Once you leave the San Juan Metroplex behind it’s like entering an entirely different country. Traffic becomes easier, the temperature is more pleasing, people are nicer, the pace is slower, prices are a little bit lower and you get that feeling of expanse and liberty that you won’t find anywhere in the concrete jungle.
I guess that’s the case when you go outside most major cities, but in Puerto Rico it’s quite evident.
There are several ways to break down the Island depending on where you decide to stay, but most locals like to divide it into six areas: the north, the west, the south, the east, the mountains and the San Juan Metroplex or (Área Metropolitana). Maybe your asking yourself: “hey, what happened to the mountains”? Well, actually for this site we divided the Island into four parts, so the mountain landmarks will fall within one of those quadrants.
Puerto Rico is only 100 miles from east to west and 35 miles from north to south (give or take a few miles, depending on who you ask), so actually most trips can start and end in San Juan. However, if you really want to take in the beauty and flavor of Puerto Rico’s small towns you might consider staying at a small hotel or “parador” closer to the area that you’ll be exploring.
Puerto Rico has an excellent assortment of small hotels called “paradores” that are comfortable, clean, safe, affordable, and most importantly, “right there” where you want to be.
This section follows the same system that you’ll find under the “San Juan Metroplex” menu: a general map with markers for all the main landmarks, individual pages with a little more information about each landmark and a specific map to reach that location.
So, once again, let’s get started…
