Rincón, Puerto Rico

Heading to Rincón, Puerto Rico, with my extended family. I’ve been to Culebra and the other side of the island, but this will be the first time to the west side. Any recommendations? Thanks.

Bump. Nothing? Anything worth seeing in western PR?

Josh, I’m headed to PR in April, 6 days in Rincon and 4 in San Juan. My plan for the Rincon leg of the trip is to chill by the beach and scuba dive if I can find a good dive shop, but not much else beyond that right now. If you do have any recs from the area once you’ve been, please share!!

Never spent time in Rincon but many many years ago had the best week based in LaParguera on the SW coast bioluminescent bay, what was a tiny village, almost zero tourists, a casual but good little hotel … it was perfect. Looks like there’s now more tourist infrastructure but may be worth a drive.

For food, the sunset at The Beach House couldn’t be beat. It’s a bit too catered towards Americans–but was good casual food. La Sirena Sushi & Tiki Bar was one of the better meals–but didn’t have outside seating; we did carryout. A bit further north, we did horseback riding with Tropical Trail Rides and ate at Ola Lola’s Tiki Bar–which was great. Would recommend both. For wine Tinto Wine Shop had enough (and good liquor). Famcoop Rincón also had a good selection of liquor.

For SCUBA, we used Taino Divers which I would recommend. Honestly though, just rent some tanks and shore dive off of Steps Beach and Black Eagle Beach. There were great reefs at both. Black Eagle Beach was even great for snorkeling. The only thing a dive shop might be able to do is get you out to Desecheo Marine Reserve. We tried but the seas were too big. Taino said that they probably can only get out that far about 40 days a year.

In Old San Juan, years ago, I stayed at The Gallery Inn, which was unique and memorable. Don’t think you need four days in Old San Juan. I guess you can get to El Yunque and the mountains south of Arecibo easy enough from there–but I’d spend more time in the mountains and beach. My favorite place on the island is Charco El Hippie on the south side of El Yunque. Gustos Coffee is worth a stop in San Juan.

Would also recommend Bahía Bioluminiscente de La Parguera for the bioluminescent bay. Make sure to bring snorkel equipment as it is the only one you can swim in. It was trippy to swim in it–but not like the pictures. Don’t think I would appreciate it if I was just in a boat. In La Parguera, we ate at Rest turrumote, which I wouldn’t recommend. We stopped at San Germán on our way down from Rincon. Can’t believe San Germán isn’t more of a tourist trap like Old San Juan; worth a stop.

On a previous trip, we went to Culebra. I’d spend your other four days there if you can.

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San German is great. The father of a former girlfriend was from there.

Great beaches on the West, South and North shores. It’s been 40 years since I’ve been there, so I’m not much help on the specifics

If you can’t get to Charco El Hippie, Cascada Gozalandia was much closer to Rincon and pretty great if you got there early. There are two waterfalls and make sure to go to both.

Fantastic, thanks for the recs!

Somewhat peripheral to this thread but I highly recommend Marmalade in San Juan. We just had a dinner for 15 there and everyone loved it. Nice wine list with some great wines at pretty low mark up. (if anyone wants more detail PM me). Service was amazing especially around wine. Our waiter overheard my wife saying one of the dishes had some spice to it and before 2 minutes had passed he appeared with a glass of Tokaj to help with the heat. We had ordered white and one guest commented he didn’t love white. When someone stood up to make a toast, they quickly appeared with a glass of red without being asked, to make sure he wasn’t left out. Great food, great wine, great atmosphere.

Unwittingly ended up visiting both of the most recent James Beard award candidates in Puerto Rico during our trip -

estela (Rincon): Nice setting. I’m not sure if it’s the menu we ordered but food was a little inconsistent. The romaine & boquerones salad for appetizer was great. The mains were a letdown - the scallops were OK but felt overpriced for what they were, and I just don’t think the lamb really worked. Lime brulee cheesecake at the end redeemed the meal somewhat but that’s hard to mess up.

Vianda (San Juan): It’s ever so slightly out of ways from the more touristy parts of San Juan but highly recommend. Think the style here was more French/contemporary international made with local ingredients than Puerto Rican, but in any case, the four course tasting menu for $65 is an absolute steal. The stuffed quail was one of the best (maybe THE best?) poultry dishes I’ve ever had. The wine list does not run too long but has a decent variety and includes some interesting choices (e.g., an orange wine by the glass) with a fair markup. I ended up returning the next day for a second dinner so I could try more dishes off the a la carte menu and still enjoyed everything.

When we stayed in La Parguera, the little hotel gave us a map of the beaches along the SW coast and we randomly picked - arrived down a dirt road at a small village of simple houses on stilts and the most amazingly beautiful beach with absolutely no one on it but us. After sunbathing and swimming, we discovered the village had a little outdoor food spot … it was Sunday afternoon and everyone was gathered there so we ordered lunch and the town plumber bought us coca colas to welcome us. Our check was labeled Los Americanos. It was all so wonderful … this was before I was married, my ex was a musician with quite outrageous hair so we were a bit of a sight back then (longer ago than you David but then I married at 19!)

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In the future feel free to PM for recommendations. Sorry did not see before.