Best Things To Do in San Juan Puerto Rico 2024 4K

Hi, this is IslandHopperTV coming to you from San Juan, Puerto Rico. We're going to show you the best things to do. Let's do it. That's right, IslandHoppers. We're coming to you from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico out here in the Caribbean Sea. And now here we are at the Castillo San Cristobal. Located here in San Juan National Historic Site, this Castillo San Cristobal is an old fortress slash castle that used to have history dating all the way back to the Spanish, as well as during World War One, this particular fortress was being used for the Americans to protect the mainland. I would say this is perfect for men and women as well as kids just because of the views you get here walking around. It really feels like an awesome blast from the past, which you're going to notice as we continue to go through old San Juan. Now here we are on Calle de la Fortaleza. Yeah, so the Calle de la Fortaleza is a very nice road. It's one of the main drags here in old San Juan that you want to walk around. There's a few different streets depending on if it's the evening time or if it's the afternoon, but Fortaleza right here, definitely a place you want to take a stroll. They've got lots of shopping. And right when you get to the end of Fortaleza, you're at Parque Palomas, which is the pigeon park. Here you have these incredibly active pigeons. They'll jump right up on your arm, sometimes three or four at a time on your shoulders and your arms. And people just like to feed. And it is a popular tourist attraction here in old San Juan. Up here you will have some really nice views as well. Looking towards the South, out towards the other side of the Harbor. And yeah, lots of pigeons, some cafes over here, but definitely a must hit place while visiting here, especially if you have kids because kids love to get their pictures taken with these pigeons. And as we continue to show you around old San Juan here, I want to let you know there is timestamps below. So you guys can click around from activity to activity around San Juan. So do check the timestamps below as well as some of our other videos on this channel from the Caribbean. This time we're actually going to walk out of the old San Juan fortress area. And we're actually going to go onto the waterfront. This is like a boardwalk here. Now here we are at Puerta de San Juan. From here you can get some great views of just how big this fortress area really is. Keep in mind, San Juan is actually older than St. Augustine in Florida. So it's technically the oldest European civilization in the United States territories. And this walkway that we're on here is actually known as Paseo del Morro. Now, even though San Juan is the oldest in the United States territories, the oldest in North America is actually Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, which is just a little bit older than old San Juan. While walking around Paseo del Morro, you should also check out some of the fountains and the old artwork that they've actually, that they've actually been able to preserve over here. And this is Fuente Reyes, which is one of the old fountains. As you can see, there's a lot of history and some preserved artifacts that are still well kept. But if you want it to get a little bit more adventurous, you can actually go around the old San Juan fort on a jet ski. So riding jet skis around this Harbor, another awesome experience. Just make sure the weather is on your side. Now we're on Cayeta de San Juan, which is actually one of the most beautiful roads here in old San Juan. And these beautiful roads, they're very picturesque and people come here and they just relax, sit down, get out of the sun. But just exploring around old San Juan here, these old Spanish buildings and the trees are so old down here. Very lush, beautiful place. And it's worth it just going on a walking tour, exploring these villas. Now here we are at Castillo del Muro. And this is really the crown jewel of old San Juan. This here, Castillo del Muro. Muro just in case you're wondering actually means nose in English. So this is the nose of the Island here of old San Juan, right there at the end. And that's why they gave it that name. It's like a point. And this place is just spectacular. You can see that green grass when you're walking up, it really stands out. So this is a must visit while here. The good news is if you are a veteran, you actually can get into these parks for free. You just show proof that you're a veteran. And if not, the admission cost is going to be $10 for adults, but kids under 15 are free. And on this day, when I got back to the hotel, I was hungry. So I ordered a mofongo, which is a local traditional food. Either comes with crispy pork or Camarones and plantains. This is actually a look at my hotel right there on the cruise ship Harbor. You can see three ships in there right now. But when I was here on my first day, there was five mega cruise ships in that port Harbor right there. This is the old Sheraton now called Rumbau. It's a great location for exploring old San Juan. And I would suggest staying here at least one night. It's right next to the Senior Frogs. Here we are now at Distrito Immobile. All right, we're out of old San Juan now and we're in the modern San Juan Distrito. T-Mobile is right next to the arena. We've also got a casino here and this is just a really popular place with people who are looking for more of that modern feeling. Lots of restaurants available here. All those light boards there feel like you're in time square a little bit, but it's not quite like time square. It's just a popular place. They've got the Coca-Cola music hall there. That's why you see all that Coca-Cola branding. This area is unique because there's the Sheraton Hotel Casino. Like I said, nearby it's also nearby in a loft, several Hyatt hotels. So if you're looking for an area to stay in San Juan, you may consider this area right here next to Distrito T-Mobile. For me, I really like it because of all the dining options. All right, so now what we're going to do is we're going to show you around some of the beaches here in San Juan. And the first one up here is going to be Playa Condado. This is actually Playita Condado. So it's the small Condado beach because once you go down the road a bit, you'll come to the bigger Condado beach. But I really do enjoy the vibes over here at Playita. So don't overlook this one. Now here we are at Condado beach. So here we are taking a look at this here is the big beach. Now on the day I was here, there was massive waves. People were body boarding. They were also out there surfing. But on this same day, someone actually got swept out to sea. So the waves over here are very intense and you need to watch out for rip currents and pay attention to the flags when posted because it can be a dangerous situation. The waves from the north coming down here to this north side of the island, especially during the winter months. Here we are now at La Placita. The official name is La Placita Mercado. You will have a market here, especially in the morning time, but in the evening time around here they have many different bars. So this is really where you get the nightlife when you're in San Juan. There is a few areas for nightlife, but it seems like this is the place to be. Obviously I didn't film during the night. Based on what I was getting from the locals, this is one of the popular places. I guess after 12 o'clock it may be a little bit sketchy. So take that into consideration if you're someone who wants to be extra safe. But I was just taking advice from the locals and you have places like Club Libre, Barn Lounge, Captain Rum and Si Senor as well as a few others. They got hookahs and drinks down here. Now let's go check out another beach. Here we are now at Isla Verde. Isla Verde is another very popular beach in San Juan. They've got many different hotels, restaurants up and down this coastline here. And I would say also be careful with the heavy waves, especially when the flags are out. People do come here and do some surfing. Most people actually come here because there are hotels nearby, but Isla Verde, a very big, beautiful, popular beach here in San Juan. The area in general is called Playas de Carolina, just because that's the name of the community around here. But you can see very colorful, especially when they put the Puerto Rico flags out there with the palm trees, the sand, the vibes, very relaxing. What we'll do now is we'll head over to a modern shopping mall. Now here we are at Las Americas Plaza. This here is the largest in Puerto Rico and the second largest in the Latin American world. So if you have any shopping needs for modern clothes or electronics, this is really where you're going to want to go because you can find pretty much anything. I actually went here shopping for clothes and I found their style and fashion in Puerto Rico to be pretty darn good. As I said, it is the second largest in Latin America. I believe the largest one is in Panama City, Panama. Now let's talk about local food. I already showed you a mofongo, but let's talk about a Cuban sandwich because those are common here and so are tacos. Now at Luquillo Beach. Luquillo Beach is about 25 to 30 minutes to the east of San Juan. It's a little bit further out of town. It's considered a resort community. Really in Puerto Rico, if you go east or west, you're going to come across resort towns. The whole island is enchanting and Luquillo Beach here is a very nice relaxing place to go. Right next to Luquillo is El Yunque National Forest. This is a very popular place with tourists who are visiting San Juan and a lot of people I asked, they said this is the number one thing that you should do actually when you visit San Juan. So El Yunque. And now for some basic information about San Juan and Puerto Rico in general. So Puerto Rico is a US territory as I mentioned previously, which means it's almost a state, but it's not officially a state. So most of the things you're going to see here are Americanized, including the freeway system that use the US dollar. The only thing that's unique about San Juan is the official language is Spanish, not English. And English is not widely spoken here. And in the San Juan metro area, there's about 2.4 million people. But if you just include San Juan itself, it's 340,000. The city was originally built in 1532. The San Jose church is one of the oldest in the Americas. The El Morro was built in 1539 to defend the city from attacks by the sea, mainly the pirates of the Caribbean, the real pirates of the Caribbean. Rome was very famously created in islands surrounding Puerto Rico, but Puerto Rico ended up creating the Pina Colada as you saw at the restaurant there in the old town. Now that's going to conclude this episode of San Juan from Puerto Rico. If you guys enjoyed this one, please hit the likes and we will see you from the British Virgin Islands and the USVI next.