9 am to 3 pm Old Town suggestions?

[glentally]

Been to the Forts, other than that refresh my memory where to go plus a good bar/lunch place

[Blaise]

Is it too late to answer? I can offer some ideas. Been there several times and have done some planning for our trip next week.

[Atlgator]

23 hours ago, Blaise said:

Is it too late to answer? I can offer some ideas. Been there several times and have done some planning for our trip next week.

I will be in SJU in May, I would like to hear your ideas. I have been to San Juan several times, but always open to new ideas.

[TenForward]

23 hours ago, Blaise said:

Is it too late to answer? I can offer some ideas. Been there several times and have done some planning for our trip next week.

Would love your ideas.  I've been to SJ quite a few times but it's been years.  Already did the forts and rain forest.   We're going in April

Edited January 28 by TenForward

[Blaise]

1 hour ago, Atlgator said:

I will be in SJU in May, I would like to hear your ideas. I have been to San Juan several times, but always open to new ideas.

 

Yeah, we've done both forts enough to pass on it this trip (great fort, btw). We'll be in town 2 nights pre-cruise, staying in the CasaBlanca.

 

We love OSJ (and the food) so much that we've not yet sought to venture elsewhere, other than an Isla Verde resort we once stayed in.  For starters, here's some things we've done before and liked:

 

• Stroll throughout the town to shop and see the sights.
• Visit the Basilica.
• Stroll over to the SW side of town on the Paseo de la Princessa (south of the wall). Go all the way to the water then north along the outside of the wall (you can re-enter up a ways). You can take this walk as far as you like, and it appears you can go around the fort then come back in somewhere on the north side.
• We've eaten and/or had drinks in Barrachina's. Cool place, but had better food elsewhere — kind of touristy. We discovered better food (& drinks) right across the street in Café El Punto.
• We've enjoyed the food at Raices a couple times now. Also touristy, but we like the vibe, and the Mofongo & sangria are good (get a carafe). We'll do this again.
• Hang out in the various plazas with the pigeons.
• La Taberna Lúpulo was a bar we found that we liked. Nice open-air venue on a corner. Good beers and rum, and the food was surprisingly good.
• For breakfast we hit the iconic Cafe Mallorca. Locals like it and the coffee maker was a cool old machine that is a hybrid giant espresso maker.

Here are some ideas I have for our upcoming trip:

• Visit Casa Blanca, which is the house built for Ponce de Leon
• Go outside the north wall and see the cemetery, then go a bit east to La Garita Yaz for lunch.
• Eat at the Princesa - Cocina Cultura, below the south wall. Looks like good rum drinks there.
• Hang out at the Scryer Rum Barrelhouse & Rooftop.
• Grab some breakfast and/or coffee at one of the following:
  • Kaffe Haus 
  • Café Cuatro Sombras
  • Café Manolín
  • Finca Cialitos
  • Mercado la Carreta

[TenForward]

Thanks so much!  I was thinking about the wall... we'd walked along/near it once before many years ago.  Lots of helpful ideas.  Will investigate further to plan our visit in April.  Thank you!

[georgemoe]

Great ideas. We are there next week during the day. Thank you!

[DuckTollerFans]

What a great post!  THANK YOU

[Blaise]

We visited these new places last week:

Scryer Rum Barrelhouse & Rooftop -- Cool hangout with excellent drinks. The La Colada was the winner in our book. Some cigars are sold there and smoking is permitted on the roof.

Kaffe Haus -- Had great coffee and breakfast there

 

We returned to Raices. Not as good this time as the last 2 visits. My grouper mofongo in creole sauce was good, but my DW's shrimp mofongo in garlic sauce barely had any sauce. We did Café El Punto again, and it was still very good. Good drinks as well.  We also did La Taberna Lúpulo again. Wide range of beers on tap.

[broberts]

For lovers of book design, https://www.lacasadellibro.org/visitante/

Museo del Mar https://www.museodelmarpr.org/

 

Lots of museums and galleries, check trip advisor.

[TenForward]

I put together a walking tour for our group and the Barrelhouse and Kaffe Haus are on it based on your earlier post - glad to hear you enjoyed them!  

[medicalma'am]

Mind sharing the walking tour?

[Clubber]

Go get some good seafood or mafungo at Ladi's.  It has an awesome view of the ocean.   It is about a mile East of Castillo San Cristobal.

I had the Grouper with the "Home Sauce".  It was wonderful.

 

https://ladisrestaurant.com/san-juan.html

[TenForward]

On 2/17/2024 at 4:39 PM, medicalma'am said:

Mind sharing the walking tour?

 

We may change it up a bit but this takes us along the la Princessa walkway, through the original Old Gate, up to El Morro, down to the Bascilica, toward umbrella street (if it's still there) and to a few shops we want to hit.   I understand from someone in another thread you can in fact enter El Morrow directly from the waterfront walkway if you were to continue vs. going through the Old Gate. 

 

(hope my reply isn't too late, didn't see you had asked this question).