10 BEST Things To Do in San Juan, Puerto Rico (First Timers Guide) !

What's up Members of the Barrio It's Jon coming to you from San Juan, Puerto Rico And this is one of the most historical and beautiful cities in the Americas. But if your time is tight You're going to want to know where to go And what to do when you get there Don't worry we've got you covered Today I'm going to be sharing, 10 Things To Do on your next trip to San Juan Make sure to watch the whole article This list is really good Vamos We're at Playa Escambron And this was recommended to me by a lot of locals It's just a 5 minute Uber ride away from Old San Juan Now I'm not saying it's the nicest beach in the city But what I am saying is it is so convenient to many of the tourist locations in town The water is gorgeous It's warm, it's a good spot to spend an hour or two if you want to get a quick beach fix in Before going back to more siteseeing Old San Juan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site And likely to be your first stop in San Juan Now I recommend walking around to really get a feel for it And a great idea I do this in almost any city I visit In the world Is a Free Walking Tour Take the Old San Juan Free Walking Tour It starts in the morning We had an amazing local guide She knew so much about the city You're going to learn about the history of San Juan You're going to learn about Old San Juan and the architecture You're going to see a lot of the most important sites in just two short hours I feel like I got pretty well acquainted with the city And of course..

Since she was a native She gave us a lot of good information and advice for things to do After the tour And it is tip based So of course if you enjoy the tour Do give them a tip As it helps them sustain their business Kind of one of those must do things whenever you visit any city Including San Juan We are at Casa Blanca This is one of the best hidden gems in Old San Juan You can go inside of the Museum Which costs $5 for Admission This is the oldest residential place in the Americas Built in 1521 For Ponce de Leon He was supposed to live here But he died before coming It turned into the governors palace Now you can go around the outside This is the real hidden part They have a garden here Completely open to the public And it's free Some amazing views It honestly felt like I was walking around a Spanish Hacienda It's just a nice thing to do at about this time of day When it's super hot out Go find your shade outside Of Casa Blanca Just being able to have a simple conversation in Spanish Is really going to enhance your trip to Puerto Rico Or anywhere else you travel in Latin America so much And even though i'm married to a Mexican Girl I still need to brush up on my Spanish from time to time I need something that's fast and isn't too tedious And that's where todays sponsor comes in..

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It's still worth your time Now you could take an Uber or Taxi here. or You could go to Pier 2 in Old San Juan And pay 50 cents To take a Ferry to Catano Which takes just 10 minutes It has nice views Then you could uber or take a $3 taxi per person To get over to Casa Bacardi 15 dollars is the price of the basic tour The historical tour and it comes with my best part A free Cocktail You jump on their little shuttle And they take you all around the property Super super tropical Then you go inside watch a movie on the history of Bacardi If you're curious where that bat came from.. Well you are going to find out Then you're going to see more historical artifacts inside About the origins in Cuba You get to smell the different rums And then your tour guide will even explain to you all the visual differences What you need to mix them with And finally you get an opportunity to even go buy some of the rum that you just saw At a really good price Much cheaper than you would ever get in the United States So..

I recommend coming to Casa Bacardi For sure If you are a fan of rum.. And it's also very family friendly as well Bring the kids Most tourists stare at the Old San Juan Cemetery From above But many don't realize that it's actually open to the public For free Until 3 PM. You just have to follow the tunnel Down..

enter the cemetery It was established in 1863 And honestly it is one of the most beautiful cemeteries I've ever been to in my life With that location Right alongside the bay And you'll see a lot of sculptures inside Some of Puerto Rico's most famous residents final resting places are there And it's a great spot to spend let's say..



15 or 20 minutes In a peaceful environment Obviously be respectful It's right by El Morro So it's the perfect place to stop at before going one of San Juan's most famous forts Probably the most famous attractions in San Juan Are the two forts. San Felipe del Morro And San Cristobal And I'm going to give you a big tip on going to these spots Try to go either in the morning Or in the afternoon When the sun has set quite a bit Because it's really hot in San Juan And you'll be thanking me because there's not a lot of shade inside Also the admission is $7 and it grants you access to both forts For 24 hours We're going to start with El Morro Right behind me It was constructed in 1539 by the Spanish This protected the Spanish by sea From any invaders It's a lot more compact in size Than San Cristobal You can learn a lot of history inside You can talk to the rangers And of course the views of the ocean are absolutely spectaculuar You can just feel like a Spanish soldier for a day Looking out into the sea Then we have San Cristobal Which was constructed in 1634 It is 3-tiered And it is the largest European Fortification In the Americas You could spend far more time in San Cristobal Than in El Morro It's just so big And there are some points in there Where I barely saw other people And I felt like I had the whole fort to myself It was really interesting to walk around To look through the windows Again, to feel like a part of history But of course.

You need to visit Both of the fortifications It's about a 25 to 30 minute walk between to get to them Trust me it could be one of the highlights of your trip to San Juan.

If you're looking for nightlife in Old San Juan I'm going to tell you the same thing your uber driver is going to tell you Your guidebook is going to tell you Go to La Factoria It may look familiar because it was used as one of the filming locations for the music article Despacito You may have heard of the song And for educational purposes I had to try a few of their cocktails And let me tell you They live up to the reputation 10 dollars or less Seriously, some of the best cocktails I've had In a really long time Including an amazing mojito On weekends they have 6 different rooms open Some with live music During the week when we went it was just 3 rooms But still the vibe is really really cool This is the spot you want to go in Old San Juan Any night of the week Trust me You need to include a stop on Calle Loiza on your trip to San Juan For a lot of reasons This is the hipster part of the city I'm going to give you a few destinations to definitley check out The first would be: Libros Libres Which means free books And that's exactly what it is A little corner..

Where there must be 100's of Free Books. Just waiting for you to come check them out The next stop would be La Cueva Del Mar Guys i'm telling you these were some of the best fish tacos I've had in a really long time If you need your seafood fix when you're in San Juan Hit them up Finally if you're a fan of beer I had so many locals telling me about a spot called "El Tap". They have 50 different beers on tap As their name is And a lot of them are local Puerto Rican beers A lot of craft stuff Really really neat And this street has a lot of street art as well Good vibes definitely come here when you're in San Juan San Juan has so many amazing foods But I'm going to share three that I really think.

You need to try The first one we're going to start with is called a Mallorca And we went to a famous cafe called.. Mallorca To try this..

and it's basically a pastry that is absolutely drowned in powdered sugar Adriana and I loved it immediately It was in fact the first thing we ate when we came to San Juan definitely find a place and try a Mallorca Next up is.

Mofongo We went to a very cool spot called Cafe Manolin To try this.. the place looks like an old school diner Super authentic Super popular And what Mofongo. is it's a mashed Green Plantain Stuffed with meat.. we got ours with chicken Team Adriana fell in love at first bite Mmmmmmm Finally because it's so humid in San Juan Make sure to drink Limber And if you can find it all over the city But in Old San Juan there's one spot called Limbers If you can find it I just showed it on screen It's just 75 cents And it's crushed up ice With different flavors So refreshing The perfect antidote To an entire day spent walking around If you visit San Juan On a Thursday through a Sunday night La Placita de Santurce Is one of the best nightlife options for you It's just a big open air party With so much going on Restaurants to eat Bars to get beers at Or cocktails Take your drink to go And enjoy some life music as well This is one of the best spots in the entire city To party Open super late You must add this to your list If you enjoy going out at night Trust me Guys make sure to tell me down below in the comments If I missed anything in San Juan I'm really curious I hope you enjoyed this guide Thank you so much for reading as always Until next time.