Birthday Trip | San Juan, Puerto Rico (+ Atlanta)
I was super excited for my birthday this year because Jeff and I planned for Puerto Rico: 3 days! 😎 To add to the excitement of going somewhere new, we also planned the day before in Atlanta to split our 8-hour travel time to San Juan, PR. — Such a great idea! (We did the straight 8-hour thing on our return and it was ROUGH)
ATLANTA, GA
I'll be brief: I've got broads family in Atlanta so for just a day there, we had a blast! My cousin Jimmy was our host and tour guide, taking us around the city, Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles, and of course, out drinking with some late night karaoke. Conclusion: It was FUN af.
Great way to start my birthday vacation! And it was only going to get better — Puerto Rico was next! 🤗
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: Day 1
The next afternoon, we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico! Our plan for this trip was just to relax, so our first day in PR was spent on Condado Beach, drinking. 🍹
Condado Beach is nice: not too crowded, warm water, golden sand. And it was a short walk away from our hotel! Just what we needed, after staying out late the night before.
In between beach bumming, we made time for some good ol' American football! We found a sports bar in Condado called Prime Time to catch a game and get some food. It's a small place, very chill, and the food was....just OK. Nothing memorable. Good drinks though! I had a L.I.T. and Jeff tried Magna, a Puerto Rican beer.
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: Day 2
The next day, we went out to explore the island! Our friends told us that Castillo San Cristóbal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro (two castles/forts in Puerto Rico) were must-sees. AND that it’s only $5 to go to both! 😵 So we headed to the northeast side of San Juan to check out San Cristóbal first!
Castillo San Cristóbal (aka Fort San Cristóbal) is absolutely beautiful. Definitely recommend bringing comfy shoes because it's huge! (TWSS) And a camera for the straight up AMAZING views all around.
It's pretty cool too that it's a self-guided tour. (FYI, they both are! 🤓) You'll just find signs with the history behind various areas throughout it. Awesome experience!
After, we walked around Old San Juan looking for food! ...and margaritas. 😜 Thanks to the internet, we found Lupi's Mexican Grill & Sports Cantina.
Lupi's is a cute place that offers Mexican/Puerto Rican food. I just wanted tacos! Jeff, on the other hand, decided to try their pork chops — and he cannot stop raving about 'em!
Next, we decided to visit Casa Bacardí for the Bacardi Rum Distillery Tour. It is our favorite rum, so we were both pretty pumped for this! ADDED BONUS: The tour is FREE! 🙌
The only thing we had to pay for was getting there. We took a ferry ride from Old San Juan to Cataño, that costs us a whopping $1.00 per person (round-trip). No typo there, guys — it’s a buck. 😄 And the Cataño Ferry ride is a scenic 8 minute ride. It runs every 15 to 30 minutes (depending on the day) so the wait was not bad at all, although we did come across one diva... 😂
Once in Cataño, we realized the ferry was NOT a straight shot to the factory, but still about 10 minutes away! We needed a taxi and heard that right outside of the ferry building, there's a garage where taxi drivers charge $3 a person to the factory. Gotta say the taxi thing felt a bit shady...since there isn't a sign or anything, but we figured it out.
When we arrived at Casa Bacardí, there was a wait for a tour guide, but the waiting area is a bar so it's cool. 😊 Also, they give you 2 free drink coupons for it 😆 (YES, free tour + free drinks!) By the time we were done with our drinks, our tour guide arrived and loaded us in a trolley to the factory. Inside, she explained we couldn't use cameras during the tour (bummer), so I made sure to take plenty before and after:
The tour wasn't very long, but it is interesting. It's mostly about the Bacardí family history, and there's a lesson on how to make traditional rum cocktails at the end. The last stop was the gift shop, where Jeff and I went a little crazy... I mean, it IS our favorite rum! We bought 2 bottles of their new flavors for the day-and-a-half we had left. 🙃
(We later would create a delicious but probably dangerous cocktail with the two new flavors 😌🍹)
After the Casa Bacardí tour, we rushed back to visit the other fort/castle: Castillo San Felipe del Morro (aka El Morro or Morro Castle). SO DOPE! Views for days, guys. VIEWS FOR DAYS. (FYI going up to the lighthouse is a MUST! 🙌) Not sure if it was because the sun was setting during this tour or the rum we had been drinking throughout the day, but it turned out to be my favorite over San Cristóbal. The castle and the view is GORGEOUS!
After that tour, we were EXHAUSTED — so much walking! So we just headed back to our hotel room relax and drink our Bacardí out on our balcony...and eventually ordered a giant pizza. 😞
OK, so I should explain: After our 1st day, I realized I didn't really like Puerto Rican food 😔 ...so Jeff/Yelp helped me find other options to keep my belly happy the rest of the trip. And I ate terribly! 😭😭😭 Seriously, it gets worse...
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: Day 3
Our last day there was my birthday! And before our planned full-day of beach bumming, I chose burgers from BUNS for lunch. (See?) Y'all, BUNS was SO GOOD though. It's kinda like Five Guys — GD delicious. 😋
The rest of our day was spent on the beach with our "Jancy cocktail" (aka our Bacardí creation 😜). And luckily, the weather was PERFECT!
For our last night we planned a romantic dinner in La Concha Resort. And man, La Concha is nice, y'all. Lots of great dining options inside! We settled on Solera for dinner, where we both ordered steak.
Afterwards, we decided to head up to La Perla for dessert. La Perla is the restaurant inside the shell of La Concha that's surrounded by a reflecting pool. IT'S SO COOL!
At La Perla, Jeff ordered my birthday dessert and some Merlot, as well as some 15 year-old rum for himself...which I, of course, HAD to try! So smooth. 👌 Everything was great!
On our walk back to our hotel, we stumbled upon a small bar, appropriately named Small Bar in Condado. It is literally just a hallway with a (small) bar at the end. This place had a great selection of beer, though! Jeff and I tried Blue Star Wheat Beer and Brother Thelonious. 👅 Something fun at this place is their letter-magnet board — we had to leave our mark! (even though we couldn't find an "A")
After Small Bar, we ended up at another bar called Patrick's before calling it a night. The bartender there was really cool (gave us free shots!) and we bumped into another couple also from Dallas. I mean, what are the odds! Such a fun night!
Puerto Rico is now my favorite birthday trip to date! Such a perfect vacation. And I know there's still so much more we need to see in PR, so we’ll definitely be back!
