El Yunque by ten. Old San Juan by dark.
Which rainforest trip actually reaches the waterslides. Which bay glows on your dates. Whether the Culebra catamaran is worth the early start. Every tour in Puerto Rico, reviewed and ranked.
El Yunque: the slides, the falls, or the whole forest.
Every El Yunque tour →
One rainforest, three completely different days out. These three carry the most travellers between them; the full list splits the rest by how wet you are willing to get and how far you want to walk.
River rock, polished into slides
A short walk in off the forest road, then the rivers coming down the mountain do the work. Wear something you do not mind soaking; the pools are busy by ten.
Waterfalls, and the trails between them
Steps, mud and a swim at the bottom. The falls trips trade the queue for a climb, and the water at Charco Azul is cold enough to take your breath.
Rainforest, lunch and the coast road
The long version: forest road, a swim, the food kiosks at Luquillo, back to the hotel by evening. The one to pick if this is your only day east.
The tours Puerto Rico books most.
Every review →More travellers take these than anything else on the island — and what each one is actually like on the day.
1
San Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and Videos
Guided snorkeling in San Juan near Guaynabo with turtles, reef fish, gear, and a free GoPro video, from Escambrón Beach.
From · $42
Read our review →
2
Top Rated El Yunque Rainforest & Waterslide – SmallGroup Tour
from $45
3
Half-Day Yunque Rainforest Waterslide & rope swing Guided Tour
from $25
4
El Yunque Rainforest Waterslides and Luquillo Beach w/ Transport
from $49
5
Night Kayak – Condado City Lights Tour
from $75
6
Luquillo Beach Horse Ride from Carabalí Rainforest Adventure Park
from $164
7
Authentic Flavors of San Juan Food Tour
from $165
8
Small-Group El Yunque Rainforest Vivid Day Tour with Transport
from $75
What people fly to Puerto Rico to do.
The rainforest, the walled city, the bays that light up, the turtles off a city beach and the two cays that fill everyone’s camera roll. The handful of days most trips are built around.
Most of Puerto Rico leaves from San Juan by eight.
The capital is where the island’s days actually start: walking tours inside the walls, turtle snorkels off Escambrón, the night kayak under the city lights, and almost every coach heading east to the forest. Three in four tours on this site depart here, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Book these before you fly to Puerto Rico.
Most of the island can be booked from the hotel the night before. These cannot — they run on moon phases, vehicle reservations and a single daily departure that does not care when your flight lands.
- 01Bio Bay Kayak Tour in FajardoThe glow reads strongest on the darkest nights, so the slots either side of the new moon go first and the full-moon ones barely sell.
- 02Top Rated El Yunque Rainforest & Waterslide – SmallGroup TourDriving into the forest needs a timed vehicle reservation booked in advance; trips that include transport carry their own.
- 03Culebra Snorkeling Tour by Catamaran from FajardoOne catamaran, one early departure, and the public ferry is a queue-and-hope affair in high season.
- 04Mixology Class at Casa BACARDÍ in Puerto RicoThe distillery runs fixed tasting sessions rather than walk-ins — pick the slot before you land.
Fajardo is the harbour Puerto Rico sails from.
An hour east of the capital and the second base on the island: catamarans out to Icacos, snorkel stops off Palomino, and Laguna Grande after dark. If your day involves a boat, it probably leaves from here.
All 88 Fajardo tours →
What a day out costs in Puerto Rico.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it actually costs. The forest, the bays and the old city all start cheaper than people expect.
Walks inside the walls, salsa classes, rum tastings and the short kayak runs.
The everyday island day: bio bay kayaks, turtle snorkels, half-days at the slides.
Full rainforest days with transport, catamarans out to the cays, cave-and-river combinations.
Private guides, chartered boats and the one splurge a week on this island earns.
What Puerto Rico has that the rest of the Caribbean does not.
Beaches and catamarans you can find anywhere in the chain. Three glowing bays, a rainforest with slides in it and turtles inside a capital city belong to this island.
The Bays That Light Up
Puerto Rico has three bioluminescent bays: Laguna Grande at Fajardo, La Parguera on the south coast, and Mosquito Bay on Vieques, the brightest ever measured. The light comes from single-celled plankton that flash when the water is disturbed, so the paddle blades do it and so do your hands. Go on a night near the new moon; moonlight washes the whole thing out.
- 1Bio Bay Kayak Tour in Fajardo★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,762 reviews
- 2Puerto Rico Bio Bay Kayak Adventure Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,581 reviews
- 3Bio Bay Kayak Tour in Fajardo★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,438 reviews
The Rainforest Waterslides
El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the United States forest system, and the rivers running off it have polished the bedrock into chutes and plunge pools. Guided trips walk in, queue at the top and slide. The water is genuinely cold, the rock is slick by design, and it is the photograph most people come home with.
- 1Top Rated El Yunque Rainforest & Waterslide – SmallGroup Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,789 reviews
- 2Half-Day Yunque Rainforest Waterslide & rope swing Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,534 reviews
- 3El Yunque Rainforest Waterslides and Luquillo Beach w/ Transport★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,098 reviews
Turtles in San Juan
Green turtles graze the seagrass off Escambrón, a beach inside San Juan with a car park and a bus stop. The trips run morning and afternoon, hand you a mask and a guide who knows where the animals feed, and more travellers book that snorkel than any other tour in Puerto Rico.
- 1San Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and Videos★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,947 reviews
- 2Puerto Rico Jet Snorkel with Turtles and Videos in San Juan★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,229 reviews
- 3Beginner Scuba Diving with Turtles and Videos, San Juan★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,743 reviews
Rincón, Aguadilla and the two small islands.
Honest scale: the west coast and the offshore cays are a thin slice of what is sold here — a few dozen tours between them, not hundreds. What exists is good. Horses on the sand at Rincón, reef snorkels off Aguadilla, and boat days to Culebra and Vieques that still start back east in Fajardo.
- 1Horseback Riding through Secluded Beaches and Tropical Forestsfrom $106
- 2Rincon Snorkeling Adventurefrom $59
- 3Guided Coral Reef Snorkeling Tourfrom $49
The rainforest earns its name. Here is the wet-afternoon plan.
Rain on the east side of Puerto Rico is warm, brief and close to daily. It cancels almost nothing — the slides run wet anyway — but if you would rather be under a roof for an hour, the old city, the distilleries and the river caves are all better in the rain than out of it.
One week in Puerto Rico, in the order that works.
San Juan
Old San Juan
El Yunque
Luquillo
Fajardo
CulebraBy base — where you sleep decides the day
By experience — what kind of day is it?
The newest Puerto Rico tour reviews.
All recent →
Private Tour of the White Canyon Ancestral Route in Utuado
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CLEAR BOTTOM KAYAKS Tour in Bioluminescent, Mosquito Bay
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Unforgettable One Day Bioluminescent Kayak Adventure in Vieques
Read our review →
Bio Bay Tour Vieques – Full Clear Canoes Experience
Read our review →
Bioluminescent Boat Tour in Mosquito Bay, Vieques
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Epic Guided Adventure in El Yunque National Rainforest & Beach
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Zipline Canopy Tour with Transport from San Juan
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