Rainforest by day. Glowing bay by night.
Which El Yunque trip actually gets you to the waterslides. Which bay glows brightest, and on which moon. Whether Culebra is worth the whole day. Every tour in Puerto Rico, reviewed.
The days that fill up first, from San Juan to Fajardo.
Every review →More travellers take these than anything else on the island, and each one earns its slot for a different reason.
1
San Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and Videos
Review of San Juan’s guided turtle snorkel, with gear, lessons, GoPro video, practical tips, costs, conditions, and who should book.
From · $42
Read our review →
2
Top Rated El Yunque Rainforest & Waterslide – SmallGroup Tour
from $45
3
Half-Day Yunque Rainforest Waterslide & rope swing Guided Tour
from $25
4
El Yunque Rainforest Waterslides and Luquillo Beach w/ Transport
from $49
5
Night Kayak – Condado City Lights Tour
from $75
6
Luquillo Beach Horse Ride from Carabalí Rainforest Adventure Park
from $164
7
Authentic Flavors of San Juan Food Tour
from $165
8
Small-Group El Yunque Rainforest Vivid Day Tour with Transport
from $75
Six days that make a Puerto Rico trip.
The rainforest waterslides, the bay that lights up behind a paddle, the cay boats out of Fajardo, the forts and the rum. Book these first and the rest of the week fills itself in.
El Yunque is 45 minutes from San Juan and never the same twice.
All El Yunque tours →
La Mina water cold enough to make you gasp, the Yokahú tower over the canopy, river chutes locals have been sliding down for generations. Three shapes of rainforest day; the full list splits the rest by how wet you want to get.
Waterfalls, tower, back for lunch
Up the forest road before the coaches, the Yokahú tower while the view still holds, a swim under La Mina, and San Juan again by early afternoon.
Natural waterslides and a rope swing
Off the main road to the river chutes most visitors drive straight past: smooth rock slides, a rope swing over a green pool, and a guide who knows which ones are deep enough today.
Trails, swimming holes, no timetable
Further up the mountain than the coaches go, with time to swim at each stop and a plate of alcapurrias from the Luquillo kiosks on the drive home.
The water lights up when you put a paddle in it.
Three bays on this island hold enough plankton to glow. Mosquito Bay on Vieques is the brightest anywhere on record; Laguna Grande in Fajardo is the one you can reach after dinner. Go on the darkest nights you can find.
Old San Juan is seven blocks deep and still takes a day.
Two Spanish forts, cobblestones ballasted over from Europe and cast blue, and a food scene squeezed into a grid you can cross in a quarter of an hour. Walk it with somebody who can tell you what you are looking at.
Everything good out of Fajardo leaves from a dock.
An hour east of San Juan the coast breaks up into cays: Icacos sand with nothing built on it, reef shallow enough to stand in, catamarans that leave at nine and come back sunburnt. After dark the same marina runs the bio bay.
- 1Half-Day Yunque Rainforest Waterslide & rope swing Guided Tourfrom $25
- 2El Yunque Rainforest Waterslides and Luquillo Beach w/ Transportfrom $49
- 3Luquillo Beach Horse Ride from Carabalí Rainforest Adventure Parkfrom $164
What a day out costs in Puerto Rico.
Cheapest first, all the way up. The cheapest good day on this island comes in under the price of lunch in San Juan.
Old San Juan on foot, rainforest waterslides, rum tastings and the kayak nights on the bay.
The full-day standards: El Yunque with transport, catamaran runs to the cays, snorkel trips with gear thrown in.
Private drivers, Culebra by boat and the chartered days that take the island at your own pace.
What this island has that the rest of the Caribbean does not.
Beaches and rum run the length of the Caribbean. A bay that glows on demand, a rainforest inside the US Forest Service, and the family distillery that made rum global belong to Puerto Rico alone.
Mosquito Bay
Mosquito Bay on Vieques holds the record for the brightest bioluminescent water measured anywhere: roughly seven hundred thousand single-celled organisms to the gallon, enough that a hand through the water leaves a trail of blue light behind it. It only works in real darkness, so trips run on the nights either side of a new moon and thin out entirely when the moon is full. Fix that date first and build the rest of the trip around it.
- 1Bio Bay Kayak Tour in Fajardo★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,762 reviews
- 2Puerto Rico Bio Bay Kayak Adventure Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,581 reviews
- 3Bio Bay Kayak Tour in Fajardo★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,438 reviews
El Yunque
El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the United States Forest Service, and it sits forty-five minutes from a cruise dock. Something close to two hundred inches of rain a year feed the waterfalls, the swimming holes and the smooth river chutes people here have been sliding down for generations. The main road closes without much warning after heavy rain, and a guide knows the back way in.
- 1Top Rated El Yunque Rainforest & Waterslide – SmallGroup Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,789 reviews
- 2Half-Day Yunque Rainforest Waterslide & rope swing Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,534 reviews
- 3El Yunque Rainforest Waterslides and Luquillo Beach w/ Transport★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,098 reviews
Casa BACARDÍ
The Bacardí family left Cuba in 1960 and rebuilt across the bay from Old San Juan, where the plant now turns out more rum than anywhere else on earth. The ferry across takes about ten minutes. Visits split three ways: the history of the bat on the bottle, the tasting room, and the mixology bench where you build your own daiquiri to the original ratio.
- 1Mixology Class at Casa BACARDÍ in Puerto Rico★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,469 reviews
- 2Rum Tasting Tour at Casa BACARDÍ in Puerto Rico★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,095 reviews
- 3Legacy Tour at Casa BACARDÍ in Puerto Rico★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 737 reviews
The Puerto Rico bookings that will not wait until you land.
Most of this island can be arranged from your hotel the night before. These cannot. They run on moon phases, ferry manifests and boats that hold twelve people.
- 01All Inclusive Snorkel and Slide Boat Tour: Icacos or ViequesThe bay only performs on dark nights, so the dates either side of each new moon go weeks ahead.
- 02Culebra Snorkeling Tour by Catamaran from FajardoBoats to Culebra are small and leave once in the morning. The last seats tend to go about a week out.
- 03Mixology Class at Casa BACARDÍ in Puerto RicoThe mixology bench seats one small group at a time and the afternoon sessions fill before the morning ones.
- 04Bio Bay Kayak Tour in FajardoKayak numbers on the bay are capped by permit, and the moon decides which nights run at all.
Rain is the point in El Yunque. Everywhere else, head indoors.
Afternoon showers arrive most days between May and November and clear inside half an hour, and the rainforest trips run straight through them. If the sky settles in for the day, the forts, the distillery floor, a cave river and a salsa lesson are all under a roof.
By coast — wherever you are based
San Juan428 tours
Old San Juan71 tours
Fajardo & the East Coast116 tours
El Yunque119 tours
Vieques & Culebra11 tours
Rincón & the West Coast26 tours- Every tour on the island →
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