San Juan/Puerto Rico

[mr beauxjangles]

Just scheduled a last minute trip with the wifey for our anniversary. We'll be staying in San Juan (Carolina) near Old San Juan. Anyone been? Any recommendations - food in particular but also sights and other recommendations would be appreciated. We're winging it and don't have much time for research.

[KSpan]

The Castillos (fortresses) in Old San Juan are old military installations and cool to tour. Not too expensive if I remember right. At night, the Bioluminescent Bay is neat to experience - water that goes rainbow colors due to certain algae.

Also, if you feel like a short drive and are into science stuff Arecibo, the world's largest radio telescope, is in central Puerto Rico. That was cool to visit.

[Arroz con Panther]

If you're into hiking, you can plan a little day trip to El Yunque National Rainforest.  They have a lot of trails for hiking and you can probably sign up for an excursion through your hotel.

 

At night, you can always go to the casinos.  Be wary though, San Juan's not the best place at night :)  My dad worked there for years and a lot of it is corrupted by gangs trying to smuggle drugs into the US.  You should be fine as long as you don't count cards or try to buy coke from some random dude.

[Arroz con Panther]

Oh, and I second going to see the fortress in Old San Juan and just hanging out there.  All of the cruise ships stop at Old San Juan.