San Juan’s main cruise port is located adjacent to the walled city; its secondary cruise pier (Frontier Pier) is two miles east of the main port. in between the airport and the cruise piers lie the hotel-lined beaches of Isla Verde, Ocean Beach and Condado, where the majority of passen-gers stay if spending extra time in San Juan before or after their cruise. Two hotels located right in Old San Juan are the El Convento (a former convent) and the new Wyndham Old San Juan Hotel on the harbor front. Tourist taxis are painted white and they offer fixed rates (per car) to and from tourist zones. The fare from the airport to Isla Verde is $8, to Condado is $12, and to the cruise piers in Old San Juan is $16. The fare from Isla Verde to the cruise piers is $16 and from Condado is $10. The fare from Frontier Pier to Old San Juan is about $10.

 

Parking is limited in Old San Juan and its streets are best explored on foot or by using the free trolley service which originates at the Covadonga parking lot, a block up from the cruise ship piers. Five trolley buses, equipped with wheelchair ramps, operate daily and cover two routes: a central one to Plaza de Armas and a northern route to the grounds of El Morro. Passengers can hop off and on at any stop.

 

To see some of the city’s outlying districts and area attractions, such as the El Yunque National Forest, tours can be booked through the cruise lines’ shore excursion office or at the tour desks of the majör hotels. Another option is to rent a car. Rental agencies are numerous in the San Juan metropolitan area, including Avis, Budget and Hertz.

 

Spanish and English are the official languages. Spanish is predomi-nant, but English is taught in school and is widely spoken. Long-dis-tance phone calls can be made at ‘Phones & More’ located inside Pier 6 and other phones are opposite Pier 4. A post office is located opposite Pier 1 where San Justo intersects with Comercio.

 

Dining - San Juan has become a restaurant town, serving both tradi-tional creole cuisine and the new Puerto Rican cuisine, which has taken traditional recipes featuring native Indian, Spanish and African foods, and enhanced them with new seasonings and presentation. A good place to sample some local fare is Amadeus, a popular bistro-style bar and restaurant across from the Plaza San Juan.

 

Shopping - San Juan has duty-free shopping at its airport and at several factory outlets in Old San Juan. The main shopping streets are Cristo, Fortaleza, San Francisco and Cristo, where the Polo/Ralph Lauren Factory Store is located. Numerous art galleries are located in the shopping area and on San Jose Street. Traditional items include cua-tros (handmade guitars), bobbin lace (mundillo) and small wood carv-ings of religious figures called santos. Other local crafts include straw work, ceramics, hammocks and carnival masks. The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture operates the Popular Arts and Crafts Center, located at the bottom of Cristo Street near the Capilla de Cristo, where a variety of island crafts are displayed and offered for sale

 

Monday through Saturday. On weekends, local crafts can be purchased at an outdoor market beside La Casita information center and along La Princesa promenade. This market is also a popular venue for local musicians.

 

Rum is another Puerto Rican specialty, with free tours and samples provided at the Bacardi Rum Factory - reached by harbor ferry from the cruise ship pier. Gourmet coffee drinkers may want to purchase a pound or two of flavor-ful Puerto Rican coffee. If you’re looking for fine cigars, there’s a boutique catering to con-noisseurs at El San Juan Hotel on Isla Verde. Shoppers looking for interesting books and souvenirs should check out the museum gift shops, such as the one at El Morro, where visi-tors can purchase replica gold and silver coins of the 16th century.

 

Beaches - Good beaches in the metropolitan area include Escambron Beach and Isla Verde Beach, both of which are balnearios (govern-ment-run beaches with facilities, lifeguards and security personnel). About 20 miles east of San Juan is highly popular and beautiful Luquillo Beach - rated one of the world’ s top ten by National Geographic. A favorite with children is Seven Seas in Fajardo at the northeast end of the island. More beautiful beaches lie west of San Juan at Dorado where a public beach is located near the hotel and golf resorts.

 

Golf - Puerto Rico boasts a dozen public golf courses, including four at the Hyatt Resorts west of San Juan. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the par-72 East course at Dorado Beach contains a par-5 thir-teenth hole, rated by Jack Nicklaus as one of the top ten in the world.

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