I get it now, why people travel for spring break in March. It is a time when spring is at your fingertips , but you don’t know if you’ll make it to the first blooms. A time when you still can’t open the windows in the kitchen because you shudder at the chill. When March Mental Madness has descended on you, go away. Get outta dodge for spring break. I get it now. Here is how I spent spring break in Puerto Rico.

Day One

I am not counting the traveling days on both ends of my trip. Day one is our first full day in Puerto Rico. We flew in the evening before, got our rental car, and checked into our resort. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar. On day one we decided to get breakfast room service (one of the great things about our resort!) and hop in the car and drive to Old San Juan.

Finding parking was a bit of a nightmare. Even though I had read this fact before our trip, it was still difficult. We parked in a garage. It was the Dona Fela on Calle del Recinto Sur. It worked out great for the day. It was lunch time so we walked to Hotel El Convento and sat for awhile. Great food, atmosphere and clean restrooms!

I loved the architecture, colors and warmth of Old San Juan. We walked a ton, saw the iconic road, Calle De La Fortaleza (the umbrellas aren’t there now), walked through the old entrance to the city and made our way up to Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

I’m a fan of touring old forts and El Morro was the oldest one I’ve ever been to! I have an America the Beautiful pass so we did not have to pay to enter. Kids under 15 are free.

I loved the old sentry boxes all over the edge of the city! Surprisingly cool inside and look at this perfect picture frame ~

We spent several hours exploring and walking around the city and headed back to the hotel for dinner and a quiet evening. Day one was a blast!

Day Two

Day two was for El Yunque National Forest! We drove our rental car into the park around 8:30 am. I knew it was going to be a hot day and wanted to get going early. The visitor center opens at 9 am, but we drove right past it and followed the road into the forest. Going early is the best choice. As the day went on, parking got harder and harder at each stop. There was a bunch of construction going on March 2025. Once it is done there will be a lot more parking available in the future.

Our first stop was La Coca Falls. The falls don’t seem too special in pictures, but it is amazing! We climbed up to get a closer look.

Our second stop was Yokahu Tower. Fantastic views! You don’t have to climb all the stairs to the top. The views from the bottom are still great. My picture at the top of this blog post is from the top of the tower.

Juan Diego Falls was our third stop. At this one we had to park a bit farther away because it was getting crowded in the park. This stop also involves some hiking! We came prepared, already in our swimsuits with towels and water shoes in our backpacks. The falls are perfect for a swim! The water was cold but refreshing and it wasn’t deep. I was lucky to get a picture of the lower falls without any bodies in it!

The upper falls requires a more difficult hike and my husband and one daughter made the trek. I stayed at the lower falls with the other two kids and spent quite awhile there. It was invigorating and made me so happy. Once back at the car, we all changed into dry clothes.

We then headed to lunch at our fourth stop, El Yunque Rainforest Cafe. The food was way better than I expected! I can say that about the entire trip; the food everywhere exceeded my expectations. After eating we decided to head to the visitor’s center (mostly for clean restrooms). We had booked ahead of time a mid day zip lining adventure!

We zip lined at JungleQui Zip Line Park. It was my first time and a lot of fun. I did have a sore back afterwards so it may have been my only time zip lining. The kids found it to be a highlight of the trip. After that excursion we went back to the visitor’s center and walked round on the paths for an hour. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the resort.

Day Three

The alarm went off at 3:30 am on day three! Out the door early to catch a ferry to Culebra. I purchased tickets ahead of time from the Puerto Rico Ferry website (highly recommend doing that). We arrived at the terminal in Ceiba at 5 am for a 6 am departure. It worked out smoothly, but we did all feel a bit nauseous on the ride over! I was prepared with dramamine for the family. If I could do it again I might book a flight over instead and save our stomachs. The nauseousness stayed with us for a couple of hours.

Once on the island we walked to a cafe, one that isn’t on Maps! It is next to Moncho’s and was the place everyone was going to. Follow the locals, always a good motto when traveling. I booked a golf cart ahead of time, from Jerry’s Jeep Rental. We had an 8 am pick-up, when they open, and walked there from the cafe. Alas, the workers were on island time and arrived late, about 8:15. Waiting there was tough :(

Once we were on the golf cart we drove right to Flamenco Beach. I cannot stress this enough, this is the best beach ever. OK, maybe I’m being dramatic, but it is beyond stunning. The only fault of the beach are the restrooms. There are four stalls in the women’s room, only four! There was a constant line because there are no changing rooms, you had to use the stalls for everything. My one and only complaint. We rented beach chairs and an umbrella for the few hours we stayed. It was picture perfect.

Once we were thoroughly sun burned (bring lots of sunscreen!), we hopped back in the golf cart and drove to Mamacita’s for lunch. It was fantastic! The best clam strips I’ve ever had, no joking. We drove around a bit to explore and decided to pull over on the side of the road and rest on a small boat dock. There were many along the marinas. It was just the respite we needed. The shells hiding there under the mangroves were very cool.

My husband dropped us off at the ferry terminal while he returned the rental. He got a ride back from them (they will only drive one person to the terminal). The ferry back ended up being a cargo one and was a much smoother ride, albeit a longer one. We crashed back at the hotel after the long day.

Day Four

Our last full day was spent completely at our resort. We needed a do nothing day of bouncing between the pool and beach. I had no issues getting us pool chairs, always a concern when traveling with the kids. We enjoyed the luxury of having waitresses serve us lunch and drinks, making for an utterly relaxing day.

On day five we drove to the airport in the morning in the pouring rain! I had been sad to not have another day to explore the island more, but it would have been miserable anyway. I’m lucky :)

Have you been to Puerto Rico? What was your favorite thing to do? I’d love to go back again!