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Driving in San Juan


cruzngrl
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We are arriving 1 week early before our BTB in February 2015. We plan on renting a car and exploring the Island. Ponce, the Rain Forest, OSJ_(planning on a bus due to traffic and parking) and a bio bay tour. The question is..how is driving. We have been to OSJ on day trips between-before cruises in the past but have never driven and it seems to me it's a little crazy if I remember. DH is in a panic and I can get lost crossing the street:D Any advice?

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Driving in San Juan is a nightmare! I have driven in Houston, Dallas, Chicago, and other large cities and San Juan ranks pretty bad, especially if you are heading west out of the city. I would only rent a car when leaving the city, such as going to Guavate to eat lechon or other parts of the island.

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Funny, I don't think it's that bad.

 

Traffic is heavy- especially during rush hour. And there are more than normal crazy drivers- they will be passing all over the place. One thing that is really annoying is that drivers use all lanes regardless of how fast they are going. So you will come up on rolling traffic jams pretty often- someone going slow is passing on the right of someone going slower. Add in the people who have to go fast, and it's interesting.

 

Driving the pass to Ponce- you'll see quite a few people who are nervous about driving on a hill. And they drive in both lanes.

 

The both lanes thing is kind of historic- when the left lane was in much better shape due to trucks beating up the right lane really bad. There are sections of the autopista that are still bad.

 

The other oddity is that police have their lights on ALL OF THE TIME. Really throws you off if you don't know it.

 

In terms of places to see- in San Juan, outside of Old San Juan- there's not too much else: the art museum, perhaps the mall, some restaurants... not too bad to get to. Getting out- just seeing how the island changes when you get to the south side is really interesting- goes from super green and tropical to much drier. Driving through the mountains... whew... pretty cool. Or head west to Aericebo, and out to the west coast. If you have the time, worth it.

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Thanks for the info..it is like I figured from your posts. What is Aericebo? Ponce is quite a bit larger than I thought and I would like to visit some places that are a little smaller but of historic origins...

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Arecibo is the big radio observatory... Well, it's a town near the observatory. It's pretty cool to visit.

 

The historic area of Ponce is pretty small- the Plaza is nice and compact, but if you are going that far, the Museo d'Arte is amazing- really great collection of art.

 

(FWIW, I'm biased for Ponce- DW's family is there)

Edited by alfaeric
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Arecibo is a nice drive. You can visit the Camuy Caves on the same day as they are pretty close to one another. Driving is good once you get out of San Juan. I mainly was talking about leaving San Juan and heading west. People always seem to want to help.

 

If you will be on the island on the weekend then you must head to Guavate. It is in the hills heading towards Ponce. the lechon is great! The people are super friendly.

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