Puerto Rico - Fajardo and San Juan


Part 1 Fajardo:

We flew into San Juan and rented a car and drove 1.5 hours to El Conquistador Resort.

My kids LOVED the resort- the talking parrots in the lobby, the game area with pool tables, the multiple ice cream shops. We stayed in the Marina area where you take a funicular to your room. The rooms were very spacious with beautiful ocean views and balconies. In the Marina area is the water park with a lazy river and waterslides (my daughter was too short to ride- have to be 48") and the boat to the private island.

Tip: You need to book the boat to the island ahead of time to ensure you get the time you want. I recommend doing all of this booking at check in.

Pool area: very easy to get chairs, there is a fast food area there, and great lazy river and kids splash area so good for small kids

Private island: we loved this. It's a 15 minute boat ride and the kids loved sitting on top of the boat and getting splashed. The island has plenty of chairs & umbrellas, a bar, and food available for purchase. The weekend was pretty crowded & loud, but the week days were very serene. My kids tried snorkeling but not a lot of fish around the area.
Restaurant recommendation: Las Vistas Cafe for breakfast in Fajardo- you need to call ahead for reservations also loved La Estacion for BBQ great for kids and delicious.
Biolumescent Bay: We drove 15 minutes to Fajardo to kayak the biolumsecent bay. This was my 9 year old's favorite part of the trip. We did with both kids at 8:30PM and they did great. There were tons of tour groups going out from this area and I think any of them would be very similar. Tip: go when there is no moon and you will get very wet so plan accordingly.
El Yunque: about a 45 minute drive from the resort we loved hiking for the day. You can purchase the pass ahead of time on recreation.gov and we did have to show it. We did Mount Britton Trail, Juan Diego Falls, and Angelito trail using All Trails app. We ate lunch at the rainforest restaurant which was good but very slow service.
Carabali Rainforest Park: We did the horseback ride which was very fun and my kids enjoyed. We luckily did not get caught in rain but definitely would pack rain gear since we were in between storms out and back.
Part 2: San Juan

We drove to San Juan and stayed at the Conando Vanderbilt Hotel. This hotel was "nicer" but much smaller rooms.
Pool: the area was nice with chairs and umbrellas and "infinity pool" area. There is a pool side restaurant which was good but VERY expensive
Beach: We did not utilize the beach but they had chairs & umbrellas but apparently there are rip tides that are very dangerous to swim at the beach in this area.
Restaurants: We enjoyed the next door restaurant Serafina at La Concha resort & ice cream (kids loved) and onsite STK and 1919. The taco restaurant was very spicy and kids did not enjoy. We also did Raices for traditional Puerto Rican food and loved Mofongo!
Old San Juan: we loved El Morro and Castillo San Cristobol especially my 9 year old liked walking around the ruins.
Photos: We had a great flytographer in San Juan too












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