Hotels in San Juan? - and things to see

[Cruisingoose]

There may be another thread out there.. but any suggestions to stay in San Juan - March next year?

 

Any must sees there as well?

[Dubsolute]

We're staying at the Caribe Hilton that my friends say is really nice. The Sheraton is also a decent hotel located across the street from some of the piers.

[love2vacation]

We stayed in SJ both pre and post cruise this year in March. (This is the pricey time of year, of course!)

 

Pre cruise we stayed at the Coral Princess Inn. It was just fine and within walking distance of beach, dining, and the Walgreens to pick up the last minute things for the cruise. Post cruise we stayed actually right down the street from the Coral Princess at the Marriott Stellaris Hotel and Casino. We got this for 130.00 by bidding on price line, otherwise it would have been in the 300.00 per night range. This hotel was nice, but I have stayed in nicer 300.00-400.00 range hotels in the states, and since we did not use pool or beach and opted to spend the post cruise day in Old SJ it was kind of wasted on us!

 

If you are looking for just one room you might try price line. Good luck.

(I am saving our hotel points to use next trip.)

[southern_feeling]

Old san juan is great to walk around and see the two forts, the old city walls, fountains, statues, great restaurants, great shops, walk around the old city walls, and the nice city squares. Also the trip to the rain forrest was kind of neat. Very wet and rainy of course but beautiful thick vegetation and streams and waterfalls. Plus you drive by the houses of ordinary Puerto Ricans which will enlighten you on how they live compared to the states.

[kydale]

We stayed at the Caribe Hilton in Feb. Got it for 114.00 thru Hotwire. But if it is your first trip to SJ and just there for the night before the cruise I would recommend Old San Juan. There are two hotels that I like, the El Convento, built around 1640, very nice spanish style hotel. Little pricey but for one night what the heck. Or something less $$$$ is the Hotel Milano. Both hotels are very clean and service is very good. If you don't stay at El Convento go in the Tapas bar for a drink and a bite to eat. There are two forts within walking distance with shops and places to eat everywhere. We usually stay in Old San Juan. And we go several days early. One more thing. Both hotels have web sites.

[jcanino]

Old san juan is great to walk around and see the two forts, the old city walls, fountains, statues, great restaurants, great shops, walk around the old city walls, and the nice city squares.

 

If you want to get a bit of history thrown in with your touring and see San Juan and the cruise ships from the water, they also offer a Duck Tour which goes through some of Old San Juan, the Condado area, etc.

[Sun Lover]

kydale,

Would you recommend staying right in Old San Juan? We will only be there one day post-cruise and have a flight back home early the next morning, but we have never been to Old San Juan so I thought we should probably sight-see. It sounds like the two hotels you mentioned must be in Old San Juan. What are the forts that you said are within walking distance? Do you think they'd be of interest to boys ages 14 & 17? Do you know how far of a drive it is from there to the airport?

[love2vacation]

Here is my .02

You can walk around old San Jaun very easily, any of the hotels should have a good map for you. There are also free trollies. You can pay at one fort to get in to both (this is cheaper), El Morro (sp) is quite a walk out as it is on a point but San Cristobal(sp) is closer to the hotels. I think if your boys are into cannons, forts, history and such this would certainly be of interest to them. DH and I are big history buffs and the forts were very interesting. The shopping is great in Old San Juan as well, but being boys this probably isn't gonna be a big draw for them!!;) Might be for you though.

 

Enjoy - we can't wait to go back.

 

BTW- we did not stay in old San Juan either pre or post because we cruised on RCCL and they do not dock in Old San Juan anyway. The taxi ride from the Marriott was only $10.

[wrp96]

kydale,

Would you recommend staying right in Old San Juan? We will only be there one day post-cruise and have a flight back home early the next morning, but we have never been to Old San Juan so I thought we should probably sight-see. It sounds like the two hotels you mentioned must be in Old San Juan. What are the forts that you said are within walking distance? Do you think they'd be of interest to boys ages 14 & 17? Do you know how far of a drive it is from there to the airport?

 

What cruiseline are you sailing? If you are sailing Princess or Carnival, then there are definite advantages to staying in OSJ, because your ship sails from there. But if you are sailing RCCL or Celebrity, the ships sail from the Pan Am Pier which is across the harbor from OSJ.

[Sun Lover]

We are sailing on RCI, but I imagine we'll just take a taxi from pier to our hotel. I was wondering how hard it would be to get from our hotel into Old San Juan. Are taxis expensive?

[kydale]

Taxis in PR no longer use meters. They charge a flat rate so just make sure you know the price before you get into one. Also I think it is better to get one at a taxis stand than to flag one down.

 

There is lots of history in OSJ but the teenagers would probably like a beach hotel better than staying in OSJ.

 

My wife and I like to walk. I'm 59, she is 48. We walked from San Cristabal to El Morro then to the Carnival peer. Lots of interesting places along the way.

If you do visit OSJ have a drink at Tapas bar in El Convento. San Juan is one of our favorite places.

[agabbymama]

The Radisson is very nice too. Got it for $89 on hotels.com. We had a real problem as there was only two of us, but we wanted two beds. We are friends and travel together frequently, but don't want to sleep together. A lot of the hotels don't have twin bed set-ups. Radisson is about two blocks walk to the beach. Marriott was about 4 or 5 blocks down the street. Not sure what the Marriott charges, but both are great locations. They have tour desks right at the hotels. We did a city tour and the Bacardi Rum factory tour. Then we also did a night tour to a local night spot for dinner on the beach. It was really nice, but the wind picked up and made it a little breezey on the beach. We couldn't go to the rain forest as it had rained so much, the roads were too muddy.

 

Some posters have said to see Old San Juan, the rain forest, El Morro and San Cristobal. There is also the Bacardi Rum factory. I'm not a big drinker, but the tour was absolutely fascinating, and I bought a t-shirt and shot glasses in the gift shop. Do your research and see what interests you most and if cost is a consideration, what you can do for what you want to pay.:D