Rental car to El Yunque ourselves

Has anyone ever rented a car to drive to El Yunque on your own?

We got a great deal of $43 for a mid-size car for 4 of us to split.

Any idea how long of a drive it is too?

We did several years ago. It was about an hour's drive and very easy. We thought it was a great way to visit El Yunque. Make sure you spend some time in the visitors' center there, very nice architecture.

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Great, thank you so much!

DebbieN167 - Would you mind telling me where you rented your car from? How far from the port is the car rental agency? We were thinking of doing the same thing, renting a car to drive to El Yunque on our cruise next month.

Thanks!

We are staying in Condado 2 nights prior to the cruise so I don't know how far it is from the port.

They do have another location I believe closer to the port. Click on the link.

Very convenient service! They're picking us up at the hotel to go get the car.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

ENTERPRISE AT CONDADO PLAZA

999 AVE ASHFORD

SAN JUAN, PR 00907-1016

Tel.: (787) 722-5172

Good luck

Thank you!

I was not comfortable renting a car so i opted for a tour. Was easy enough so you should be fine, one straight highway and he made a right to the forest, makes sure to hike to the water fall. There is also another small hike you can make to a small pool, was nice to see.

Our guide also took us to Loquillo beach and on the way back we stopped on the side of the high way (5 minutes away) in place with about 50 boutiques and restaurants. Great local food, very greasy too.

You're welcome Woowoochick!

PDC 2013 - thanks for the info! I don't know much about it, but I did see a video about a tour to hike to La Mina Falls. So that's where we're going.

Also heard not to miss the visitors center.

Good luck driving in San Juan, they drive like a bunch of maniacs:eek:

Good luck driving in San Juan, they drive like a bunch of maniacs:eek:

True, they are crazier than some places :rolleyes:. I have driven in SJU and all around the island of Puerto Rico, if you are comfortable in a major North American city such as Boston, New York or Washington you'll be fine. We deal with Montreal and Toronto regularly, if you can do any of these, San Juan will be fine. If not, you might be best taking a tour.

True, they are crazier than some places :rolleyes:. I have driven in SJU and all around the island of Puerto Rico, if you are comfortable in a major North American city such as Boston, New York or Washington you'll be fine. We deal with Montreal and Toronto regularly, if you can do any of these, San Juan will be fine. If not, you might be best taking a tour.

No problem then! We are Ex-New Yorkers living in Florida (With NY SnowBirds driving around). LOL

No problem then! We are Ex-New Yorkers living in Florida (With NY SnowBirds driving around). LOL

Glad to be of help.

Oh, and we have always brought our own GPS which works fine in P.R. it is good for wandering around OSJ too and not worrying about getting lost.

After being there on the roads it looks easy enough to get around and the driving as well.

I used my cell phone to get around works in Puerto Rico, should be going back soooon i hope.

Glad to be of help.

 

Oh, and we have always brought our own GPS which works fine in P.R. it is good for wandering around OSJ too and not worrying about getting lost.

yep, already updated my GPS for the drive 😉.

I'll use my phone for local walking. Thanks everyone!

Good luck driving in San Juan, they drive like a bunch of maniacs:eek:

Just got back from Puerto Rico yesterday...

Here are the things that are done and are annying:

-Driving in any lane, regardless of how fast you are going.

-which leads to weaving in and out of traffic.

-Police have thier lights on ALL of the time. (which is really tough when there's fog, and it's at night)

-some towns are very old- so roads are very narrow.

-the range of speeds can be tough to deal with- in a 55 MPH area, you will find some going 45 and some going 80. In all lanes all the time. It can be scary.

-not that it matters going to El Yunque- all of the above on the passes on 52 going south makes the drive hary in the mountains.

- the mountain roads in the middle are very narrow, and very blind at times.

even with all of that, I'm fine with driving there.

Spent two weeks driving all over Puerto Rico including to El yunque. Was nervous because of "everyone" commenting how crazy the drivers were. Frankly, if you can handle a large city, you can handle PR. It seemed more hype than reality. Then again, we chose the most crazy, big city experienced driver to drive ... so perhaps we were just fitting in with the locals :D

Some tips perhaps:

1) one of us was the driver, one of us was the map/sign reader. Remember it's PR. signs are in Spanish. Learn what east, west, north, south is and that should take you far.

2) the visitor center in OSJ by the pier had a driving map for us. A real, road map. Not the cartoon handout you might get at a car rental.

3) I downloaded a Spanish translator to my phone. Had to use it to translate road construction signs. I have a bit of Spanish, but not enough for construction signs.

4) Thought I'd use my handy dandy GPS on the phone to get around. That.did.not.work! Internet was way too slow for me (Verizon). So lesson learned was "google map" or whatever your choice before you leave home and print it out. Sometimes old fashioned paper is the best way.

And if you get stopped by the cops (we did, but for legitimate reasons), if your officer doesn't speak English and you don't speak Spanish - they use a personal translator to help you out. Was the most hair raising, oh my gosh what do we do now kind of stop ... but in the end it was fine. (If you're wondering ... we were stopped for failure to have current car registration. There's a sticker in the lower right front windshield with a month/year punched out. Car was registered but the rental company hadn't placed the current sticker. And just like most of us, there should be a paper registration in the glove box. I know to check this next time.)

And finally ... remember you're not lost. You're just in-between places you recognize :)

Have fun. El Yunque was beautiful. Drive with your windows open when you're there. The sounds of the forest were wonderful.

Flwrgirl, thank you for the great tips!

Leaving right now.