Vacay with adventure, historical city with gelato, bioluminescent glowing bays, secret beaches with white sand and turquoise blue waters, Puerto Rico had it all. It was the perfect little snack adventure vacation with our four little children. We felt like we got Puerto Rico had it all, and so conveniently wrapped up in a this lovely little travel basket for us!

It was a direct 3 hour flight from Raleigh, with a price tag that would make your grandma stop stashing leftovers in her purse at the restaurant. It was tropical, but still semi-in the U.S, so we didn’t have to worry about cards or cells. Short flights mean same time zone so less to navigate with littles, and the perfect amount of time to be away from home before the natives get restless. We were definitely reminded that a family vacation isn’t a vacation from parenting, just a different scene. Humidity and heat will take the energy right out you, and the children. And Puerto Rico has plenty of it. But know what puts it back into you? Popsicles, gelato and pina coladas. Also, Puerto Rico has in abundance. The first few days were a bit rocky for us as we were adjusting to the extra “work” of parenting away from home base with the added energy of making beautiful family memories on your family vacation.

Our children are 9,7,4 & 1.5 years old for reference.

Old San Juan: 1-2 days, max. Walkable. Try to not be there on a cruise day, just google “cruise port days Puerto Rico”. If you’re flexible, either have the streets to yourself or share it with 3-7K other cruise ship people?

Highlights: El Morro, Anita’s Gelato, walking the colorful streets while counting stray cats.

The fort- Castillo San Felipe del Morro, or “El Morro” is a 2-3 hour experience. $7 per adult, ticket good for the other fort too. Go in the morning to avoid crowds & blazing hot sun, bring water. Use the bathroom at the entrance before exploring because there’s lots of stairs for littles to climb. Also the view from the bathroom is beautiful! Pro-tip: bring kites for the kids to fly on the grass!

Stuffed Avacado Shop is great for healthy, fresh bowl style meals. Across the street from yummy chocolates and fun choclate desserts, Chocobar Cortes.

We ate at Barrachina, it was good. More geographically good. So nice to get out of the heat and sip cold drinks under fans. Overall a lovely experience, followed up with expensive but yummy popsicles at Senor Paleta just around the corner.

Just a block away is Mi Pequeno San Juan, a small artisan store. I love local art!

The girls loved watching and chasing the throngs of pigeons at La Fortaleza just down the street.

Anita La Mamma del Gelato should be a stop on your list. Mouth-watering delicious gelato, worth the wait, flavors are yum. YUM!

I enjoyed the Puerto Rican flag doors. at 51 C. San Jose and Callejon de la Puerto Bandera. We took a 1 min detour on our walk to El Morro.

Other restaurants that were on our list: Caficultura looks healthy & clean. Pirilo for pizza, lots of good reviews, too long of a line for the time we had but a solid option.

Bioluminescent Bay: Ferry to Vieques

((We stayed 2 days at an Airbnb with a car rental on the island, could stay 2-4 days for more beach days.)) Must have a car in Vieques.

To get to Vieques, we took a 1 hour Uber because it was cheaper than a rental & logistically easier to the ferry port at Ceiba. **Reservations for the ferry are made a month in advance and sell out in like 5 min of being released at 8am.**

Theres 3 bio bays in Puerto Rico. Mosquito Bay on Vieques is supposedly the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. My husband is a super nerd, that I love him for, and looked up the moon cycles to time our trip for a new moon and potentially less storms. We achieved both and the results were magical. enchanting. think moana & avatar. So mind-blowingly beautiful.

Abe’s Tours is the only tour group on the island that lets littles younger than 6 come. It was incredible to be able to experience and we woudn’t have been able to without bringing our 4 girls. They all did great, except the baby tuckered out the last 10 minutes, she was crying so I paddled away from the group. The guide just slowly led us back to shore, where I saw a hammerhead shark lit up in the bay. It was really incredible and their tour group gave an amazing tour, super family friendly and great price point!

Ate at Duffy’s Restaurant right by the meet-up spot for the bay tours. It was delicious with great service, child friendly.

Vieques Beaches are INCREDIBLE. Each of them are slightly different, but all beautiful. White powder sand with clear aqua water is at Caracas Beach. Big bay easy to walk out, good for children at Playa Chiva, and there’s little huts with shade on the beach. Secret Beach has terrible sand, but very private and the shell-searching here was the best we’ve had all over the world, it was amazing! We found entire conch shells, urchins, and beautiful coral. You can go to all 3 beaches in a day because they’re nearby each other.

We asked around for the best snorkeling beach- it didn’t disappoint. We swam with 5 sea turtles, 2 sting rays, cow fish, schools of fish, starfish, and so many other beautiful fish!

Restaurant on Vieques: Rising Roost– food was YUM, service was from kind people but sloooowww, but worth it because the food really was scrumptious. Girls liked pizza at Mama Mia, ice-cream at the little market afterwards. Other recommendations but didn’t try were Biekes Bistro & Casa Nativo.

El Yunque Rainforst & Luquillo: 2 days

We stayed in Luquillo for access to El Yunque. Rented a car because it was cheaper than a tour for all 6 of us, and gave us flexibility with out littles. Target Rent a car is amazing, they picked us up FROM THE FERRY and BROUGHT US TO OUR RESORT!? Amazing service.

El Yunque was beautiful. Leave me in the jungle, I love hiking through big leaves and over roots. Beautiful water falls and the view from the lookout tower is great with kids. Trails are well mapped out and easily navigable. We went to both upper and lower falls. We didn’t do the summit because we wanted to preserve our emotional energy for the day. HA! But really. It was a good half day in the jungle, brought a picnic lunch and went to beach for the afternoon!

• Must have reservations for El Yunque, same as ferry, online and sell out within 5 minutes of opening at 8am.

**There are sliding rocks just outside the entrance. of El Yunque, you pay $5 to park at a guys house and theh have access to them. Friends did it, we chose not to with our littles.

Degree 18 Juice Bar outside of El Yunque was YUM. Acai bowls, smoothies, snackies and foods. The street is lovely to walk with little shops and galleries. Its where the girls found their souvenirs, not airport or resort prices with lots of handmade, local artists. We spent about 1hr at the juice bar & perusing the nearby shops.

Luquillo kiosks are nothing to be excited about, imo. It’s like a state fair vibe, kind of grungy, lots of loud music and a massive row of 60 restaurants with one road in and out. We didn’t understand the concept apparently because we went on a Friday night & it took 1.5 hours just to get out of the one-way traffic loop out of it. It was awful. BUT the loud music and crowd provided plenty of entertainment for the girls!

PLEASE EAT AT PANDERRI BAKERY: It is delicious food. Like lemon ricotta pancakes with citrus glaze, three cheese grill cheese on sourdough brioche bread, chocolate waffles with fresh whipped cream…we ordered sooo much and ate it all. I’d go back to Puerto Rico just for this restaurant and eat there everyday.

Hyatt Grand Regency Resort: 2 days

We wanted to end our time in Puerto Rico with that beach resort vacay vibe. We stayed Monday and Tuesday to get weekday rate. It was so blissful to sit by the pool, sipping pina-coladas, little sunshade hut thing, kids activities, ocean kayaking, handful of delicious restaurants. The resort feels very private- your room is in a little stand alone bungalow. Golf carts take you to your room. Adult pool & family pool. It was lovely!

Puerto Rico really was perfect for our family, it had adventure & vacay vibe. So easy & convenient to get to and everyone was so friendly. The Puerto Ricans adore children, we felt incredibly safe everywhere we went. We made some core memories with the girls- the bioluminescent bay, swimming with sea turtles, shell-finding, snorkeling in crystal clear water, it was all so beautiful! Thank you Puerto Rico!!