San Juan is the capital of, and at two million the largest city, in Puerto Rico. It has one of the best harbors in the Caribbean. The city will celebrate its 5th Century in 2008 or 2021, depending if they count from the founding of Caparra or the act of moving the Caparra settlement to Puerto Rico isle (Old San Juan)
Districts
Understand
Location
San Juan is the oldest city in the United States. San Juan is located in the north-east of Puerto Rico, and features distinctly century-old architecture, such as Spanish military forts built from the 1540s to 1800s, an active harbor, and a very active economic area in the Hato Rey district. San Juan boasts magnificent beaches, hotels, plazas, historic sites, museums, etc.
Climate
San Juan is a tropical city, with temperature that ranges in summer from 67˚F to 97˚F (19˚C to 36˚C) in winter. San Juan is normally sunny, but has a tendency to receive rain from April to November in the afternoon. Be also mindful that San Juan and the rest of Puerto Rico have the possibility of having tropical systems such as hurricanes from July to November.
Culture
San Juan is a Latin American city with Spanish-based culture, mixed with African traditions and Taíno culture. Museums of modern art exist abroad. The citizens of San Juan (called Sanjuaneros) are very festive, as on the rest of the island. San Juan has bars and discotheques all-around the city, from Old San Juan to even the southern part of the city that stay open to 3:00-4:00 AM. San Juan has become very modernized as of late, with its first Metro line (called Tren Urbano) and buses. Like most large cities, however, there is a small population of vagrants and beggars lining the streets.
Get in
By plane
San Juan is served by Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (), a large international hub airport about 9 miles away. Airlines with domestic flights include:
Most travellers opt to rent a car here or take a taxi (fixed fares of $10-16 to most points in the city). If you have more time than money, you can take public bus B-40 to Rio Piedras and connect onward to your destination in the city with another local bus or elsewhere on the island with a público (best only attempted in the morning).
By car
By público
San Juan's main público (shared taxi) terminal is in Rio Piedras, a southern suburb of the city. To get there, take any of buses M-E, M1 or A-9 ($0.50) from Old San Juan to their Rio Piedras terminus.
Sample público fares are $15 to Ponce and $5 to Fajardo. Waiting times may be long and most potential fellow travelers are early risers, so try to get to the terminal as early as humanly possible.
Get around
If you're planning on staying in and around San Juan, you can survive on public transport and taxis, but if you're planning to head off elsewhere, it makes sense to rent a car at the airport.
By taxi
Taxis can be found hanging around hotels and the east end of Calle de la Fortaleza in Old San Juan. In theory, they're supposed to be metered (the rates are posted on doors) except for a selection of common tourist routes with fixed fares. In practice, cabbies are well aware that tourists tend to have no idea what those fixed fares are, and charge according to what they feel like. For reference, the official fares as of April 2007 are:
Note that cabbies are allowed to charge extra for bags ($0.50 a piece) and more than three passengers, and a 10-15% tip is expected.
By bus
San Juan has a comprehensive but not very tourist-friendly bus system, which is currently being reworked to better fit the new train, so all information is in flux. Check with AMA (Spanish only) or enquire locally.
Bus stops are marked PARADA and may or may not contain tiny panels listing what buses stop there and where they go. Fares are $0.50-0.75, payable in exact change only (stock up on those quarters!). Useful routes include B-21 (Condado to Old San Juan) and A-5 (Isla Verde to Old San Juan). Frequencies on most routes are low and you may have to wait for up to an hour, especially on Sundays.
Note that, in Puerto Rican slang, buses are called guagua.
By train
San Juan now served by a rapid transit rail system called "Tren Urbano" (Urban Train) . The line connects San Juan to the towns of Guaynabo and Bayamón, but it studiously avoids points of interest like Old San Juan, Condado, Isla Verde and the airport, and is thus in practice useless for most tourists. If you want to give it a spin anyway, take the Acua Expreso ferry (temporarily discontinued) from Old San Juan to the financial district, where you'll find the "Hato Rey" station right next to the ferry dock.
See
Do
Check out the beaches in Condado and Isla Verde.
Learn
Buy
Eat
Drink
Sleep
San Juan has a wide range of accommodation, but few budget options of any kind. Colonial-style city hotels are clustered in Old San Juan, while the big beachfront resorts are mostly out in Condado and Isla Verde.
You'll be looking at $100/night for even a basic hotel room, and well north of $300 for a five-star resort. However, discounts are available in summer (low) season.
Mid Range
Splurge
Stay safe
San Juan is a city. Just use common sense when going around. The touristic areas, like the Old City, Condado and Isla Verde tend to be very safe.
Get out
San Juan}}
San Juan () (from the Spanish San Juan Bautista, "Saint John the Baptist") is the capital and largest municipality on Puerto Rico. As of the 2000 census, it has a population of 433,733, making it the 42nd-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("City of Puerto Rico"). It is the oldest city in Puerto Rico as well as in the United States; and the second oldest European-established city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo. The city serves as location to several historical buildings. Among the most notable are the city's former defensive forts, Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristobál.
Today, San Juan serves as one of Puerto Rico's most important seaport, and is the island's manufacturing, financial, cultural, and tourist center. The population of the metropolitan area, including San Juan and the municipalities of Bayamón, Guaynabo, Cataño, Canóvanas, Caguas, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Carolina and Trujillo Alto is about 2 million inhabitants; hence about half the population of Puerto Rico now lives and works in this area.
The city has been the host of numerous important events within the sports community including the Pan American Games, Central American and Caribbean Games and the Caribbean Series.
History
In 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement Caparra (named after the province Caceres, Spain, the birthplace of then-governor of Spain's Caribbean territories Nicolas de Ovando), which today is known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo just to the west of the present San Juan metropolitan area. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called Puerto Rico, Spanish for "rich port" or "good port," after its similar geographical features to the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. In 1521, the newer settlement was given its formal name, San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, in honor of John the Baptist, following the tradition of christening the town with both its formal name and the name which Christopher Columbus had originally given the island.
The ambiguous use of San Juan Bautista and Puerto Rico for calling both the city and the island led to a reversal in practical use by most inhabitants: by 1746, the name for the city (Puerto Rico) had become that of the entire island, while the name for the Island (San Juan Bautista) had become the name for the city.
San Juan, as a settlement of the Spanish Empire, was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, a network of fortifications was built to protect the transportation of gold and silver from the New World to Europe. For these reasons, San Juan became a target of the foreign powers of the time.
The city was witness to attacks from the English led by Sir Francis Drake in 1595 and by George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland in 1598. Artillery from San Juan's fort, El Morro, repelled Drake; however Clifford managed to land troops and lay siege to the city. After a few months into the British occupation, Clifford was forced to abandon his expedition when his troops began to suffer from exhaustion and sickness. In 1625 the city was sacked by Dutch forces lead by Boudewijn Hendricksz, but El Morro withstood the assault and was not taken. The English returned in 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, led by Sir Ralph Abercromby who had just conquered Trinidad. His army laid siege to the city but was forced to withdraw in defeat as the Puerto Rican defenses proved more resilient than those of Trinidad. Various events and circumstances including liberalized commerce with Spain, the opening of the island to immigrants as a direct result of theRoyal Decree of Graces of 1815, and the colonial revolutions led to an expansion of San Juan and other Puerto Rican settlements in the late 18th and early 19th century.
In May 1898, United States Navy ships, among them the USS Detroit, USS Indiana, USS New York, USS Amphitrite, USS Terror and USS Montgomery, commanded by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, bombed San Juan during the Spanish-American War, though the city was not occupied. On July 25, General Nelson A. Miles landed at Guánica (in southwestern Puerto Rico) with 3,300 soldiers and took over the island with little resistance. Spain ceded the island to the United States later in the same year by the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
Camp Las Casas located in the district of Santurce, served as the main training camp for the Puerto Rican soldiers prior to World War I and World War II; the majority of the men trained in this facility were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. This regiment has been active since 1898, and it is still active in the present. Camp Las Casas was eventually closed down, and on 1950, a public housing project by the name of Residencial Fray Bartolome de Las Casas was constructed on its former location.
Lieutenant Colonel Teofilo Marxuach was responsible for the first bullet shot by the American military during World War I, when he ordered the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" to open fire on the Odenwald, a German armed supply ship when it was trying to force its way out San Juan’s bay. This event happened on April 6, 1917, which was the day that the United States declared war on Germany.
Geography
Topography
San Juan is located at , and is suitated along the north-east coast of Puerto Rico. The city lies north of Aguas Buenas and Caguas; east of Guaynabo and Bayamón; and west of Carolina and Trujillo Alto. San Juan contains two natural lagoons, the Condado and San Jose.
Climate
San Juan's climate is classified as tropical marine. San Juan enjoys an average of 82°F (28°C) during the year, although 90°F or higher temperatures are often felt during the summer, especially if the winds come from the south. In the winter, lows can drop to the 60s though the average winter low is 71°F. The coldest temperature ever recorded was 60°F on March 3, 1957 and the hottest was 98°F on October 9, 1981. Rainfall is well-distributed all year, but the months of February, March and April are the dryest. San Juan is a tropical city.
Cityscape
Old San Juan occupies the western end of a rocky islet at the mouth of San Juan Bay. During the 20th century the main population centers surged well beyond the walls of the old city and onto Puerto Rico's main island, and merged with the existing settlements east and south of Old San Juan. As a result, the city is now composed of a variety of neighborhoods.
Old San Juan
During the Spanish colonial times most of the urban population resided in what is now known as Old San Juan. This sector is located on the western half of a small island called the Isleta de San Juan, which is connected to the mainland by bridges and a causeway. The small island, which comprises an area of 47 mi² (122 km²), also hosts the working class neighborhood of Puerta de Tierra and most of Puerto Rico's central government buildings, including those of the Commonwealth's Capitol.
The main central part of the city is characterized by narrow cobblestone streets and picturesque colonial buildings, some of which date back to the 16th and 17th century. Sections of the old city are surrounded by massive walls and several defensive structures and notable forts. These include the 16th century Fort San Felipe del Morro and 17th century Fort San Cristóbal, both part of San Juan National Historic Site, and the 16th century El Palacio de Santa Catalina, also known as La Fortaleza, which serves as the governor's mansion. Other buildings of interest predating the 20th century are the Ayuntamiento or Alcaldía (City Hall), the San José Church (1523) and the adjacent Hotel El Convento, the former house of the Ponce de León family known as Casa Blanca, the Teatro Tapia, the former Spanish barracks (now Museum of Ballajá), La Princesa (former municipal jail, now a history museum), and the municipal cemetery of Saint María Madgalena of Pazzis, located just outside the city walls. The Cathedral of San Juan Bautista (construction began in the 1520s) is also located in Old San Juan, and contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer and settlement founder Juan Ponce de León.
Old San Juan, also known as the "old city", is the main cultural tourist attraction in Puerto Rico; its bayside is lined by dock slips for large cruise ships. In 2007, the government of Puerto Rico announced a large expansion project to the bayside piers called the San Juan Waterfront at a projected cost of $1.5 billion, which will include docking space for 60 megayachts, 900 total hotel rooms, 1,850 housing units, over 400,000 square feet of commercial space and a new recreational park.
Other districts
East of Old San Juan lies the upscale tourist oriented neighbourhood of Condado, which occupies land that used to be owned by entrepreneur Pablo Ubarri Capetillo, a Spanish railroad developer and Count of San José de Santurce under the Spanish colonial period. Beaches such as nearby Ocean Park, popular with swimmers, surfers and kitesurfers, are found all along the district's Atlantic coastline which is also the locus of numerous hotels.
Near Condado are two separate business districts, Santurce and Miramar. Miramar is mainly a residential area rising south of the Condado Lagoon. It comprises the former barrio of Miraflores, as well as drained marshland and landfill over which was built San Juan's first airport, the Isla Grande airport, which was renamed Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airportin honor of Major Fernando Luis Ribas-Dominicci (USAF).
Miramar now hosts the Puerto Rico Convention Center as well as some of San Juan Harbor's cruise ship piers. In 2005 Miramar was designated an historical district of Puerto Rico.
Santurce, originally named San Mateo de Cangrejos (Saint Matthew of the Crabs), was a settlement for freed African slaves during the early days of the city. After Pablo Ubarri sought permission to link San Juan with Río Piedra proper via steam tramway in 1878, the time it took to travel between both points were shortened and thereby stimulated the colonization and growth of the district. At the beginning of the twentieth century an electric trolley was installed, the township was split into three parts, and its main settlement, merged with the city, was renamed using the Spanish spelling of Santurtzi (Saint George in Basque), Ubarri's birthplace in Vizcaya, Spain. The "Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico" (Art Museum of Puerto Rico) and other important cultural venues are located in Santurce.
South of Santurce is Hato Rey, the former municipality of Río Piedras. Hato Rey was grazing ground for cattle owned by the royal government (hence its name, the King's Herd in Spanish) as early as the 16th century,
In the southern part of the city is the socially diversified community of Río Piedras. Founded in the mid 1850s, Río Piedras was a separate town which hosted sugar cane plantations and the estates of some of San Juan's wealthiest inhabitants (as well as their working class staff). The Spanish colonial governors also had their summer home there on land which eventually gave way to the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico. In 1951 the municipalities of San Juan and Río Piedras were merged to redefine San Juan's current city limits. Today Río Piedras comprises the largest area of the municipality of San Juan.
and is home to the renowned, traditional “ Plaza del Mercado” (Río Piedras Marketplace), and the San Juan Botanical Garden. San Juan is subdivided into 18 wards (barrios), 16 of which fall within the former (until 1951) municipio of Rio Piedras. Eight barrios are further subdivided in to sub-barrios, including both barrios of the former municipio of San Juan.
Economy
San Juan experienced significant economic growth following World War II. During this period the city underwent an industrial revolution. The city’s economy relies mostly on companies dedicated to the manufacture of several products, including: Chemical substances (bleach and house cleaning products); medicines; rum and other beverages; fertilizers; electric tools; electronic devices; plastics, textiles, and food-based products.
Today the capital boasts numerous deluxe hotels, fine restaurants, museums, historical buildings, beaches and shopping centers. Its main tourist attractions are Old San Juan, Condado, Ocean Park, and Isla Verde.
Places and monuments emphasized in tourism campaigns consist of: Old San Juan, promoting the historic nature of its colonial buildings and narrow streets covered by blue cobblestones.
In addition to dozens of state-run elementary, junior- and senior-high schools, the San Juan City Government now operates two bilingual schools, including one sports-magnet school, the first municipal-run schools in Puerto Rico.
Most of Puerto Rico's best private schools are located in San Juan, including Robinson and St. John's in the Condado, Perpetuo Socorro in Miramar, St. John's Episcopal and Santa Mónica in Santurce, Espíritu Santo in Hato Rey, San José, San Ignacio and San Antonio in Río Piedras and Cupeyville in Cupey.
Arts and culture
San Juan is the birthplace of numerous artists and musicians, locally known as Sanjuaneros, who have significantly influenced the Puerto Rican culture. During the 20th century the musical aspect of the city was influenced by performers including Afro-Caribbean dancer and choreographer Sylvia del Villard and José Enrique Pedreira who became a renowned composer of Puerto Rican Danzas. International musicians such as renowned opera singer Justino Díaz and Grammy Award winners Raymond Ayala and Ricky Martin were born in the city. Other notable residents include writers Manuel A. Alonso and Tomas Blanco, award-winning actors Raúl Juliá and Joaquin Phoenix, and comedian Jose Miguel Agrelot. Rafael Cordero (1790–1868), was influential in the development of Puerto Rican education and is renowned as “ The Father of Public Education in Puerto Rico.” The city is also the home of numerous contemporary and classic art museums. The Puerto Rico Arts Museum owns the largest collection of contemporary art in Puerto Rico, housing over 1,100 permanent art pieces and displaying numerous temporary exhibitions containing artwork from various locations trough Latin America.
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, located in Santurce, specializes in contemporary artwork from locations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The paintings displayed in the permanent exhibition are either acquired by the museum’s administrative personnel or donated by artists and collectors. They are judged by a panel of painters, art critics, and scholars before being displayed.
Other museums such as the Pablo Casals Museum, the Book Museum, Americas Museum and the National Gallery display historic items and artwork alongside contemporary art. Miscellaneous museums such as the Children’s Museum and the Bacardi Distillery (also known as the "Rum Cathedral") in nearby Cataño appeal to different audiences trough interactive exhibitions.
Transportation
San Juan's harbor is the fourth busiest in the Western Hemisphere, ranked among the top 17 of the world's in terms of container movement and the largest home-based cruise port in the world with over a dozen cruise ships plying its docks and each year new cruise ships either originate or call at the port. Two airports serve the Metropolitan Area: the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, San Juan's primary commercial airport located nine miles (14km) from Old San Juan in neighboring Carolina which serves more than 30 domestic and international airlines; and Fernando Ribas Dominicci Airport, located directly across the Caño San Antonio from Old San Juan in the Isla Grande district, used mainly by general aviation aircraft and domestic commercial flights, together with the island's central location has made it the most important transportation hub of the Caribbean.
Public transport
Increased investment in public transportation has not changed the fact that San Juan is an automobile reliant city and its fast growth has sparked urban sprawl. It is currently served by five limited-access expressways and highways and numerous arterial avenues and boulevards and suffers from severe traffic congestion.
In an attempt to decrease vehicle dependency and road congestion, the City constructed a metro system dubbed “Tren Urbano” ("Urban Train"). The 10.7 mile (17.2 km) line connects to sixteen stations. The project, which began in late 2004, cost 2.25 billion dollars and was more than $1 billion over budget and four years late. The “subsidized” Tren Urbano has received far less ridership than was originally projected and has failed to make a significant impact on reducing the city's traffic, despite the fact that 2006 has reported a 7.5% increase in ridership over 2005.
Metropolitan Bus Authority (“Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses” or AMA in Spanish) provides daily bus transportation to residents of San Juan, Guaynabo, Bayamón, Toa Baja, Trujillo Alto, Cataño, and Carolina through 30 different routes. Its fleet is comprised of 277 regular buses and 35 buses for handicapped persons, and its ridership is estimated at 112,000 on work days.
A daily ferry service known as the Cataño Ferry, (“La Lancha de Cataño” in Spanish) which operates a route across San Juan Bay between Old San Juan and the municipality of Cataño.
There is a planned project to build a “light interurban rail system” connecting the cities of San Juan and Caguas.
Health and utilities
The main hospital and medical school in the city of San Juan is "El Centro Medico de Rio Piedras" (Medical Center of Rio Piedras). It has various helicopters in service, allowing patients and people in need of medical attention to be carried to the center from many places around the island.
Sports
Teams based in San Juan have been notably successful in athletic competition. The Santurce Crabbers won the National Superior Basketball League championship on 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003 during this period being recognized as a dynasty. The San Juan Senators and the Santurce Crabbers were the two major baseball teams in the city, winning the championship of the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League a total of seventeen times. The Santurce Crabbers are located third among teams with more championships in the Caribbean Series, winning championships in the 1951, 1953, 1955, 1993 and 2000 editions of the tournament. The city has also been the host of numerous events within the sports community; some examples include:
The recently-built $28-million San Juan Natatorium is beginning to attract islandwide and regional swim meets, as well winter training by top-rated mainland U.S. colleges and universities, including the United States Military Academy at West Point.
In July 2007, the San Juan Golf Academy and its golf driving range began operating atop the city's former sanitary landfill in Puerto Nuevo and will eventually include the city's first and only 9-hole golf course.
Professional teams
Sister cities
The following cities have been identified as sister cities by Sister Cities International:
See also
External links
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