Hi: We are making our first trip to Bonaire next month (March) to snorkel. From Denver we fly to Miami then overnight in San Juan before flying to Bonaire the next evening. Does anyone have advice on what to do in Puerto Rico on a Sunday morning and early afternoon without having to rent a car?
The Bugas family, Denver, Colorado

This month's Caribbean Travel and Life has a story on rice and beans and features many local places in SJU that offer SUPER local food..some are upscale dining as well..check it out.

You can cab it to the Wyndam or a nearby hotel, ya?

Annie

One year we spent a day touring Old San Juan by foot. Every other layover we spend time on the beach at Isla Verde. If you are not staying at a hotel there you can rent chairs from vendors for 3 dollars each and there are several beach bars for lunch. It is a ten minute, eight dollar cab ride from the airport.

If you are staying in Old San Juan, you will be close to El Morro Castle and alot of the real spanish style architecture. Put on walking shoes/sandals and enjoy.

The Nat'l Geographic has a map of Old San Juan on the insert map of the latest issue that shows some of the points of interest.

My sister and I are staying at the Hotel Milano in Old San Juan next May. Hotel Milano

I ALWAYS stay at the LaPlaya(best kept secret in SanJuan)when I layover.
You can take Buses during the day almost anywhere, cabs after 7pm. Saturday night in Old SanJuan! Not cheap but fun. Safe if you stay on the streets in the main section of town. Stay away from the area from the old cemetary along the beach to the hotel zone at night. Nothing really open until after Sunday church. If you only have a couple hours you may just want to lay on the beach and get a massage(very nice beach). The fortress walls, ElYunke, & the Bacardi tour if you have time

Thank you everyone who responded to my question about what to do while on a layover in San Juan, Puerto. One question I forgot to ask is about the Arecibo Observatory in the north-central part of Puerto Rico. Has anyone been to the observatory? Was it worth visiting? How much time would we need to allow for travel time and seeing the observatory?

I haven't been there yet, but Yahoo has it 54 miles from the San Juan airport and about 1 1/4 hours drive.

Go to www.yahoo.com and search on "arecibo observatory" and several threads will appear.

Last October, on our way back from Bonaire on AA, we decided to catch the last flight to Washington DC from Puerto Rico. We reserved a rental car at the San Juan AP and drove in about one hour to the US National Park El Yunque. It is a rain forest on top of the mountains Southeast of San Juan. We had never been to a rain forest and found it a great place to spend the day.

Like the other messages above state Old San Juan is also a great place to visit. But if you have a rental car I am not sure where you would park it. I think it would be best to take a bus or taxi to Old San Juan.

If you go to the Arecibo Observatory, I'd say Sunday morning is your best bet since everyone is either in church or recovering from a Saturday night hangover ;)

You can get more info from the Arecibo Observatory website:
http://www.naic.edu/vctable.htm

A word to the wise - especially if your hotel is in Old San Juan - be aware that traffic jams are NASTY in PR, especially in the Old SJ area. I would ask your hotel staff if the hours you are planning to travel are prone to traffic jams.

I agree that visiting El Yunque or the El Morro castle are also a great alternatives.

Have fun!