The west coast of Puerto Rico is served by the Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla, that has direct flights to the USA through JetBlue, Continental and Spirit.

Check out Affordable Caribbean: Puerto Rico in the New Your Times

Photo resource: sicarr

Related Articles:
Surfing in Rincon
Ideas for the West Coast of Puerto Rico
Ideas for the North Coast of Puerto Rico

I would like to thank all of you that have been regular readers of the site and I would like to also say hi and thanks to all the new readers.

So here we have the top 11 articles from the past 6 months:

11. Alternative Ideas for Puerto Rico
A few ideas that you may not have considered while visiting Puerto Rico

10. 10 Signs you are in Puerto Rico
A light hearted look at some of the uniqueness that is Puerto Rico

9. Top 5 Reasons to Start a Caribbean Cruise in San Juan Puerto Rico
For anyone considering a Caribbean cruise, here are a few reasons, why Puerto Rico should be your starting point

8. Coquito – Puerto Rican Christmas Eggnog
This article was popular over Christmas, I wonder why? Could it be the use of some fine Puerto Rican rum…

7. Ropa Vieja Grill
I’m no restaurant critic expert, but this is one of my favorite restaurants in San Juan

6. Surfing in Puerto Rico
For any one that loves to surf, Puerto Rico has some awesome spots

5. Enjoy yourself in Old San Juan
A few ideas to help you enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of the old walled city of San Juan

4. Plaza Las Americas Come Rain or Shine
The largest mall in the Caribbean and a great place to head if the weather decides not to cooperate

3. Puerto Rico the Local Food
If you come to Puerto Rico, one thing you must do is try the local food. Check out what is likely to be on the menu; and enjoy

2. Pre or Post Cruise in Puerto Rico
Ideas for any one looking to check out Old San Juan.

And the most popular article over the last six months.

1. Walking Trails in El Yunque Rainforest
A trip to Puerto Rico would not be complete without a visit to the El Yunque rainforest. Here you will find a summary of the main trails in the rainforest.

Bonus section

The following areas of the site were also popular over the past 6 months

Places to See
Places to Stay

Photo resource: slushpup

The Holiday Inn is joining the millions of people around the world who will be participating in this year’s Earthg Hour. Between 8pm and 9pm the lights in all common areas, along with exterior decorative lighting will be turned off. The hotel management will also be encouraging guests to take part in Earth Hour by turning off the lights in their rooms. During ‘earth Hour’ the lobby will be lit by candle light and the hotel will be holding an informal ‘wine and cheese’ hour for its guests.

Don’t worry if you are staying at the hotel, as hallways, stairways and elevators will remain lit.

So what is ‘Earth Hour’?

It is a campaign organized to raise awareness to global climate change by asking individuals, business and communities around the world to take action for one hour. It’s easy to take part; all you have to do is switch off your lights for one hour starting at 8pm.

If you would like to take part here is some more information:

Sign up for earth Hour 2008
Check out the Earth Hour website

On March 17 to 23 the Puerto Rico PGA Open will take place at the Coco Beach Golf & Country Club. This is awesome news for golf fans here in Puerto Rico and I am sure there will be hundreds of fans traveling from the States as well.

The Coco Beach Golf & Country Club is 14 miles east of San Juan and the 36 hole golf course was designed by PGA tour professional Tom Kite. The course has been designed so that the four nine hole courses offer the golfer different dramatic landscapes; mountain, ocean, lakes and palms.

The Puerto Rico PGA Open will be televised by the Golf Channel (times will be announced closer to the date). So if you are unable to be here, you can sit at home and enjoy it at your leisure.

Event Details

Monday – March 17th
PGA Professionals Practice Rounds
Pro-Am – 7:30 am – (shotgun start)
Tournament Monday Qualifier – Course TBD

Tuesday – March 18th
PGA Professionals Practice Rounds
Junior Clinic – Driving Range – 4:00 pm (open to the public)
Pro-Am Pairings Party – Gran Meliá Puerto Rico – 6:30 pm

Wednesday, March 19th
Official PGA TOUR Pro-Am – all day tee times beginning at 7:00 am
(morning groups and afternoon groups)
Pro-Am Reception – Location TBD – approximately 7:30 pm

Thursday, March 20th
First Round – Puerto Rico Open Presented by Banco Popular
The Golf Channel broadcast – Times TBA

Friday, March 21st
Second Round – Puerto Rico Open Presented by Banco Popular
The Golf Channel broadcast – Times TBA

Saturday, March 22nd
Third Round – Puerto Rico Open Presented by Banco Popular
Saturday Pro-Am – Course TBD – 8:00 am (shotgun format)
The Golf Channel broadcast – Times TBA

Sunday, March 23rd
Easter Sunday Sunrise Mass – 18th Green – 7:30 am
Fourth Round – Puerto Rico Open Presented by Banco Popular
The Golf Channel broadcast – Times TBA
Awards Ceremony – immediately following play – 18th Green
Charity check presentation
Trophy presentation
Winner’s check presentation

Ticket Details:

Eagle Package Includes:
Four (4) VIP Clubhouse Badges, good all week
Sixteen (16) All Tournament Grounds Tickets, good all week
Thirty (30) Good-Any-Day Grounds Tickets
One (1) Parking VIP Pass
Cost $1,500

Birdie Package Includes:
Two (2) VIP Clubhouse Badges, good all week
Ten (10) All Tournament Grounds Tickets, good all week
Twenty (20) Good-Any-Day Grounds Tickets
One (1) Parking VIP Pass
Cost $1,000

All Tournament Grounds Ticket $50
Provides admission each day of Tournament (grounds access only)
Clubhouse Badge $100
Provides admission each day of Tournament (includes grounds, clubhouse patio area and lounge)

Good Any-Day Grounds Ticket $15
Provides admission for one (1) day of Tournament (Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday).
Price increases to $20 if purchased at the gate.

Junior Ticket
All Juniors (12 and under) receive free admission with paid adult admission through Sunday.

Related Posts:
Play Golf in Puerto Rico
10 Signs You are in Puerto Rico

If you book book a 4-night/5-day stay through the Puerto Rico Tourism Company or Expedia, Orbitz and GOGO travel for any of the hotels listed below, you will receive a $250.00 food + beverage credit to be discounted upon checkout. Last years 2007 promotion was a success; so they have decided to repeat it again for 2008.

Participating Hotels
Caribe Hilton
Rincon Beach Resort
Gran Meliá
Wyndham Rio Mar Resort
El Convento Hotel
Holiday Inn San Juan
Radisson Ambassador
San Juan Marriott
Western Bay
Normandie Hotel
Howard Johnson Ponce

Note:
You have to book your trip between now and January 21st, 2008
Your trip must take place between now and April 30th 2008.

More details at www.gotopuertorico.com

Related Posts
Blue Flag Beaches
Puerto Rico PGA Tour
Navigating Puerto Rico

Travel and Leisure magazine has just listed their top hotels in the world and by region. The Horned Dorset in Rincon was voted as the 7th best hotel in the Caribbean and the 83rd best hotel in the world.

This is a pretty impressive distinction to have; especially seeing which other hotels were also listed

Located in Rincon, the Horned Dorset overlooks the sea from its perched position on top of the seawall. According to Frommers ‘this is the most sophisticated hotel on Puerto Rico, and it’s one of the most exclusive and elegant small properties anywhere in the Caribbean’.

Having seen some of the photos and the hotels website, I have to say this looks an extremely nice place (if you can afford the prices). Typical summer rates range from $610 – $870, but currently Expedia has rates in August for around $390.

The Primavera suites, are 1,400-square-foot, two-story town houses, each with two full bathrooms and a private terrace with plunge pool.

Facilities
2 restaurants; bar; 3 outdoor pools (1 infinity); fitness center; limited room service; massage; laundry service; 1 room for those w/limited mobility; library; kayaking (free)

You can check out the latest room prices and availability for the Horned Dorset at Expedia, just click here

If you are planning a vacation to Puerto Rico; getting here is the easy part. You can easily obtain flights to San Juan and also to Ponce and Aguadilla. But once you are here, if you plan on taking a rental car a little research is recommended.

If you want to drive east, west or south from San Juan it is fairly easy; Route 3 takes you east towards Fajardo, Route 52 takes you south towards Guayama then Ponce, and Route 22 / 2 takes you west to Aguadilla and Rincon. But once you turn off the major highways, things get a little trickier. The road signs around the island have improved over the past few years (so I have been told), but I still would not leave for a trip without having a map in the car. You can pick up a map at most gas stations and pharmacies here in Puerto Rico, but if you are like me, you will want to have a map before you arrive. Two maps that appear to be pretty decent are:
Rand McNally Puerto Rico Easyfinder
Puerto Rico Road Map 2007 / Mapa de Carreteras de Puerto Rico 2007

If you intend to do some driving around Puerto Rico, I would strongly recommend that you have a map with you.

As for travel books, I tend to steer towards the ‘Frommer’ and ‘Rough Guide’ series when I am looking for information on a particular destination. So, do you need a travel book if you are coming here? If you want to have something handy when you are traveling around then maybe a book would be useful; especially if you do not have easy access to the internet when you are here. From a quick search on Amazon, there is no ‘Rough Guide’ to Puerto Rico. There is however a ‘Frommer’s’ guide, an ‘Insight’ guide and an ‘Off The Beaten Track’ guide. All are available at Amazon and should also be available at your local book store.

Frommer’s Puerto Rico costs around $12

Insight Guide Puerto Rico costs around $16

Puerto Rico Off the Beaten Path costs around $12

Finally, once you are here, don’t forget some of the best advice will be from the locals, so do not be afraid to ask…especially when it comes to restaurants.

If you have driven around San Juan and the surrounding area, you can not have missed the amount of construction that is taking place. There are construction sites for hotels, office buildings, as well as, residential complexes. As for the large residential projects that are currently underway or in the planning phase, the majority appear to be ‘high end’ projects… In other words; lots of $$$ if you want to purchase an apartment in one of these projects.

Among the projects that are in process are:

Casa Magna in Guaynabo

Capitol Plaza in Old San Juan

Aqualina in Guaynabo

There are several other projects in and around the San Juan area and you can find more information here.

Source: Vive San Juan

The island has several world class golf courses designed by top professional’s including; George Fazio, Gary Player, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Tom Kite who designed The Cocoa Beach Golf and Country Club, which will be the venue for the 2008 PGA Puerto Rican Open.
So if you want to play golf on top class courses come and see what Puerto Rico has to offer.

For more information on the various golf courses here in Puerto Rico, check out our new ‘Golf Courses’ section.

Image Source: Cocoa Beach Golf Club

So if you are like me, you want to get the best deal possible when it comes to your vacation package. In the past I have used sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz to book flights and hotels, as well as using the airline or hotel websites. It can take some time to check these sites individually trying to find the best deal. This is where the following sites can be helpful. There will be other sites out there, but from what I have seen of these sites; they appear to do a good job in locating good deals.

The following four websites all perform a search of the various airlines and online travel sites and display the best deals for the given itinerary. These sites are not booking sites; they are referring sites, so your actual booking is with the company whose deal you have chosen. The four sites are:
Kayak: Offers Flights, Hotels, Cars, Cruises
Sidestep: Offers Flights, Hotels, Cars, Cruises, Vacation Packages
Mobissimo: Offers Flights, Hotels, Cars
Yahoo Farechase: Offers Flights, Hotels

The advantage of using the above sites is that they search the various airlines and online travel sites for you. So with just one search you can see where the cheapest deal is. If the price is right, you click on the deal and you are transferred to the respective travel site to complete the purchase.

Based on a quick review of the four sites, I preferred the user interface for Kayak more than the other three. When I tried the sites out, all four gave results that were comparable in price. No one site gave a significantly better deal.

If you have used any of these sites or you have used other similar sites with good results, please make a comment, so that I can consider them for the future.

Finally, there are a couple of other sites that are useful for finding deals; Priceline and Hotwire. These differ, in that Priceline offers the ability to make a bid on a flight or hotel (without the knowledge of the flight details or hotel name) and Hotwire does not display the flight details or hotel until you have made your purchase. I will discuss these sites at a later date.