How to Save Your San Juan Vacation If It Rains
How to Save Your San Juan Vacation If It Rains
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How do you save your San Juan vacation if it rains….for two days straight? (cue in panic!!)
We had spent almost an entire week in Puerto Rico, and now all we had left to visit was San Juan. We were super excited for this part of our trip, as we knew it was going to be packed with cool activities. What we never planned for though, was SO.MUCH.RAIN!
It started raining when we were still in Rincon, and we decided to skip our visit to Ventana cave and drive straight to San Juan. We figured we would “settle” for one less activity and discover more of the old city.
Once we arrived in San Juan though, it was so rainy we couldn’t even go outside.
Optimists at heart, we kept telling ourselves it would get better…but nature had other plans.
The Original San Juan Vacation Plan
Our plan was to check in at the beautiful Verdanza Hotel and leave for a Catamaran tour as soon as we finished with breakfast. We checked in early, and even though it was already raining, we figured it would clear out. After about an hour of waiting for the weather, we were informed our Catamaran tour had been cancelled and with broken hearts we started thinking about what to do instead.
We considered doing a helicopter tour in the afternoon, weather permitting, but it never cleared out. There was mention of going to the Bacardi Distillery… but I was pregnant. We even considered going to lunch at a very local and famous restaurant….but this would only take so much of our day. Regardless, we were determined to save our Puerto Rican vacation, and not let the rain stop us from having fun.
New Plan: How to save our San Juan Vacation from the Rain
When things go south, one thing we like to keep in mind is to always stay positive. Luckily for us, we had made our plans with Antonio, the marketing guy from Verdanza Hotel and he jumped to the rescue with the gusto of a world class chess player facing a tough opponent. Immediately he started making calls, and within minutes he had a plan for us.
We were going to spend the day enjoying Old San Juan, and it did not matter if it rained or not, because he knew some great spots.
We agreed on meeting up later, so we went to our gorgeous corner room overlooking the city and relaxed for a bit.
At around noon, we met in the lobby and our adventure truly began.
First Stop
Our first Stop was at Chocobar Cortez “an innovative gastronomic space where chocolate plays the main role” to put it in their own words. We had lunch, drinks and desserts there, and even though it was certainly a different experience, I quite enjoyed it. We took some chocolate to go, courtesy of Verdanza Hotel, and I thought of them a week later when I woke up at night with pregnancy cravings and found my beautiful box of chocolates waiting for me.
READ ALL ABOUT OUR Puerto Rico RECOMMENDATIONS HERE
Second Stop
We thought the rain would’ve stopped by the afternoon, but we were wrong. Optimists at heart Stubborn as we are, we decided to go for a walk around town anyway. We walked through the old town, and enjoyed the beautiful architecture. Stopping in places like the Dove Park ( which I so lovingly referred to as Pigeon Park on our video 🤦♀️) and Fortaleza street. If you’re not familiar with Fortaleza Street, it’s that street in old San Juan that used to be covered with umbrellas. Now, it sports a giant Puerto Rican Flag. Here we took some photos, made conversation with the locals, and then it started raining again so we decided to wait off the rain.
Third Stop
La casa estrecha! If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a tiny (as in narrow) two story house which is well known for its narrow-ness. We did not even know this existed, but were so glad Antonio took us there. It’s picturesque, out of the way, and a nice walk around that area. We had to wait for two other parties to take their picture, but it was certainly well worth it.
To our surprise, the rain stopped momentarily when we got here, so it allowed us to take photos and enjoy without running away from the wetness.
Fourth Stop
Senor Paleta was our fourth and last stop in town before we let the rain win. It’s a small shop in old San Juan, with the biggest, and wildest variety of Paletas I have ever seen in my life. A Paleta is essentially a frozen popsicle, but it’s usually made of fruit and in this case, made locally and with great ingredients. We tried two different flavors and could not have been more pleased. Full disclaimer: I regret not buying two.
Fifth Stop
If you thought just because we were going back our day was ending you were wrong. The good thing about staying in places like Verdanza hotel, is that even within the hotel there is plenty to do. We went up to our rooms and got ready because dinner looked promising. If you’re wondering, YES, we spent all day eating!
We finished our day with an amazing dinner at Verace, an Italian pizzeria and restaurant inside of Verdanza Hotel. We love pizza, and have it often, and I can honestly say, their pizza was the best we had in Puerto Rico. To make things even better, they have a mixologists who makes great drinks (also non alcoholic) and they carry local beers – this is for you microbrewery lovers- from local vendors.
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How to save your San Juan vacation if it rains?
In the end, we had one goal: to save our San Juan vacation from the rain. Our day was not as adventurous as we planned, but I would be lying to you if I told you it was anything but amazing! We had a lot of fun getting to know the city, hanging out with our new friend Antonio, and creating content in some of the coolest spots in Old San Juan.
The cherry on top? My pregnant self indulged in more food than I could’ve asked for, and this truly was a beautiful thing!
So how do you save your tropical vacation from the rain? You remain optimistic, you adapt, and you enjoy the gift of being where you are!
We can’t wait to go back to Puerto Rico and re discover San Juan, this time hopefully with dryer weather.
Have you been to San Juan? If so, did we miss any super cool spots on the island?
Watch our entire VLOG below to see the rest of our shenanigans, and hear our entire conversation with the Pigeons at Dove Park 😆