San Juan Beaches and Water Sports

(San Juan, Puerto Rico)

San Juan isn't just about history and heritage - beach-lovers have a great choice of sandy, tree-fringed blue-water delights as well. The beaches of metro San Juan are amongst the best that Puerto Rico has to offer and to the east of the Old Town you can find everything from rustic to trendy, all within just a matter of miles.

Popular and crowded, Ocean Park is just a short trip out of town and brings swimmers, sunbathers and water sports fanatics to several exquisite spots. Ocean Park lies on the eastern side of the Condado area and within the Punta Las Marias neighbourhood, where many seaside retreats and appealing guest houses are based. The beach here is a favourite with local Puerto Ricans and often overlooked by tourists, being an excellent spot for windsurfing and known for its offshore reefs.

General Information

In Condado itself, the beachfront is everything that you would expect from a traditional seaside resort, with amusements, modern high-rise hotels and a relaxed night-time scene. It was in Condado where the country's tourist boom began in the sixties and although this area became rather rundown over the subsequent decades, recent years have seen much redevelopment and a return to form.

Just behind the Condado Lagoon, the Miramar neighbourhood offers superb coastal views from many vantage points, tree-lined avenues and some unusual architecture. The Club Nautico marina is a lively place to hang out, with its gleaming yachts and well-utilised Convention Centre.

In the Puerta de Tierra area, the Balneario Escambron beachfront boasts a crescent of fine sand, as well as opportunities for surfing and other water sports, all in the view of a 17th-century fortress. The Balneario Escambron is only a few minutes from Old San Juan and the tourist hotspot of Condado, and comes with excellent beach amenities, such as toilets, lifeguards and a car park.

Other notable beaches within the San Juan area include the Playa Isla Verde, where volleyball nets, banana boats, jet skis, catamarans and spring-break crowds can be expected. Sandwiched in between Pinones and the hotels of the Isla Verde is the Balneario de Carolina beach, where barbecue pits and contemporary sculptures all add to the overall appeal. For surfing, sailing and other water sports, the Pinones area is a good place to start your fun.

It is worth noting that a number of the region's beaches should be avoided after nightfall.