Ponce
Brush Strokes in Flight, a bold primary-colored totem by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, announces the smartly remodeled MAP, where an expertly…
Must-see attractions in Ponce & South Coast
Ponce
Within this elegant square you’ll discover Ponce's heart as well as two of the city’s landmark buildings, Parque de Bombas and Catedral Nuestra Señora…
Ponce & South Coast
The once-glittering waters of Bahía de Fosforescente remain by far La Parguera’s biggest draw, but the environmental impact of boat tours and developments…
Ponce & South Coast
Follow Hwy 333 to its conclusion at Bahía de la Ballena and you'll find that the charming little access route to Playa Tamarindo is blocked off from…
Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Ponce
The twin bell towers of this striking cathedral and local landmark cast an impression of noble piety over Ponce's Plaza Las Delicias. The cathedral…
Ponce & South Coast
The immense 10,000-acre expanse of the Guánica Biosphere Reserve is one of the island's great natural treasures. Located in two wonderfully untrammeled…
Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes
Ponce
The ancient ceremonial center of Tibes is one of the Caribbean's most important archaeological sites, due largely to evidence found here of pre-Taíno…
Ponce
Ponceños (people from Ponce) claim that the eye-popping Parque de Bombas is Puerto Rico’s most frequently photographed building, which is not too hard to…
Reserva Nacional de Investigación Estuarina de Bahía de Jobos
Ponce & South Coast
Bursting with wildlife, the National Estuarine Research Reserve at Bahía de Jobos is an enormous protected mangrove bay, one of Puerto Rico's largest and…
Ponce
The overgrown coffee fields and quaint historical buildings of Hacienda Buena Vista make this one of Puerto Rico's best-preserved 19th-century coffee…
Ponce & South Coast
Gilligan’s Island and nearby Isla Ballena (Whale Island) are all part of the same set of small mangrove islands off the tip of the Caña Gorda peninsula…
Ponce & South Coast
Crumbling monuments to the sugar industry are evident everywhere in Puerto Rico's southeast, but there’s no more heartbreaking reminder of departed ‘King…
Ponce & South Coast
This mysterious, mist-shrouded forest strewn across hills north of Yauco is just 3300 acres and practically deserted year-round. Ambitious hikers and…
Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña
Ponce
This spacious pink villa designed by Juan Bertoli Calderoni, father of Puerto Rico’s neoclassical style, offers one of Ponce’s best museum experiences. A…
Ponce
Commonly known as ‘La Guancha,’ this rebuilt public boardwalk is around 3 miles south of the city center near the relatively lonely Ponce Hilton and the…
Isla de Magueyes & Isla de Monos
Ponce & South Coast
About 20yd south of La Parguera's Town Dock is Magueyes Island, which is used as a marine science station. The island was formerly a zoo and is now…
Ponce
Ponce's history museum is extensive for a city of fewer than 200,0000 people – evidence of the city’s reverence for the past. Located in the Casa Salazar …
Ponce & South Coast
On the northern side of the plaza, this museum was built as a criollo-style town house in 1887 to house the wealthy Cautiño family, who profited from cane…
Ponce & South Coast
This fine-arts center stands west of town in the former home of the Puerto Rican High Court. The collection focuses on emerging and established Puerto…
Ponce
Perhaps the most grand of Ponce’s historical homes, this mansion was designed by Paris-educated ponceño architect Alfredo Wiechers. The carefully…
Ponce
On the same property as the mammoth El Vigía, Museo Castillo Serrallés was the home of Ponce’s rum dynasty, the Serrallés family. Guides lead bilingual…
Ponce
It doesn’t really compare with the hilltop cross in Rio de Janeiro, but the 100ft reinforced-concrete Cruceta del Vigía looking over Ponce is one of the…
Ponce
Facing the southern side of Plaza Las Delicias, Ponce’s city hall was built in the 1840s. The last public hanging on the island happened in its courtyard,…
Ponce
The name for this island off shore from Ponce translates as 'coffin island' – at one point it was supposedly thought that its silhouette resembled a…
Isla Mata la Gata & Isla Caracoles
Ponce & South Coast
These two mangrove cays lie less than half a mile offshore and are worth a visit. The sandy strands on the seaside are really the only places in La…
Panteón Nacional Román Baldorio de Castro
Ponce
A fraction north of the city center, in the shadow of El Vigía, Ponce's city cemetery is a grand mid-19th-century conglomeration of – unusually – both…
Ponce & South Coast
On the laid-back Plaza de Recreo, the massive Iglesia Católica Nuestra Señora del Rosario casts a long shadow over domino players and strolling couples…
Ponce
This small museum commemorates the Ponce Massacre, the fated pro-independence demonstration of the 1930s during which almost 20 protestors (and two police…
Ponce & South Coast
The lovely Bahía de la Ballena represents the end of the road (Hwy 333) and a rare opportunity to park your car and rely on two legs rather than four…
Ponce & South Coast
The seaside promenade at Playa Salinas runs alongside the strip of seafood restaurants. Along its length, there are public gardens, restrooms and a stage…
Ponce & South Coast
On the plaza in central Coamo is one of Puerto Rico's more interesting provincial churches. This Catholic church contains paintings by island masters…
Ponce & South Coast
This artificial lake extends its tentacled inlets deep into the surrounding hills around 5.5 miles north of Yauco at the end of Rte 128. The lake is…
Centro de Arte Alejandro Franceschi
Ponce & South Coast
Yauco’s immaculate little art museum is housed in a 1907 building chock-full of Victorian oil paintings and gilded frescoes. It's on the eastern side of…
Ponce
An easy day trip from either San Juan or Ponce, this is one of the most accessible waterfalls in Puerto Rico. It's located in the backyard of a…
Ponce
The 1000-seat, grandly columned Teatro La Perla was designed by Juan Bertoli Calderoni, father of Puerto Rico’s neoclassical style, and completed in the…
Ponce & South Coast
La Parguera is one of the lucky towns in Puerto Rico to have benefited from a rejuvenation themed around making town centers more conducive to walking…
Ponce
A huge new tourism development is set to sprout up near Mercedita Airport and the Port of the Americas. The project, costing US$1 billion, will include a…
Ponce & South Coast
Musicians might find a bit of diversion in this former home of local composer Amaury Veray Torregrosa, though the wilting Creole house has little inside…
Ponce & South Coast
The elaborately carved former customs house is filled with Morse memorabilia. Call ahead as hours vary and the building is often closed for ‘renovations.’
Ponce
A lovely fountain in the middle of the Plaza Las Delicias – a survivor from the 1939 World Fair.
