Guides
Puerto Rico, planned properly.
18 guides to the island, written by the company that has been hosting here since 2015 — where to base yourself, which beaches are worth the drive, what a week actually costs, and how to book a home without paying a platform for the privilege. Grouped by the decision you are trying to make rather than by the date they were published.
- 18 guides
- 4 themes
- Homes across the island
- 3 nights from $212, cleaning included
Start here
Four decisions, in the order they matter
Almost every Puerto Rico trip gets planned in the same sequence, and getting the order right saves a lot of backtracking. First you choose the part of the island you will sleep in, because that decides how much driving the rest of the week involves. Then you pick the two or three outdoor days the trip is really about — a rainforest, a bay that glows, the beaches. Then you work out where you are eating, which in Puerto Rico is a bigger part of the trip than most people expect. Only then do the practicalities matter: the budget, the car, the packing, the dates.
The guides below follow that order. They come out of hosting guests across 7 parts of the island since 2015, so they are opinionated the way a neighbour is opinionated: they will tell you when a famous thing is worth it and when it is a queue. Where a guide covers a neighbourhood we host in, it links straight to the homes there, so you can go from reading to booking without starting a new search.
Neighbourhoods4 guides
Where to base yourself
The single decision that shapes a Puerto Rico trip is which door you come home to. Old San Juan is a 500-year-old walled city you can cross on foot; Santurce is the art and food quarter a few minutes east; Condado and Isla Verde put the Atlantic at the end of the street. These guides start with the whole island, region by region, then choose between San Juan's neighbourhoods, and cover the islands worth a separate trip of their own.
NeighbourhoodsWhere to stay in Puerto RicoThe whole island, region by region: who each part suits, how long the drive from the airport is, and where you can book a home.Read the guideNeighbourhoodsWhere to stay in San JuanOld San Juan, Santurce, Condado, Isla Verde and Miramar compared by what each one is like to wake up in — noise, walkability, parking, and who each suits.Read the guideNeighbourhoodsOld San Juan on footA route through the walled city: the two Spanish forts, Paseo de la Princesa, the blue cobblestones, and the streets worth the uphill detour.Read the guideNeighbourhoodsVieques and CulebraThe two island municipalities off the east coast, how the ferries and short flights work, and what each island is better at once you get there.Read the guideBeaches & nature3 guides
The island outdoors
Puerto Rico packs a rainforest, a dry forest, karst country and a coastline on every side into an island you can drive across in an afternoon. El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the United States National Forest System, and the island has bioluminescent bays that genuinely glow when you move the water. These guides cover the outdoor days most trips are built around, and how to plan them without wasting a morning.
Beaches & natureThe best beaches, ranked honestlyCalm water for swimming, surf for the north-west, sand you can walk to from a rental, and the beaches people who live here actually use at the weekend.Read the guideBeaches & natureEl Yunque, trail by trailThe only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest System: which trails are worth it, getting in free with no reservation, and what rain does to your plans.Read the guideBeaches & natureThe bioluminescent baysMosquito Bay on Vieques, Laguna Grande in Fajardo and La Parguera in the south — what causes the glow, and why the moon decides whether you see it.Read the guideFood & culture2 guides
Eating and everything else
Puerto Rican cooking is its own thing — Taíno, Spanish and West African, worked out over centuries and served at everything from a roadside kiosk to a tasting menu. The culture around it is just as specific: the festivals, the music, the plazas that fill after dark. These are the guides for the parts of the trip that happen between the beach and the bed.
Food & cultureWhat to eat, and whereMofongo, lechón, alcapurrias, tostones and the coffee — what each dish actually is, and the kinds of places worth driving to for them.Read the guideFood & cultureThings to do across the islandForts, caves, surf towns, rum, museums and the day trips that make people wish they had hired a car earlier in the week.Read the guidePlanning9 guides
Getting the trip right
Puerto Rico is a United States territory, so for travellers from the mainland there is no passport, no currency exchange and no roaming plan to sort out. What is left to plan is the part that decides whether the week works: what it costs, how long to stay, how long the drives are, when to go, what to pack, and whether to book the home direct or pay a platform for the privilege. These guides handle that.
PlanningWhat a trip really costsFlights, homes, food, car hire and the fees that appear at the last step — built into a budget you can actually plan against.Read the guidePlanningAirbnb versus booking directThe same home on both, with the numbers side by side, and what you give up and gain either way.Read the guidePlanningSeven days, planned outA day-by-day route: the old city, the rainforest, a bay at night, and the coast — with the driving kept sane.Read the guidePlanningDrive times around the islandHow long the drive is from the airport, Old San Juan and each area we host to the coastal towns, the beaches, El Yunque, the bio bays and the Ceiba ferry.Read the guidePlanningTravel tips for a first tripNo passport for US travellers, the US dollar, the same plugs, driving and tolls, tipping, and what surprises people anyway.Read the guidePlanningPuerto Rico with kidsCalm-water beaches, short drives, rainy-afternoon options, and what to look for in a rental when there are small people in it.Read the guidePlanningHoneymoons and quiet weeksWhere to base yourselves for quiet, the evenings worth planning around, and how to split a week between the city and the coast.Read the guidePlanningWorking remotely from hereWi-Fi, a real desk, monthly rates, time zones and the neighbourhoods that work on a Tuesday rather than a Saturday.Read the guidePlanningWhat to packRain that arrives and leaves in twenty minutes, reef-safe sun cream, mosquitoes, and the adapter you do not need to bring.Read the guideThen pick the home
Reading is the easy part
Once you know which part of the island you want, the rest is quick. Our homes span 7 areas, with stays from $212 for 3 nights and the cleaning fee included, and every one of them is also listed on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com at a higher price. Booking here removes that premium: no service fee, dates held while you pay, payment on the next step, and a live calendar that every platform is reading from at the same time.
If you would rather ask a person which home fits your week, that works too — send the dates and the headcount and you will get a straight answer back.
All 18 guides, one island
Everything above is free to read and gets updated as things on the island change. When you are ready to turn it into a trip, the homes are here — hosted by the same people who wrote the guides, at the price you get for skipping the middleman.