Sights in Ponce
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Museo de Arte de Ponce (Map)
With an expertly presented collection, this commanding art museum is the vibrant heart of the city’s artistic community, easily among the best fine-arts centers in the Caribbean and itself worth the trip from San Juan. Set across from Universidad Católica, about 10 blocks to the south of Plaza Las Delicias, the museum’s expertly curated collection – some 850 paintings, 800 sculptures and 500 prints – represents five centuries of Western art that was donated in large part by former governor Luis Ferré. While typical museum etiquette applies, the intimate spaces are loaded with works presented in a fully bilingual manner, and visitors can get up close and personal to take i…
reviewed
-
B
Plaza Las Delicias
The soul of Ponce is its idyllic Spanish colonial plaza, Plaza Las Delicias, within which stands two of the city's landmark buildings, Parque de Bombas and Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
At any hour of the day a brief stroll around its border will get you well acquainted with Ponce - the smell of panderias (bakeries) follows churchgoers across the square each morning, children squeal around the majestic Fuente de Leones (Fountain of Lions) under the heat of midday, and lovers stroll under its lights at night.
Even as the kiosks selling lottery tickets and trinkets, the commercial banks and the fast-food joints encroach at the edges (a Burger King and a Church's mar…
reviewed
-
C
Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña
This spacious pink villa designed by Juan Bertoli Calderoni, father of Puerto Rico’s neoclassical style, offers Ponce’s best museum experience, and is a must for those interested in the sound of the island. A guided tour of the museum showcases the development of Puerto Rico’s music, allowing hands-on demonstrations of the island’s indigenous instruments. The collection of Taíno, African and Spanish instruments – especially the handcrafted four-string guitar-like cuatros and three-sting trios – and careful explanation of Puerto Rican musical traditions are highlights. The museum also hosts a three-week seminar on drum building in July, and holds traditional con…
reviewed
-
La Guancha Paseo Tablado
One of Ponce's most successful urban beautification projects of the last couple decades was the boardwalk La Guancha Paseo Tablado, commonly known as 'La Guancha,' which lies about 3 miles south of the city center near the relatively lonely Ponce Hilton. Built in the mid-1990s, it's a haven for picnicking families and strolling couples to watch yachts slide in and out of the harbor.
Its chief points of interest include a concert pavilion, a handful of open-air bars and food kiosks, a couple of fine-dining restaurants, a well-kempt public beach and a humble observation tower. Monday and Tuesday are slow, but on the weekends the place picks up with a breezy, festive atmosph…
reviewed
-
D
Parque De Bombas
Ponceños will claim that the eye-popping Parque De Bombas is Puerto Rico's most frequently photographed building - not too hard to believe as you stroll around the black-and-red-striped Arabian-style edifice and make countless, unwitting cameos in family photo albums. Originally constructed in 1882 as an agricultural exhibition hall, the space later housed the city's volunteer firefighters, who are commemorated in a small, tidy exhibit on the open second floor.
Since 1990, the landmark has had a perfect function as a tourist information center - even the most hapless touristo can't miss it - where a pleasant, bilingual staff will sell you tickets for a trolley and point …
reviewed
-
E
Cruceta El Vigía
The 100ft reinforced-concrete Cruceta El Vigía looking over Ponce is one of the city’s more reliable points of orientation. The site was first used for a similar purpose in the 19th century, when the Spanish Crown posted lookouts here to watch for smuggling along the coast. Today, the site is on shared grounds with the Museo Castillo Serrallés and a scrubby Japanese garden, but it still offers an expansive view. The $3 elevator ride to the top is optional; the view is probably better in the open air at the base, without the hazy obstruction of grubby Plexiglas windows.
reviewed
-
F
Museo de la Historia de Ponce
This history museum is extensive for a city of less than 200,000, more evidence of Ponce’s reverence for history. Located in the 1911 Casa Salazar, on the same block as Teatro La Perla, the museum has 10 galleries displaying centuries of the city’s history in ecology, economy, education, architecture, medicine, politics and daily life. A refreshingly Ponce-centric perspective on the development of Puerto Rican culture, the building itself is an architectural treasure that blends typical ponceño criollo detailing with Moorish and neoclassical elements.
reviewed
-
G
Museo Castillo Serrallés
Try a tour of Museo Castillo Serrallés on the same property as the mammoth cross. Docents lead bilingual walking tours dedicated to the Serrallés, the first family of Puerto Rican rum, and their Moorish-style castle. When the somewhat exhausting hour-plus tour ends there aren’t freebie sips of the king-making product, but you can order snacks and drinks at the café and relax on the terrace under the red-tiled roof, enjoying a view of the city below and the quiet burble of the garden’s fountains. A combo ticket with Cruceta El Vigía costs $9.50.
reviewed
-
Casa Alcaldía
Facing Plaza Las Delicias on the south side of the plaza, Ponce’s current city hall started life in the 1840s as a general assembly house but soon became a jail. The last public hanging on the island happened in its courtyard, where you can see galleries that were formerly cells. The building has been Ponce’s civic center for most of the 20th century; its balcony has seen speeches by four US presidents – Teddy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and George HW Bush. The waggish head of Carnaval, El Rey Momo, also makes his pronouncements from here.
reviewed
-
H
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico
This Catholic university sits behind an arch on the south side of Av Las Américas, across from the art museum. It serves about 10,000 students with programs in all major undergraduate disciplines and a law school. While this is a commuter campus (like almost all universities on the island), its students shape Ponce’s nightlife. While the draw for travelers to visit here is somewhat limited, when school’s in session the grounds offer a bustling scene in pleasant contrast to quiet afternoons spent in the city’s museums.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
I
Teatro La Perla
The stately, 1000-seat Teatro La Perla stages theatrical and musical performances. The columned entrance, designed by Calderoni, the father of Puerto Rico’s neoclassical style and designer of the Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña, was completed in the 1860s. It took 20 years to rebuild after the disastrous 1918 earthquake, but has since played a crucial role in the city’s performing arts world, only underscored by the construction of the Instituto de Musica Juan More Campos, a music conservatory, across the street.
reviewed
-
J
Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
The twin bell towers of this cathedral cast an impression of piety over the plaza, even as young punks gather to show off skate tricks on its steps. The structure was built in 1931, in the place where colonists erected their first chapel in the 1660s, which (along with subsequent structures) succumbed to earthquakes and fires. Its stained glass windows and lovely interior are picturesque, but be mindful of the fact that this is a fully functioning church, with a number of daily services.
reviewed
-
K
Casa Armstrong-Poventud
The 1900 structure of the Casa Armstrong-Poventud is beautiful, and its conversion into a museum and cultural center adds another jewel in Ponce’s encrusted crown of cultural landmarks.
reviewed
