Bach Bash in San Juan, Puerto Rico

General Information

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean Island and a Union Territory of USA. Many people get confused as to whether you need a visa to travel to Puerto Rico from within USA. As long as you aren’t flying via any another country, travel to Puerto Rico is considered domestic and you need only your real id.

Transportation

We didn’t rent a car for this trip, and used Uber to go everywhere. The cost of Uber in San Juan is so much cheaper than in other states. To visit the El Yunque Rainforest which is a little further we took transportation from a tour company.

Stay

Since it was a group of 6 of us, we booked an airbnb in Condado. This is such a prime location – close to beaches, restaurants, bars, stores, parks, and also super safe to walk around.

Restaurants/Cafe

Orozco’s Restaurant – Visit this restaurant for an authentic Puerto Rico food experience. My favorites were the Alcapurrias (plantain + cassava sticks) and Shrimp empanadas. We also tried the popular dish of Puerto Rico called Mofongo’s here. The hot sauce was pretty great too and they have a great selection of Mojitos. This Restaurant was also visited by Guy Fieri.
Tabu – Perfect place to go for a fun Bachelorette night. Also the food here was some of the best we had on the entire trip! I loved the calamari and Kurobuto fried rice, the cocktails were pretty interesting too.
Chocobar Cortes – Their drinks were soo good. I especially loved their Mocha with a shot of Amaretto and they serve it with some cheese that you are supposed to drop in. Chocobar Cortes is a favorite of Puerto Rican and Dominican households. We also took a box of different interesting flavored chocolates back home.
La Carreta – This is a cute brunch spot in Old San Juan. I loved their cappuccino, and the Croque Madam and omeletes were great too!
Triana – Come here for the flamenco show, stay for the sangria and paella. The Lamb chops were definitely the highlight though with the meat cooked to perfection!

Night Life

Aguardiente Bar – This is one of the bars in La Placita, you won’t go wrong with most of the bars on this street. The party goes on till 5 am here, lined with amazing bars and clubs and people dancing out on the streets.
La Factoria – This spot in Old San Juan is great for some salsa dancing. The vibe around the area is great too and revolves a lot around salsa dancing.

Activities/Shows

Highlights

El Yunque Tropical Rainforest – the only “tropical” rainforest in the USA. This is the perfect way to immerse yourself into Puerto Rico’s lush green ecosystem, waterfalls, natural pools. The highlight of our visit to the rainforest was definitely the adventure activities. We partook in rope swing and cliff jumping both of which I had never done before. We booked a Waterslide and hike tour with SpotIn. See here for more details about our experience.
Night Life – Puerto Rico has an amazing vibrant night life. If you love dancing and partying La Placita is definitely the place to be. If you are looking for something slightly laidback and also love salsa/couple dancing La Factoria (featured in Despacito music video) in Old San Juan is the the place to go.
Old San Juan – this place has such old world charms and is rich in Puerto Rico history and landmarks. Cobblestone streets lined with colorful houses, Spanish colonial architecture, plazas, cute restaurants and cafes. We also caught a Flamenco show at Triana in Old San Juan which was a fun experience.
Snorkeling with Sea turtles – Need I say more? We booked a beginners guided snorkeling tour with try scuba diving. See here for more details about our experience.

Itinerary

Day 1 (Arrival + Condado Beach + La Placita Night Life)

We took a 11 hr red eye flight into San Juan, Puerto Rico from California. First things first we checked into our airbnb on Ashford Avenue in Condado which was just 15 minutes from the airport. After freshening up, we were ready to try some authentic Puerto Rican food and we were so glad for the prime location of our airbnb close to so many restaurants. We decided to have our first meal at Orozco’s, also visited by Guy Fieri. They have so many different flavored Mojito’s, and are also known for their hot sauce and Mofongo’s. We had to try the Mofongo’s – a popular Puerto Rican dish made with mashed plantains. My favorites were definitely the -Alcapurrias (plantain + cassava sticks) and Shrimp empanadas.

Our next stop was the beach of course! We walked along Condado beach, up till the La Ventana Al Mar beachfront plaza which was such a vibe. Once we were done with the beach we headed back to the airbnb to get ready for the night. The girls had planned an eventful night to kick start the bachelorette with fun and games. If you are planning a bachelorette there is also a store on Ashford Avenue with some fun games ;).

Next we headed to La Placita for a night of dancing. La Placita was lit and even more so for a Thursday night. Think a full block filled with happening clubs, and people dancing on the streets, the party goes on till 5 in the morning here. We had a great time bar hopping, dancing in the clubs and with people on the streets, and enjoying free shots when you enter some clubs. Aguardiente bar had some nice apt signs for some fun pics with the gang. Our first night was supposed to be light partying because of our long travel and early start the next day, but it ended up being pretty eventful because of the vibrant Puerto Rico night life.

Day 2 (El Yunque Rainforest + Bonus for Bachelorette)

We had an early start the next day, with a El Yunque Rainforest tour booked with Spotin early in the morning. The tour also included transportation from a pick up spot. We were transported back to school days as the mode of transportation for the full group was a school bus. I had no idea what we were doing till we got on the bus. Day 2 was an adventurous day filled with water activities. We caught up on some sleep on the ride to the Rainforest – the only tropical rainforest in all of USA.

We were instructed in advance to wear waterproof shoes and wear/carry swim clothes for the tour. Not all of us owned waterproof shoes but thankfully there were shoes and waterproof phone cases available to buy once you got there.

We were separated into several smaller groups once we got there. Our tour guide was the fabulous Andrea. We were all equipped with life jackets and kept our belongings in her car before starting our hike through the rainforest. The rainforest is supper muddy and you have to hike through the muddy waters to get to the watering hole. As we hiked, Andrea guided us and told us stories about the Rainforest and educated us about the various Flora. The hike was pretty easy and lasted around 20-30 minutes.

For the water activities, there were several options – a natural water slide, rope jump, and cliff jump. Initially we were confident about getting on the slide, but since it rained earlier that morning, we were informed that the currents would be high for the slide and something we should avoid if we weren’t strong swimmers. So we were now left with the other two options. Once we got to the watering hole, Andrea first took the water slide group ahead while we chilled in the natural pool, clicked photos, swam around and soaked in the waterfall. After she was back she took us rope jumping which was the first activity we wanted to attempt. Scared but also determined to face our fear, we attempted rope jumping guided by Andrea who was the perfect cheerleader and motivator. Rope jumping was soo much fun that we had to go once again. Next up was cliff jumping which all of us were super scared to try as well. Cliff jumping had several different tiers. Unable to do the medium one we decided to try the small one. All of us conquered our fears and were filled with an adrenaline rush. I wanted a core memory for my bachelorette not just for me, but something all of us would remember and this was definitely one of those. Once we were done we hiked our way back guided by Andrea. We washed off all the mud in the river and hopped on our ride back. The tour also stops at a restaurant for some food. The food we ordered wasn’t that memorable, but we were too hungry at the point. I did like some of the complimentary bites they brought to the table.

Once we got back to our airbnb we went to the Chocobar to try some of their drinks. We tried the mocha spiked with Amaretto which tasted almost like a biscotti and the chocolate martini, the spiked mocha was our favorite.

Our next stop for the night was Tabu, for a sexy and classy culinary affair. The girls were looking for such a place but were unable to find one online. We were recommended this classy restaurant by our tour guide Andrea. The food we had here was the best on our entire trip! The calamari, Kurobuto fried rice, focaccia, creme bruele, cocktails everything was amazing! And paired with the classy performances and the ambience, and the extra attention being a bachelorette group. We were the only ones left till closing time and had a fun time taking photos with the various props in this restaurant lounge. We wrapped the night at an Irish bar near our airbnb with some drinks and games.

Day 3 (Old San Juan + Flamenco Show + La Factoria)

After a tiring two days, we decided to start day 3 slow with a chill brunch at La Carreta. The cappuccino here was so good. For the food I tried their popular Croque Madam which was delicious, and so were their omeletes.

With happy tummies, we started our self guided walking tour exploring Old San Juan. Some of the highlights of the walking tour were –

Castillo San Cristóbal (Fort San Cristobal) – fortress built by the Spanish to protect against land attacks.
Calle de la Fortaleza (Fortaleza Street) – colorful cobblestone street which is supposed to be decked with umbrellas but these were taken off during our visit as they had replaced them with christmas lights earlier – this is where you will find souvenir shops too,.
San Juan Gate and City Wall – main entry into the walled city
El Castillo San Felipe del Morro (Fort El Morro)
Barrachina – We also stopped by Barrachina which is near Fortaleza street, this is where Pina Colada originated. So of course we had to try them, and the best part they give it to go so we had a nice tasty refreshing drink for the rest of our walking tour. The girls had also found a restaurant with flamenco show performance but couldn’t reserve it online so we stopped by Triana to make a reservation for 7pm.

We ended the tour at Castillo San Felipe, where we spent some time until we had to head for our Flamenco reservation. The Flamenco show at Triana is every Friday and Saturday and starts at 7:30 pm, this was such a fun experience and took us on a journey through Spanish Culture. The paella we ordered was pretty good too!

Next we decide to head to La Factoria for its popularity having been featured in the Despacito music video. This was such a fun vibe with salsa dancing. The night life here was pretty great too, and seemed to center around salsa and couple dancing.

Day 4 (Snorkeling with Sea Turtles at Escambron Beach + Departure)

Day 4 started early with a beginners snorkeling reservation at Escambron Beach . We booked this activity with TryScubaDiving. It was our first time snorkeling with sea turtles and we were all super psyched to swim with them. This was a beginners experience so our guide first made sure we were comfortable with all of the equipment and the water and then we immediately headed to see the turtles first. This was pretty much close to the beach in shallow water and all of us were mesmerized once we saw our first turtle. Our guide also took us to different areas and we saw fishes, sea urchins and also ruins of a bridge destroyed from a hurricane. This was such a fun experience!

We then headed to grab coffee from Chocobar Cortes again and brunch at a spot called Christianson for our last brunch in Puerto Rico, the food was alright and slow but the ambience of the place is pretty instagram worthy. We spent rest of the time we had chilling at the beach and then getting ready to head back home, hearts filled with some beautiful core memories.

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