Traveling During COVID-19
I want to acknowledge that I took this trip against the CDC recommendations to avoid essential travel and the U.S. State Department’s Health Advisory. I’m sensitive to the fact that we are in a global pandemic; while I encourage others to still travel, I am not advocating that you ignore the advice given by the CDC. While vacationing, I practiced social distancing, wore a mask, washed and sanitized my hands hourly, and disinfected areas with Lysol wipes (including airplane). I encourage you to please do the same— especially wearing a mask!
I didn’t have to take a COVID test to fly into Puerto Rico, only fill out a form and adhere to questioning upon landing. Things of course continuously change so please check Discover Puerto Rico website to stay informed with current travel restrictions.
Taking off to Puerto Rico was an easy decision having to cancel my trip to Thailand and Bali in May. I so desperately needed an island escape to unwind after a tough first year of law school. Due to COVID-19, my summer internship was remote. This meant I could stay in Puerto Rico for as long as I wanted. I settled for a month. I packed my bags and met two of my girls in San Juan, mid-way into June my boyfriend joined the fun.
Lodging
We stayed in Miramar, San Juan, for the full length of our stay at this AirBnB. Although not in love with the location at first, it turned out to be a central location in San Juan. The AirBnB was a 5 minute walk from la placita (bunch of bars/restaurants), 15 minute walk to the beaches, and a 15 minute drive from Old San Juan. It was also ideal because the grocery store was a 2 minute walk, Walgreens/Wal-Mart a 20 minute walk, and we had a washing/drying machine. All very essential things for a month long stay. If staying in San Juan for a shorter amount of time, I recommend staying in Condado where all the luxury hotels are. Condado gives off a Miami vibe. It’s full of bars, restaurants, casinos, is walking distance to the beaches, and a 10 minute drive to Old San Juan.
If you’re a hotel person, or just want a more boujee stay, I recommend staying at the Serafina Beach Hotel. It has a restaurant attached with an outdoor patio that is a vibe with great food!
Transportation
Puerto Rico doesn’t have Lyft, so to get around you’ll have to use Uber. Uber was so cheap I could barely believe it. The most expensive Uber I took was to the mall in Carolina which was $20. Ubers within San Juan typically cost $5-$7. For sightseeing/excursions outside of San Juan we rented a car Friday through Monday. As long as someone is above 25 years old, that typically costs $100-$120 for the weekend through Kayak.com. Don’t go through local car rentals, they’re too expensive.
What To Do
Staying Local in San Juan
Since I worked Monday through Friday, we did most of our sightseeing and excursions on the weekends. During the weekdays I clocked out at 3pm, changed into my bikini, grabbed my hammock and headed to the beach. I caught so many beautiful sunsets over that month. I couldn’t help but be filled with so much gratitude as I watched the sun fade into the horizon.
While in San Juan, my favorite local beach, Playa Escambron, was a 15-minute walk from our AirBnB. Ocean Park Beach was another favorite.
Another common thing to do was Paddle Board or Kayak during the day and/or night at the Condado Lagoons. You can also walk around Condado and find plenty of bars and restaurants with a very lively ambiance, after all, it is La Isla Del Encanto. One of my favorites was the Waikiki Restaurant in Condado. Setting? The ocean. Piña Coladas? A-1. Food? Two thumbs up. It was also a romantic place for a date night.
Of course, we also hit up Old San Juan! It wasn’t as lively as it’s known to be because of COVID. But it was still beautiful to step back in time and see the preservation of the old colonial city and the bright colored painted houses. Nothing screams Caribbean islands more than some colorful houses, and for an island girl like myself, it was a piece of home.
Utuado and Cabo Rojo
On the weekends we explored nearly the entire island of Puerto Rico. You can get around the island in 4-6 hours depending on which roads/highways you take.
Utuado and Cabo Rojo are in the southwest region of the island. Cabo Rojo is the most southwestern tip of the island. We first went to Utuado and walked around the little town taking pictures. We then went to a river/waterfall in Utuado called Charco Los Mormones. The river was a bit of a trek to get to but shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to get to the swimming area. Just know you’ll be climbing downhill to get there.
Cabo Rojo has a lot to offer. From the salt flats, to the beaches, and unparalleled views of southwest Puerto Rico. We drove to the Salt Flats (warning: smells like total shit lol) which was on the way to the beach. The main entrance to the park was closed due to COVID but there was another section we were able to enter through to take pictures. We probably weren’t supposed to be there, but no one was around to yell at us and YOLO. We then drove to Playa Sucia (10 minute drive) and caught some rays. And finally, went on a 15 minute hike to see Los Morellos Lighthouse, the most breathtaking ocean view.
Culebra Island
This was my favorite excursion! We drove to Marina Puerto del Rey in Fajardo and boarded the boat to Flamenco Beach in Culebra Island. Culebra Island is a tiny island off of Puerto Rico that houses 4,000 people. Unfortunately, due to COVID, the mayor of Culebra Island didn’t allow anyone onto the island. The 4,000 residents of Culebra were are COVID free so the mayor wasn’t taking a chance on tourists. So long as COVID is still around, it’ll be very unlikely that you’ll be able to step foot on the island. Ultimately this minor disappointment didn’t end up affecting us because we had so much fun jumping off the boat and swimming into the warm, crystal clear water.
We booked this excursion through East Island Excursions which I highly recommend! It’s $99 per person and includes lunch, unlimited drinks, and snorkeling gear (we bought our own because of COVID for $19 from the company). Lunch is typically buffet style but because of COVID they made us boxed lunches, which wasn’t too bad, but not the best either. You can easily bring your own food on the boat though. I got extremely sea sick on this 45 minute boat ride, like throwing up type sick, so if you get motion sickness definitely take some medicine and sit outside of the boat.
Bikini Top | Bikini Bottom | Sunglasses
Isabela, Puerto Rico
Another road trip packed weekend was spent in Isabela beach hopping. Some favorite beaches: Playa Pozo Teodoro and Middles Beach.
We also went to Gozalandia Falls but the current was too strong so they prohibited us from swimming. Bummer.
Things To Do I Didn’t
Highly recommend going to El Yunque National Forest, it was still closed while we were there but we were told that come July everything would be open again to tourists. We also missed El Morro in Old San Juan. Beats me how we missed this but I recommend going up and catching the views while already in Old San Juan.
Money
If you’ve been to other Caribbean islands like Cuba or Dominican Republic, you probably expect those cheap Caribbean prices but Puerto Rico is not like that. Since it is a U.S. territory, things are priced similar to that back in the mainland. Food and drinks were priced just like back home in Boston or any other major city in the states (NYC, Chicago, L.A.). The cheapest thing there were the Uber rides.
Overall, Puerto Rico was so much fun and a beautiful island filled with fun, vibrant, and warm people. I am looking forward to returning.
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