Transportation to El Yunque?

[Joebucks]

I will be staying at the Intercontinental by Verde Beach. I would love to head down to El Yunque. I understand it isn't in peak shape after the hurricane. I still want to go while I am down there.

 

It seems pretty far at about 40 minutes away. What is the best way to get there? Are there reasonable tours out of San Juan that will take me? Should I rent a car? A taxi doesn't seem like the best option.

[Airrace]

I will be staying at the Intercontinental by Verde Beach. I would love to head down to El Yunque. I understand it isn't in peak shape after the hurricane. I still want to go while I am down there.

 

 

 

It seems pretty far at about 40 minutes away. What is the best way to get there? Are there reasonable tours out of San Juan that will take me? Should I rent a car? A taxi doesn't seem like the best option.

 

 

 

Try Ellis tours. He is a local guide that operates from Facebook and craigslist. Highly recommended by people here on this forum.

You can get information on both of his tours by googling Craig’s list Puerto Rico and then do a search for Ellis. Usually he will reply back to you in a day. Hope this helps!

 

 

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[Aviator of the Seas]

Most hotels in San Juan have a Tour Desk in the lobby where they arrange this sort of thing. Check if yours can help.

[Joebucks]

Thanks for the responses so far! I'm still undecided to what I want to do. A rental car is only going to cost me $26, so I think I'm leaning towards that route even though parking is expensive. Between a bunch of taxis, and a tour, I'll probably rack up way more money with less freedom.

[nicnic96]

Thanks for the responses so far! I'm still undecided to what I want to do. A rental car is only going to cost me $26, so I think I'm leaning towards that route even though parking is expensive. Between a bunch of taxis, and a tour, I'll probably rack up way more money with less freedom.

 

I can't speak to the current state of the forest or route (post hurricane).

 

However, we rented a car from Charlies (Ace Car Rental) a few years ago and drove to El Yunque. If memory serves me there's a toll road near the airport that if you miss your turn you will end up on and that gets costly with a rental car (which adds fees). Make sure you look at the route ahead of time.

 

We did get a little nervous when we got close to El Yunque because the road wasn't well marked, narrow, and not well paved and we thought we made a wrong turn. Once we got there it was clear we made a good choice to rent a car because we had the freedom to see what we wanted to see on our schedule. We had a flight to make so we saw a lot in a short period of time and it was beautiful. There was a bit of traffic on our way back to the airport and I think there were a lot of stoplights, so it took longer than I thought.

[Stinger-pr]

I would suggest that if you have the time go with a car rental. You will see things at your own pace and will be much more cost effective than a cookie-cutter tour. As for a tool pass option when renting since the toll road will save you about 20-25 minutes and cost just under $3 each way. It's also in much better shape. Road signs are in Spanish but use some common sense with colors and arrows since the same signage scheme as in most states is used. The most important translation to remember is Este= East, Oeste= West, Sur= South, Norte= North. With that and Google maps you should be good to go.

 

Try looking for nearby places using the Puerto Rico daytrips website (http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/). They have tons of info on interesting places around EL Yunque, including the food kiosk and beach in Luquillo and the BioBay in Fajardo. If you want to really make it an exploratory day go to El Yunque in the morning and then try try one of the English language tours of Las Cabezas de San Juan natural reserve (they usually run at 2pm on days it's available). More info here: https://reservaciones.paralanaturaleza.org/event/a053900000MjQgzAAF

 

No matter what you decide, I hope you just have fun!

[RoyalFan2011]

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Intercontinental hotel. We are thinking of staying there in November.

 

 

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[Joebucks]

I feel confident about getting the rental car now. I generally would Uber to a lot of different places. From what I hear, they strong arm Uber in Puero Rico, and it's not always an option. For what I would pay for a taxi from the airport just to my hotel is going to be close in cost to my rental.

Who knows what else I am going to want to do!

 

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Intercontinental hotel. We are thinking of staying there in November.

 

Will do. I am very excited to stay there.

[Aviator of the Seas]

Note: Uber is prohibited from dropping people off at the rainforest because there's barely a signal up there, and they have left many people stranded because they can't connect with the app to go back.