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Alcaldía
One of the highlights of the central plaza is the Alcaldía, which dates from 1789 and has twin turrets resembling those of its counterpart in Madrid. This building houses the office of the mayor of San Juan and is also the site of periodic exhibitions.
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Balneario Condado
Condado's official public beach is Balneario Condado, a small arc of sand, adjacent to the Dos Hermanos bridge, that faces west toward the Fuerte San Gerónimo across the inlet. A line of rocks breaks the water here, meaning that the sea is calm and bathing relatively safe. Lifeguards police the area on weekdays and snack bars are open daily, but bathrooms are few and far between. You can rent beach chairs.
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Balneario de Carolina
Wedged in between the high rise hotel strip of Isla Verde and rustic delights of Piñones, the Balneario de Carolina is a fine, clean beach that lacks natural shelter and is positioned a little incongruously, right in front of LMM international airport. Equipped with plenty of lifeguards, bathrooms, showers, barbecue pits, and rather weird red sculptures, the beach can be pleasantly peaceful in the week if you can ignore the noise from 747s taking off.
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Balneario Escambrón
Balneario Escambrón. Imagine it - a sheltered arc of raked sand, decent surf breaks, plenty of local action and the sight of a 17th-century Spanish fort shimmering in the distance. But, hang on a minute. Are you really still only a stone's throw from Old San Juan and the busy tourist strip of Condado? Balneario Escambrón is almost too good to be true, which is probably why a lot of people miss it.
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Capilla del Cristo
Over the centuries, tens of thousands of penitents have come to pray for miracles at the Capilla del Cristo, the tiny outdoor sanctuary adjacent to Parque de las Palomas (Dove Park). One legend claims that the chapel was built to prevent people from falling over the city wall and into the sea. Another claims that citizens constructed the chapel to commemorate a miracle.
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Casa Blanca
First constructed in 1521 as a residence of Puerto Rico's pioneering governor, Juan Ponce de León (who died before he could move in), the Casa Blanca, is the oldest continuously occupied house in the western hemisphere. For the first 250 years after its construction it served as the ancestral home for the de León family. In 1779 it was taken over by the Spanish military, then with the change of Puerto Rico's political status in 1898, it provided a base for US military commanders until 1966.
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Casa de Ramón Power y Giralt
Once the residence of a political reformer and Puerto Rico's first representative to the Spanish court, the restored 18th-century Casa de Ramón Power y Giralt is now the headquarters for the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico. The house contains limited exhibits of Taíno artifacts along with a small gift shop, and highlights the precarious nature of much of the island's ecology. The staff can be helpful with information about visiting the trust's other island properties.
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Casa del Libro
Tucked away on a very pretty street is the Casa del Libro, yet another of the old city's tiny museums. This restored 18th-century town house contains more than 5000 manuscripts and texts that date back 2000 years. The collection includes one of the most respected assemblages of incunabula (texts produced prior to 1501) in the Americas, including documents signed by Ferdinand and Isabela.
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Casa Rosa
The tropical villa in the foreground of the field leading up to El Morro is the Casa Rosa. Built as a barracks for the Spanish militia in the early 19th century, this house long served as officers' quarters. The structure has since been restored and now serves as a plush day-care facility for the children of government employees.
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Casa-Finca de Don Luis Muñoz Marín
This house and farm of Casa-Finca de Don Luis Muñoz Marín were once home to the godfather of the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and the man who shepherded Puerto Rico into commonwealth status - as well as a 20th-century industrialized market economy in the 1950s and '60s. Today, it is a museum honoring the memory of this legendary Puerto Rican figure, and it also serves as a venue for concerts and experimental theater.
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Catedral de San Juan
Although noticeably smaller and more austere than other Spanish churches, the Catedral de San Juan nonetheless retains a simple earthy elegance. Founded originally in the 1520s, the first church on this site was destroyed in a hurricane in 1529. A replacement was constructed in 1540 and, over a period of centuries, it slowly evolved into the Gothic/neoclassical-inspired monument seen today. Most people come to see the marble tomb of Ponce de León and the body of religious martyr St Pio displayed under glass.
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Cementerio de San Juan
Sitting just outside the northern fortifications of the old city, the neoclassical chapel in the Cementerio de San Juan provides a focal point among the graves of the colony's earliest citizens - as well as that of the famous Puerto Rican freedom fighter Pedro Albizu-Campos. This Harvard-educated chemical engineer, lawyer and politician led the agricultural workers' strikes in 1934 and was at the forefront of the movement for Puerto Rican independence until his arrest and imprisonment in 1936.
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Convento de los Dominicos
Next to the Iglesia de San José is the Convento de los Dominicos, a Dominican convent which dates from the 16th century. After centuries of use as a convent, the building became a barracks for Spanish troops and was later used as a headquarters for US occupational forces after the Spanish-American War of 1898.
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El Arsenal
On the point of land called La Puntilla is a low, gray fortress with a Romanesque proscenium entrance known as El Arsenal, a former Spanish naval station that was the last place to house Spanish military forces after the US victory in the Spanish-American War. Today, the arsenal is home to the fine- and decorative-arts divisions of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, and hosts periodic exhibitions in three galleries.
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El Capitolio
El Capitolio of the commonwealth lies sandwiched between Avs Muñoz Rivera and Ponce de León, just east of Fuerte San Cristóbal. Resembling a smaller, Romanesque version of the US Capitol, the building commands an authoritative position in Puerta de Tierra overlooking the wave-lashed coast. The much-revered constitution of the commonwealth, which moved the island a step closer to its citizens' dreams of freedom from colonialism in 1951, is on display inside the 80ft rotunda.
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El Morro
A six-level fort with a gray, castellated lighthouse, El Morro juts aggressively over Old San Juan's bold headlands, glowering across the Atlantic at would-be conquerors. The 140ft walls (some up to 15ft thick) date back to 1539, and El Morro is said to be the oldest Spanish fort in the New World. The National Park Service (NPS) maintains this fort and the small military museum on the premises.
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Escuela de Artes Plásticas
The monumental gray-and-white building with a red-roofed rotunda across from El Morro is actually the Escuela de Artes Plásticas. Built as an insane asylum during the 19th century, this grand building looks more like a seat of government with its symmetrical wings, columns, Romanesque arches, porticos, courtyards and fountains. Today it is the source of more than a few jokes by contemporary art students about the mad dreams that continue to take shape within its walls.
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Estación Experimental Agrícola de Puerto Rico
This 75-acre tract of greenery is the site of the Estación Experimental Agrícola de Puerto Rico, but is open to the public. Hiking trails lead to a lotus lagoon, an orchid garden with more than 30,000 flowers, and a plantation of more than 120 species of palm. The air smells of heliconia blossoms, as well as of nutmeg and cinnamon trees.
Read more about Estación Experimental Agrícola de Puerto Rico
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Fuerte San Cristóbal
San Juan's second major fort is Fuerte San Cristóbal one of the largest military installations the Spanish built in the Americas. In its prime, San Cristóbal covered 27 acres with a maze of six interconnected forts protecting a central core with 150ft walls, moats, booby-trapped bridges and tunnels. The fort was constructed to defend Old San Juan against land attacks from the east via Puerta de Tierra.
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Iglesia de San José
What the Iglesia de San José lacks in grandiosity it makes up for in age; this is the second-oldest church in the Americas, after the cathedral in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Established in 1523 by Dominicans, this church with its vaulted Gothic ceilings still bears the coat of arms of Juan Ponce de León (whose family worshipped here), a striking carving of the Crucifixion and ornate processional floats.
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Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Once a home for the poor, this buff building with green trim, close to the intersection with Calle Norzagaray, now houses the executive offices of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. The agency has been shepherding the flowering of the arts and cultural pride on the island since the 1950s. Its plazas, sheltered from the tourist traffic in the streets outside, are pleasantly tranquil.
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La Casita
Looking like a yellow gatehouse, La Casita greets visitors near the cruise ship docks in 'lower' Old San Juan, in the outskirts of the walled city that rises on the hill to the north. The Department of Agriculture & Commerce built this miniature neoclassical structure with its red-tiled roof in 1937 to serve the needs of the burgeoning port. Today, La Casita is the information center for the PRTC.
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La Fortaleza
A steep climb along Recinto Oeste takes you to the top of the city wall and the guarded iron gates of La Fortaleza . Also known as El Palacio de Santa Catalina, this imposing building is the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the western hemisphere, dating from 1533. Once the original fortress for the young colony, La Fortaleza eventually yielded its military pre-eminence to the city's newer and larger forts, and was remodeled and expanded to domicile island governors for more than three centuries.
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La Princesa
Poised against the outside wall of the city is La Princesa. Once a harsh jail, the long, gray and white stone structure now houses the main offices of the PRTC and an art gallery with welcome air-conditioning and frequently changing shows by first-rate island artists. The bronze statue in front depicts Doña Felisa Gautier, San Juan's revered mayor from 1946 to 1968.
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Mercado de Río Piedras
If you like the smell of fish and oranges, the bustle of people, and trading jests in Spanish as you bargain for a bunch of bananas, the Mercado de Río Piedras is for you. As much a scene as a place to shop, the market continues the colonial tradition of an indoor market that spills into the streets.
