoothie.
On the walk back we saw more wildlife including a really long snake, this caterpillar that was straight out of Alice and Wonderland and a bunch of crabs running around that I didn’t manage to take a photo of.
Tonight we went out for a nice dinner at a restaurant that was literally recommended by everyone we talked to called La Cambija. This is the airbnb we stayed at, you can see it directly behind me at the top of the stairs behind the telephone pole.
The food was deliscious and the restaurant seating was a covered outdoor patio. My brother ordered a whole fish (I think it was snapper) which came with fried plantains.
You can see he didn’t like it at all. Of course I’m kidding! Go to La Cambija!
The next day we went for a drive to see some waterfalls at Gozolandia! This place was interesting. It used to be a family farm and was shut down in 1985 and only recently reopened to the public in 2022! Gozolandia literally translates to “fun land” and I can see why! The waterfalls were beautiful and you could swim everywhere. You do have to pay for parking and then do a short hike to the waterfall. Apparently there was another way in because there was no one in the parking lot yet the waterfall was really crowded! I recommend wearing shoes that you can get wet since we had to wade through a small creek to get to the other side where the trail continued. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you don’t get to El Yunque.
Our next excursion was spelunking! We went to Parque Nacional de las Cavernas del Río Camuy to explore the caves. Once again we got lucky! Apparently they only allow a certain number of people into the park per hour and you have to take a guided tour. Tickets for adults were $18 and included a headset with information and a helmet and was led by a guide. Be prepared to walk and we found out the hard way that you need to have closed toed shoes. My brother was wearing flip flops and they wouldn’t let him go without shoes. Luckily they sold these cheap water shoes at the gift shop so he bought some so he could go on the tour.
The cave was pretty cool! We were a bit annoyed by the tour because there were so many people and we had to wait for everyone to inch their way along which was unbearably slow. The tour was several hours but could have been done in 30 minutes if you were on your own and walking a good pace. Once we saw everything there was to see, we ditched the tour and walked back on our own to beat the crowd. Don’t tell anyone!
This tree was literally growing upside down!
Although the caves were super cool, the highlight of the day was this place. A drive through food stop that was recommended by the gatekeeper at the caves. Pro tip: always ask the locals where they go to eat! They will not disappoint. This part of Puerto Rico is referred to as the “Pork Highway” and this is why. If you eat pork, you must have some lechon here!
We waited in the drive thru line for about 30 minutes but it was so worth the wait! Delicious pork with crispy skin and a side of rice and beans. We got our food and ate in the car. There was no way we could make the drive back to Rincon with the intoxicating smell of food! Plus we were really hungry.
We got back in time to watch a beautiful sunset at Caddy’s Calypso and see some fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Another day, another coffee and some beautiful flowers.
We took another recommendation and drove up to this hotel called Cas Islena that served brunch with beautiful views of this beach. Food was good and ambiance was even better. They had live music by the pool and it was a very relaxing morning.
We took a day trip to Reserva Natural Cueva del Indio which was gorgeous! The park itself you had to pay, but we drove down the road and parked for free and found a trailhead which led to the beach. This place was breathtakingly beautiful!
At the end of our trip, we drove back to San Juan and spent the night. We had a little airbnb apartment for the night and walked to a nearby restaurant called Las Reices for dinner where we got the biggest chuleta (pork chop) I’ve ever seen! We also had yummy pina coladas which were apparently invented in Puerto Rico! Rum is a big deal here and The Bacardi factory is in San Juan which you can tour.
The next day my brother flew out super early but our flight wasn’t until later that evening so we had the whole day to explore. We went to El Yunque National Forest which is another must do if you come to Puerto Rico. You can pay to park and get guided tours but we just drove through and parked along the road and did a few little hikes on the many trails there.
This old silo had an amazing panoramic view from the top!
Being summer in Puerto Rico, it goes without saying that it was incredibly humid and hot every day, even when it rained. Because of the heat and humidity, our little dachshunds got tuckered out easier than usual so we got this pet sling bag to carry them. They took turns walking and getting a ride with us. It worked out really well actually!
More incredible food on the side of the road in El Yunque. We got some pinchos and a couple Medallas for about $10 and it hit the spot after hiking all day.
Our last coffee stop before going to the airport was at this cute little place called 787 Coffee that let us bring the dogs in. Devin got some coquito iced coffee that was served in a bag with a straw!
Thanks for sharing our trip to Puerto Rico! If you’ve been and there are places you’d recommend, drop them in the comments!
I know this wasn’t my typical DIY post, but I love sharing all the things and we plan on doing a lot more traveling in the future!
Puerto Rico Travel Questions
Do you need a passport to visit Puerto Rico?
Nope! Puerto Rico is part of the United States, so if you’re traveling from the U.S. you do not need a passport. We didn’t even bring ours.
Can you bring your dog to Puerto Rico?
Yes! Because it’s part of the U.S., we were able to bring our two dachshunds with no trouble and no extra paperwork. It does get hot and humid, so we used a pet sling bag to carry them when they got tired.
When is the best time to visit and surf?
We went in summer, which is hot, humid, and usually flat for surfing. A passing storm gave us one great surf day, but winter is the real surf season in Rincón. Summer does mean fewer crowds and lower prices.
Is Puerto Rico expensive?
Some things surprised us with how pricey they were, but anything local was very reasonable. Our private bioluminescent bay boat tour was about $150, the Camuy caves were $18 per adult, and roadside pinchos and Medallas ran us around $10.
What is the one thing you can’t miss?
Swimming in the bioluminescent bay at La Parguera. It’s the only bio bay where you can actually get in the water, and it was a 10 out of 10. Go on a night with no moon and call ahead to check conditions.
About the author: I’m Selene Teitelbaum, the DIYer behind Selene Builds Things. I share home projects, beginner-friendly DIY tutorials, and the occasional travel adventure. More about me
Until next time!
-Selene
