Short San Juan review

[philv]

Hi folks, We visited San Juan on cruise last week. On Caribbean Princess docked at pier 4 in old San Juan. Hot and sticky day but we stayed hydrated. We walked the path along bay to El Morro past the San Juan gate and out to the point and entry of harbor. Then climbed stairs up to El Morro. Terrific walk, not extremely long, about 2 miles, but challenging in the heat. El Morro is an exceptional place to visit with terrific views. We then walked through old San Juan and got some popsicles at a wonderful little place on a side street. Great. Had a great day visiting old churches and walking cobble stone streets. Really enjoyed but our feet were beat by the time we got back to ship. I’ll try and post some photos.

Edited March 25 by philv

[Grego]

Thanks for posting this.  We are there at the end of April this year and are looking to spend some time walking in old town.

[TenForward]

Thank you for posting! We'll be there in a few weeks and I've plotted out a similar walk.  It wasn't clear if there was access to el Morro from the waterfront walk "Princessa" .... sounds like you were able to do that?  We were thinking of going through the Old Gate and walk to the fort that way, enjoying the cobblestone streets there and back again to the ship.  Did you notice if Umbrella Street is still there?

 

[philv]

1 hour ago, TenForward said:

Thank you for posting! We'll be there in a few weeks and I've plotted out a similar walk.  It wasn't clear if there was access to el Morro from the waterfront walk "Princessa" .... sounds like you were able to do that?  We were thinking of going through the Old Gate and walk to the fort that way, enjoying the cobblestone streets there and back again to the ship.  Did you notice if Umbrella Street is still there?

 

From pier 4 we went out to the street in front, turned left and walked to a square with a large fountain where the walking path starts outside the city wall and takes you along the bay all the way out to the entrance of the harbor below El Morro. You pass the historic San Juan Gate which is 3/4 mile from point. It’s a fairly level walk and path ends at stairs that climb up to El Morro. The stairs aren’t bad and from the fort it’s downhill through old San Juan back to port so I liked that direction. Didn’t come across umbrella street.

Edited March 28 by philv

[TenForward]

15 hours ago, philv said:

From pier 4 we went out to the street in front, turned left and walked to a square with a large fountain where the walking path starts outside the city wall and takes you along the bay all the way out to the entrance of the harbor below El Morro. You pass the historic San Juan Gate which is 3/4 mile from point. It’s a fairly level walk and path ends at stairs that climb up to El Morro. The stairs aren’t bad and from the fort it’s downhill through old San Juan back to port so I liked that direction. Didn’t come across umbrella street.

 

Thank you!  That is the La Princessa walk so I'm glad to hear if we continue on we can enter El Morro from there.  We've been there several times but not via the walkway.  Umbrella Street - if it's still there was - was down around the Old Gate.  We'll be checking that out on our way back.