All-Inclusive Resorts in Puerto Rico

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is 12km from Old San Juan. The cobblestone streets of Old San Juan — laid with adoquines (blue-purple quartzite cobblestones originally brought as ships' ballast from Spain) and lined with pastel-painted Spanish colonial buildings of the 16th-19th centuries — constitute one of the finest colonial townscapes in the Americas. El Morro (Castillo San Felipe del Morro) at the tip of the peninsula is the greatest Spanish colonial fortress in the New World: a 140-foot cliff-top fortification built between 1539 and 1589 that protected the San Juan harbor for 350 years. The walk along the city walls from El Morro to San Cristobal Fort is one of the great urban walks in the Caribbean. La Fortaleza — the Governor's Mansion — is the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere. Dinner at Marmalade or 1919 Restaurant for San Juan's contemporary Caribbean cuisine.

• ✦ El Morro — the greatest Spanish colonial fortress in the Americas
• ✦ Old San Juan cobblestone streets and pastel-painted colonial houses
• ✦ La Fortaleza — the Western Hemisphere's oldest executive mansion
• ✦ City walls walk from El Morro to San Cristobal

El Yunque National Forest is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest system — 11,000 hectares of lush sierra palm forest, bamboo groves, tree ferns, and cloud forest on the slopes of the Luquillo Mountains. The forest receives 100 inches of rain annually, maintaining the extraordinary density of vegetation that gives it its tropical rainforest character. La Mina Trail (1.9 miles) descends through the forest to La Mina Falls — a 35-foot waterfall with a natural swimming pool below, fed by the clearest mountain stream water. The forest has 50 bird species including the critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata) and the Puerto Rican coqui frog whose song fills the forest at night. The Big Tree Trail provides the finest forest canopy experience. Return to San Juan via the Luquillo Beach — a crescent of palms and calm Caribbean water at the forest's base, with excellent kiosks selling local food.

• ✦ El Yunque — the only US tropical rainforest, 11,000 hectares of cloud forest
• ✦ La Mina Falls and swimming hole in the forest
• ✦ Puerto Rican parrot sighting in the forest canopy
• ✦ Luquillo Beach and kiosk Caribbean food

Take the 30-minute propeller plane from San Juan (Isla Grande Airport) to Vieques — a small island off Puerto Rico's east coast that was a US Navy bombing range until 2003 and has since developed into one of the Caribbean's most extraordinary natural destinations. Mosquito Bay (Bioluminescent Bay) on Vieques is the world's brightest bioluminescent bay — the concentration of Pyrodinium bahamense dinoflagellates (bioluminescent microorganisms) creates a blue-green glow of extraordinary intensity when the water is disturbed at night. Kayaking or swimming in the bay at night is one of the world's great travel experiences: every paddle stroke and every movement of your hand through the water creates blue flames of living light. Vieques also has the wild horses that roam freely from the abandoned Navy lands, excellent beaches including Sun Bay and Playa Negra (a rare black sand beach), and the extraordinary bioluminescence of the mangrove lagoons.

• ✦ Mosquito Bay — the world's brightest bioluminescent bay
• ✦ Kayaking at night through living blue-green fire
• ✦ Wild horses roaming Vieques's former Navy lands
• ✦ Sun Bay — the finest beach on Vieques

Drive 2 hours south from San Juan to Ponce — Puerto Rico's second city, considered by Ponceños to be the true cultural capital of the island. The Plaza Las Delicias with the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the extraordinary Victorian fire station (Parque de Bombas, painted red and black in 1883) is one of the most photogenic town squares in the Caribbean. The Ponce Museum of Art is the finest art museum in Puerto Rico — a 2006 building by Edward Durrell Stone houses an extraordinary collection of Flemish, Italian, and Puerto Rican art. Hacienda Buena Vista, 12km north of the city, is a beautifully restored 19th-century coffee hacienda with original water-powered processing machinery still operational —kat a guided tour of the coffee production process from cherry to roasted bean. Return to San Juan via the southern coast road for the most beautiful mountain-and-sea scenery.

• ✦ Parque de Bombas — the Victorian red-and-black fire station on Plaza Las Delicias
• ✦ Ponce Museum of Art — Puerto Rico's finest art collection
• ✦ Hacienda Buena Vista — 19th-century coffee hacienda with working water-wheel
• ✦ Southern coastal mountain scenery on the return drive

A relaxed beach day in San Juan. Condado Beach — the most urban of San Juan's beaches, in the boutique hotel district between the lagoon and the Atlantic — has excellent beach clubs, cocktail bars, and is walking distance from some of the city's best restaurants. The Condado Lagoon, behind the beach, has excellent kayaking and paddleboarding. Isla Verde Beach, 5km east, is longer, wider, and backed by the major resort hotels (Marriott, La Concha). The Ocean Park neighborhood between Condado and Isla Verde has a local beach (Playa Ocean Park) with body-surfing Atlantic waves and the most genuine local beach culture in San Juan. Lunch at Kasalta Bakery in Ocean Park — the finest lunch spot in San Juan, a Spanish-Puerto Rican bakery with extraordinary sandwiches, pastries, and café con leche.

• ✦ Condado Beach clubs and boutique hotel strip
• ✦ Condado Lagoon kayaking and paddleboarding
• ✦ Ocean Park local beach culture
• ✦ Kasalta Bakery — the finest lunch in San Juan

Old San Juan by day is a different experience from Old San Juan by night —kat the cobblestone streets and pastel buildings in the afternoon light, the Fortaleza Street galleries and boutiques, and the extraordinary Museum of the Americas in the Cuartel de Ballajá (the Spaniards' great 19th-century barracks converted to a museum of the Americas' indigenous cultures) create a full afternoon. The rum culture of Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico produces more rum than any other country (Bacardi, Don Q, Barrillíto, Ron del Barrilito) — is best experienced at the Casa Bacardi distillery on Cataño (ferry across the bay) or through a guided rum tasting at La Factoria (San Juan's most famous and most creative cocktail bar, inside a series of rooms hidden behind concealed doors in the Old City). Final Old San Juan dinner at La Casita Blanca for the finest traditional Puerto Rican food in the city.

• ✦ Fortaleza Street Old San Juan art galleries
• ✦ Museum of the Americas in the Cuartel de Ballajá
• ✦ Casa Bacardi distillery tour across the bay
• ✦ La Factoria cocktail bar — hidden rooms in the Old City

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is the most US-connected Caribbean airport, with direct flights to all major US cities. A final Old San Juan morning — the streets are quietest before 9am and the blue cobblestones and pastel walls in the morning light are extraordinarily beautiful. Pick up coffee from any of the Old San Juan cafes (Puerto Rican coffee is excellent; the Café de Puerto Rico brand from the mountain cooperatives is the best take-home), Pitu Moraes artisan rum, sofrito spice paste, and achiote oil from La Bombonera pasteleria (Old San Juan's most beloved breakfast institution since 1902). Puerto Rico is the Caribbean's most rewarding island for couples who want both urban sophistication and natural beauty.

• ✦ Old San Juan morning walk — blue cobblestones in the early light
• ✦ Puerto Rican mountain coffee and artisan rum to take home
• ✦ La Bombonera pastries — Old San Juan institution since 1902
• ✦ Direct flight home from Luis Muñoz Marín International