Ponce, Mayagüez & San Germán -- For those who want to see a less urban side of Puerto Rico, Ponce, on the south shore, and Mayagüez, on the west coast, make good centers for sightseeing. From either Ponce or Mayagüez you can take a side trip to historic San Germán, Puerto Rico's second-oldest city and site of the oldest church in the New World.
Founded in 1692, Ponce is Puerto Rico's second-largest city, and it has received much attention because of its inner-city restoration. It is home to the island's premier art gallery.
Puerto Rico's third-largest city, Mayagüez, is a port city on the west coast. It might not be as architecturally remarkable as Ponce, but it's a fine base for exploring and enjoying some very good beaches.
San Germán and Ponce are home to some of the finest Puerto Rican colonial architecture in the Caribbean.
Mayagüez and Ponce also attract beach lovers. Playa de Ponce, for example, is far less crowded than the beaches along San Juan's coastal strip. The area also lures hikers to Puerto Rico's government national forest reserves, the best of which lie outside Ponce and include Guánica State Forest and the Carite Forest Reserve as well as the Toro Negro Forest Reserve.
One of the biggest adventure jaunts in Puerto Rico, a trip to Mona Island, can also be explored from the coast near Mayagüez.
Western Puerto Rico -- The scenery of western Puerto Rico varies from a terrain evoking the Arizona desert to a dense blanket of green typical of Germany's Black Forest. The interior has such attractions as the Taíno Indian Ceremonial Park, Río Camuy Cave Park, Arecibo Observatory, and the Karst Country. Along the west and south coasts, you'll find white sandy beaches, world-class surfing conditions, and numerous towns and attractions. There are modest hotels from which to choose, as well as a few noteworthy paradores, a chain of government-sponsored, privately operated country inns.
The waters of the Atlantic northwest coast tend to be rough -- ideal for surfers but not always good for swimming.
Some 8 centuries ago, the Taíno Indians inhabited this western part of Puerto Rico, using it as a site for recreation and worship. Stone monoliths, some decorated with petroglyphs, remain as evidence of that long-ago occupation.
There is a tremendous difference between a holiday on the east coast of Puerto Rico and one on the west coast. Nearly all visitors from San Juan head east to explore the El Yunque rainforest. After that, and perhaps a lazy afternoon on Luquillo Beach, they head back to San Juan and its many resorts and attractions. Others who remain for a holiday in the east are likely to do so because they want to stay at one of the grand resorts such as Wyndham El Conquistador.
Western Puerto Rico, particularly its southwestern sector, is where the Puerto Ricans themselves go for holidays by the sea. The only pocket of posh here is the Horned Dorset Primavera Hotel at Rincón. Rincón is also the beach area most preferred by windsurfers.
Other than that, most locals and a few adventurous visitors seeking the offbeat and charming head for the southwestern sector of the island. This is the real Puerto Rico; it hasn't been taken over by high-rise resorts and posh restaurants.
Puerto Rico's west coast has been compared to the old U.S. Wild West. There is a certain truth to that. The cattle ranches on the rolling upland pastures south of the town of Lajas will evoke home for those who come from northwest Texas. Others have compared the peninsula of Cabo Rojo in Puerto Rico to Baja, California.
This western part of Puerto Rico also contains the greatest concentration of paradores, attracting those who'd like to venture into the cool mountainous interior of the west, a wonderful escape from pollution and traffic on a hot day.
Eastern Puerto Rico -- The northeast corner of the island, only about 45 minutes from San Juan, contains the island's major attractions, El Yunque rainforest and Luquillo Beach, as well as a variety of landscapes, ranging from miles of forest to palm groves and beachside settlements. Here you will find one of the best resorts on the island, Wyndham El Conquistador Resort.
This is also the site of Fajardo, a preeminent sailor's haven, where you can catch ferries to the islands of Vieques and Culebra.
Vieques & Culebra -- Vieques and Culebra are where Puerto Ricans go for their own vacations. Sandy beaches and low prices are the powerful attractions of both islands. Culebra still slumbers in the early 1950s, but Vieques is fast becoming one of the hottest tropical destinations in the Caribbean. The unspoiled beaches and stylish inns have created quite a buzz. When you spot Sandra Bernhard on the beach, you know the times are changin'.
Vieques, which has more tourist facilities than Culebra, lies 7 miles (11km) off the eastern coast of the Puerto Rican "mainland." It is visited mainly for its 40-odd white-sand beaches. Vieques was occupied at various times by the French and the British before Puerto Rico acquired it in 1854. The ruins of many sugar and pineapple plantations testify to its once-flourishing agricultural economy.
The U.S. military took control of two-thirds of the island's 26,000 acres (10,400 hectares) in 1941. The area was used for military training with live-fire maneuvers. After massive protests, the U.S. announced in 2003 that it was shutting down its Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, the site of the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility.
Culebra, 18 miles (29km) east of the Puerto Rican "mainland" and 14 miles (23km) west of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is surrounded by coral reefs and edged with nearly deserted, powdery, white-sand beaches. Much of the island has been designated a wildlife refuge by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
