San Juan Municipio Travel Forum

I'm going to the San Juan area with my 16-year-old-daughter for about ten days on Aug. 1 (before being joined by my wife & doing some island travel), and am having difficulty getting a clear picture of the differences among these three beaches and their respective communities. The primary objective will be relaxing and swimming at the beach, maybe trying some different watersports and other local activities(trip into OSJ, taking in some traditional dance, etc.). With a teenager, I'm obviously not interested in the club or casino scene, and I'm not a Las-Vegas-glitter type anyway. We can afford budget-to-moderate accomodations, up to about $160. I've heard that the Condado beach is not real clean, that Isla Verde has a much more well-healed (& stuffier?) crowd, and that Ocean Park is the nicest & quietest area, but too rough for swimming. Up to now, our beach experience has been the Caribe Hilton's private beach, and Playa Flamenco, two tough acts to follow. Could anyone help us by describing the feel of these 3 beaches and their respective surrounding ambience? Your help is greatly appreciated!

Hi, I am from Puerto Rico, although I live in the States. The Condado used to be a very exclusive area; it still has nice large homes, but the main street, Ashford, is where all the hotels and all kinds of shops, good and not so good, are; very busy day and night. The hotels have nice beaches, all public (no private beaches in Puerto Rico even if your house is beach front), but you should not visit them at night. Isla Verde is busier because it is smaller area and hotels, restaurants, shops are all together. It is next to the airport. Beaches are also good, but not to be visited at night either. Ocean Park is more of a residential area, and the water is a bit rough also.