Pick a City - San Juan

The Short List

Restaurants

• Orozco's
• Orale Guey
• Oceano
• Pinky's West* this location closed =(
• Punto de Visto
• Vagon
• BelowZero

Bars

• Pina Loca
• Greengos
• La Factoria

Hotels

• La Concha
• Hilton- Condado
• The Coral Princess Hotel

Sites/Areas

• La Placita 
• Condado
• Old San Juan

 

*This trip was taken prior to the hurricane; we have since visited and most of the places are still in tact, so VISIT!  

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From the airport, we took a taxi to the Hilton-Condado.  There's a flat rate from the airport to where you want to go, depending on the zone.  The line gets pretty long for the cabs, (we waited about 10/15 minutes) and most prefer cash.  You CAN ask for a card-taking taxi and they will charge you a slight fee of 1-4 bucks.  They also add in a luggage fee, (1 dollar per bag), so for our ride, it came out to about 22 bucks.  With this being said, Uber is available. We took an Uber back to the airport (politics aside) and it came out to only 7 dollars.    

Both the cabbies and Uber drivers put on for their city, and if you ask them (or even if you don't), they will give you ideas for restaurants and bars (and strip clubs).  I will say, we got some good gems of info, and some just OK aka howmuchdidyougetpaidtotellmethis places, but hey, get money to where its needed.  

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If you are a google-trip advisor-yelp-foursquare type person (I'm assuming you just may be, because you are here), you have seen La Placita come up on the list, but I don't think the magnitude of the crack-tivity can be understood until you just go.  (M: Its the French Quarter of Puerto Rico).  Accurate.  Dancing in the streets and in the open windowed bars. Drinks all around and different music blaring from the speakers.  Beautiful people in all shades of brown everywhere you turn. Street vendors sell BBQ chicken on a stick with bread, my people.  The bare necessities of life with pops of Afro-Latin-American culture can't be beaten.  

We ended up running into Crystal, one of my childhood friends, and from there, the night got wild, starting with the count down to Marlon's birthday.  Marlon became friends with my home girl's boyfriend; next thing I know, Marlon is double fisting 2 Long Islands courtesy of Ray (because there are also cheap as hell drinks everywhere due to the competition of all of the bars), and saying "I'm not thirty two, I'm Treinta y dos", talking to a random man whose wife thought he was in Houston, and then we were in a rental on the way to Lips, one of the 4 "main" strip clubs in the area.  The drive from there was even more lit, because apparently, when Bad and Boujee comes on, ESPECIALLY in Puerto Rico, you have to pull the car over and turn the f up for a moment or 5. 

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We checked out of the Hilton (who did not have free late check out- boooooo) and hotel hopped a bit further down the Condado strip to La Concha, my favorite hotel for its property and beach as well as its SERVICE.  Check in was not until 2 and it was only 11:30, but they let us drop our bags and immediately begin to use their facilities.  We crossed the street to the small but famous **Pinky's, a little breakfast and smoothie joint.  Cost efficient and delicious, the line is almost always out the door at breakfast time and even at lunch. **Pinky's West location mentioned here is now closed due to the hurricaine, but they do have other close by locations.**   We crossed the street back over to La Concha and hit the beach.  The hotel texted us to let us know when the room was ready, which ended up being before check-in time.

The tide was super rough, so Marlon and I mostly stayed out of the water. It was fun to watch all the surfers and body boarders catch the surf, and brave souls who wanted to take a simple dip get knocked over by massive waves, all from the comfort of my beach chair.  The ice cream man comes around as does the man selling coconuts, and both can happen for a reasonable cost.

Dinner that evening was fit for my King, as we had beach view reservations at Oceano, one of the best restaurants in San Juan.  Bonus, it is a literal 3 minute walk from La Concha to Oceano, and with a 6pm slot, we were in prime position to eat and have apps as the sun went down.

Checking out of La Concha is always sad, but they held our bags until check in time at the last spot, the Coral Princess Hotel.  They are also so kind, they tagged and held on to our leftover food!  *Real foodies don't sacrifice up their leftovers to the hotel refrigerator gods.

In the meantime, we hit up David at Pina Loca for another round of coladas at his truck.  (M: If you go, tell him Chicago sent you).  You may see people passing out flyers on the beach, and he is just beginning delivery service.  Yes.  Delivery of Colada filled pineapples to you at your spot on the beach! He also has fresh fruit options and acai bowls with granola as light breakfast options.  We literally went once a day, and the last day, he hooked us up with a special concotion for our patronage.

Monday afternoon we walked a bit out of the beachy area to Vagon , a stationary taco food truck.  We had a Medalia, Puerto Rico's own beer, to go with tacos, empanadas, and chips with bean salsa.  

After leaving (and in full disclosure, every evening) we went to BelowZero- an ice cream spot similar to the Thai places that pour fresh cream onto a cold slab, chopping and mixing in fresh fruits, sauces, and even cheesecake.  They then take a tool and slowly scrape/peel the ice cream off of the slab into rolls, and top it off with your choice of items, ranging from pretzels to brownies to fruit loops.  Its really a pick your poison kind of place.  Its closer to the "pricey" side, at 7 bucks a pop, but its so worth it, especially with the Ben and Jerry's (we love you too) stronghold that seems to be in the Condado area.

Orale Guey was a go to this trip, being in prime position on Ashford.  They have all day happy hour, so we were in and out a lot for drinks on the go.  Orozcos was good for a classic Puerto Rican dinner.  No frills, just good food.  They are also on their own time when it comes to service, but hey, we are on vacation so whats the rush?

We attempted to take the bus to Old San Juan the next day, to give you an authentic view and cheap fare option, but after an hour plus of waiting, we ended up taking a cab.  Most people, when asked about the bus just seemed to know and also be OK with "it comes when it comes".  After too many hours, we made it to Old San Juan to see some antiquated roads and buildings, and the way things "were" in the past

To make up for it, we ended up at Punto De Visto, a pick that I wandered past but Marlon ended up selecting.  For the win.  Its an old hotel and you take an elevator up, then a flight of stairs, to the pirate ship looking inside of Punto de Visto.  We had a short wait and were seated outside for a great meal and drinks.  

Across the street was Greengos, and their tequila-featured happy hour.  A few shots later, we wandered out down the street, taking photos and running into to La Factoria- what looks like a literal hole in the wall but was rated one of the top places for a craft cocktail. 

By the time we headed to the forts, they were already closing for the day.  

For more info on any of the hotels, restaurants, or places to see, comment!  Click the links below for more detailed info on the favorties from the trip!