Puerto Rico was incredible…I’m not even going to pretend like it wasn’t the tropical escape that I desperately needed. From incredible food to breathtaking views, it was something out of a Pinterest board. 

We decided to stay at the San Juan Water & Beach Club and I will recommend it until the day that I die! Even though we had a “city view” room, that was a lie…our window had a perfect panoramic from the city on the northside of the hotel to the Isla Verde right behind us! My absolute favorite part about this hotel was that there was a private beach and cabanas for every guest. I felt like the most fabulous person ever!!

On Tuesday morning, we had breakfast at what would soon be our favorite spot – Playa Papaya! It was full of health and body wealth. I had an excellent acai bowl with plantains and granola and the most amazing strawberry smoothie! 

After breaky, we headed to Old San Juan and toured Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This castle was out of this world! But be totally aware that it is not for the faint-hearted and there are tons of steps so make sure you have your walking shoes on. The views are absolutely phenomenal but the absolute best part were the lizards (or dragons as I liked to call them)! These bad boys could scale literal walls and I was so captivated by them! So much so that I had to get my picture behind one. 

We headed out after a couple of hours and had lunch in Old San Juan at El Jibarito. This place came highly recommended to me and it was so good. We were sweating and exhausted but we tried to the local trifongo and it was delicious. Trifongo is fried green plantains, yellow plantains and yucca mashed with garlic and salt. Drooling! 

After we ate, we walked to Barrachina, the home of the pina colada! I’m not at all a pina colada person but I could be if I went to Barrachina everyday. The secret to their success is all fresh ingredients and dark rum instead of light. There’s a heavier spice to it that makes it less harsh and less watery as you take a drink. The rum, Don Q in this instance, was the perfect dark blend to catch the tropical hints from the pineapple and coconut. 

We took an Uber back to the hotel and decided to lay out the rest of the afternoon. It was so relaxing – we were obviously there during hurricane season but we loved the overcast because it kept the temperature in the 80s and the skin less of a lobster and more golden. It was an absolutely lovely summer day and the water was perfect for a quick dip.

That night we had dinner at the hotel and walked to the local bar, Alambique, where we enjoyed (maybe one too many) mojitos and all of the rum we could order! It was jam-packed with locals which was so awesome to experience on a Tuesday night. If you go, make sure you get a mojito, because the rum is dangerous and delicious. 

We went back to the room before we got ready to spend the next day drinking all of the rum at Casa Bacardí, but more on that next week 😉