San Sebastian Festival Jan. 16 - 19, 2014

[Aviator of the Seas]

The San Sebastian Street Festival in Old San Juan will be held from Thursday January 16 to Sunday January 19. These are the highlights of the traffic and security measures that will be in place that weekend in Old San Juan.

 

Traffic - Vehicular traffic into San Juan islet will be closed at the bridge approaches to the old city at 6:00 PM Thursday and Friday and at 12:00 noon Saturday and Sunday.

 

The only exceptions will be tour buses, taxis, emergency vehicles, and Old San Juan residents. This means that everyone else will be turned around so there will be a massive traffic jam in all approaches to Old San Juan.

 

Security - There will be checkpoints for pedestrians going into the old city. They will be checking for prohibited items: alcohol, bottled water (you have to buy yours once inside the city), coolers, firearms, knives, noisemakers, etc.

 

Even if the Pan American pier is not in Old San Juan, you should expect major traffic disruptions in the area since the entrance to Isla Grande is close to the approaches to Old San Juan. If I were embarking on Saturday or Sunday, I would try to get to the pier no later than noon. Much earlier for the Carnival pier. If you're flying in on the day of embarkation, taxis and tour buses WILL be allowed into Old San Juan at all hours so if a taxi driver tells you that he can't take you to Old San Juan/Pan Am pier, he's lying.

 

Now, if you venture into Old San Juan before your boat sails, expect to have to walk back to your ship because taxis going out of the old city will be very hard to find.

 

Hope this helps.

[shawne71]

Thanks for the updates! We plan to check-in with Carnival as early as possible on Sunday 19th. We purchased FTTF for this reason. ;)

[Messunderstood]

Our fight gets in at about 4:30 pm on that Friday. We are staying in the Condado area. Will it be near impossible to get into Old San Juan by about 7pm?

 

I'm thinking we would be better off to try OSJ on Saturday around noon and then come back early evening.

 

We debark out of the Pan Am pier on Sunday and will heed your suggestions for that!

[Stinger-pr]

Our fight gets in at about 4:30 pm on that Friday. We are staying in the Condado area. Will it be near impossible to get into Old San Juan by about 7pm?

 

I'm thinking we would be better off to try OSJ on Saturday around noon and then come back early evening.

 

We debark out of the Pan Am pier on Sunday and will heed your suggestions for that!

 

Condado is the nearest area to OSJ. Taxis and mass transportation buses (which tend to be unreliable as heck in times like this) will have priority access after the checkpoints but before that you'd be as exposed to the traffic jams as everybody. only difference is that you'd have a much closer starting point.

 

Try to get to the traffic checkpoint areas before noon on Sat. before they close it down. You should have no problem on the way back.

 

There are alternate ways to the Pan-am Pier that are not as exposed to the expected traffic jams, but again, your experience might vary depending on the knowledge (and disposition) of your driver and time of day you decide to make your way over there.

[feenix]

We stayed in OSJ (at the Normandie) 5 years ago during this event, and not only was the traffic stopped still with cars, but they were honking constantly (no, I mean every car, honking NON STOP)and yelling all night! So don't expect any peace in that area - it was crazy!

[Zákamenné]

Condado is the nearest area to OSJ. Taxis and mass transportation buses (which tend to be unreliable as heck in times like this) will have priority access after the checkpoints but before that you'd be as exposed to the traffic jams as everybody. only difference is that you'd have a much closer starting point.

 

Try to get to the traffic checkpoint areas before noon on Sat. before they close it down. You should have no problem on the way back.

 

There are alternate ways to the Pan-am Pier that are not as exposed to the expected traffic jams, but again, your experience might vary depending on the knowledge (and disposition) of your driver and time of day you decide to make your way over there.

 

Can you walk after checking in on the Adventure of the seas to the festival?

 

thx!