Ponce, Puerto Rico
4 Places, 4 Foods
Recently, my family went to Puerto Rico for fall break. Why did we decide to go to Puerto Rico? Well, main reason is that flights to Puerto Rico were very cheap. We were in Puerto Rico for about a week and got to see a lot of the island. We spent our time in two areas of the island: first, a few days in Ponce and second, a few days in San Juan.
Places
Los Morillos Lighthouse and Surrounding Cliffs: This was probably my favorite part of this trip! These cliffs hung over the ocean and were truly breathtaking! I was blown away by the beauty and majesty of the waves slapping the rocks. It is a far drive away from everything else on the island, but it is completely worth it!
Hilton Ponce: This was the resort we stayed at, and it is worth including on here. Our resort was super nice and featured many anemities and activities, such as a pool area, pickleball court, mini golf, and access to the beach (although the beach there was a little gross and was just okay). Overall, the resort was super nice, and I would definitely recommend it if you are staying in Ponce.
Tour of Castillo Serrallés Mansion, Cruceta El Vigía, and Jardín Japonés: This is kind of a cheat code since you get to see three places on this tour, but all of them were really cool! First, you get to see the Castillo Serrallés mansion, which was beautiful. Next you get to see Cruceta El Vigía, which is a large cross that overlooks the entire city. Finally, you can explore a beautiful Japanese garden. Overall, this tour was really cool!
Bioluminescent Bay: This isn’t in Ponce, but I had to include this on here! If you visit Puerto Rico, you have to go to a bioluminescent bay! There are three throughout the island, and it is truly breathtaking! We didn’t even visit the “best” one, but it was still extremely cool!
Foods
My family makes a rule when we go on trips that we aren’t allowed to eat at chain restaurants that we have back home (Subway, Burger King, Dominos, etc). We force ourselves to eat local because we are there to experience the culture. Oftentimes, the food is better anyway! Since we do this, we end up finding many great restaurants such as these 4:
El Desvio Restaurant: We went here on our way back from the cliffs, and I had some of the best nachos I have ever eaten! This restaurant had great food, a good environment, and a translator (which is always nice)! I think I’m still full from those nachos….
Panorama 360: We didn’t actually eat here since we had just eaten someplace else, but we did get some drinks and enjoy the view. The view from this restaurant is truly breathtaking, and I‘m sure this would be a great place for a (romantic) dinner, especially at night!
Jalapeño's Cantina & Tacos: This was another local place that we enjoyed. Personally, I didn’t really love what I got, but I tried a bite of everyone else’s food, and it was really good! I guess I know for the future that I don’t particularly enjoy potatoes on tacos….Anyway, the environment in the restaurant was good, and the food was also pretty good!
Hilton Ponce: I didn’t plan on including our resort as one of the places where we got food, but we actually did eat a lot at our resort. The resort has a nice breakfast place, a restaurant by the pool, and some other restaurants throughout the resort. The food at these were actually really good and worth including!
I thought it was really cool to explore the rural side of Puerto Rico in the form of Ponce. It was drastically different from San Juan, which I will be talking about in a future newsletter!