What to See in San Juan - Top Sights and Attractions

Fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Castillo San Cristóbal is a fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was built by the Spanish to protect against land-based attacks on the city of San Juan. It is part of San Juan National Historic Site.

Castillo San Cristóbal is the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World. When it was finished in 1783, it covered about 27 acres of land and partly encircled the city of San Juan. Entry to the city was sealed by San Cristóbal's double gates. After close to a hundred years of relative peace in the area, part of the fortification (about a third) was demolished in 1897 to help ease the flow of traffic in and out of the walled city.

This fortress was built on a hill originally known as the Cerro de la Horca or the Cerro del Quemadero, changed to Cerro de San Cristóbal in celebration of the Spanish victories ejecting English and Dutch interlopers from the island of this name in the Lesser Antilles. At the time, it formed part of the insular territorial glacis of Puerto Rico.

Castillo de San Cristóbal also contains five cisterns that were used for the storage of water during the ages of the Spanish Colony. They are extremely large (24 ft tall, 17 ft wide and 57 ft long) and were used as bomb shelters during World War II.^[4]

Indoor arena in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot is the biggest indoor arena in Puerto Rico dedicated to entertainment. It is located at the Golden Mile of San Juan, the island capital. It is usually referred by Puerto Ricans as the Choliseo, which is a portmanteau of the words "Coliseo" and "Cholito", in reference to Don Cholito, one of José Miguel Agrelot's characters and Agrelot's own adopted nickname.

The coliseum opened on September 4, 2004 after a prolonged construction financed by the Government of Puerto Rico. This venue is owned by the Puerto Rico Convention District Authority, a public corporation of Puerto Rico, and managed by ASM Global. It can accommodate up to 18,500 spectators and can be reached by the Hato Rey Station of the Tren Urbano system.

The arena hosted the first WWE pay-per-view event outside the continental United States, Canada and the United Kingdom when New Year's Revolution was held there in 2005. On May 26, 2011, the arena was ranked 8th on the Top 50 Arena Venues of the world and second of the West Hemisphere in worldwide ticket sales by Pollstar Magazine. As of May 2013, the arena has received over 5 million spectators, hosting more than 600 events with a gross ticket revenue around $200 million.

After the hit from Hurricane Maria, in the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, events after mid-September 2017 were cancelled. For a while, the Choliseo was used as a warehouse and recollection center by the Government of Puerto Rico to prepare and distribute food, water and basic necessities to those affected by the deadliest and costliest hurricane in Puerto Rican history. The arena resumed hosting events in March 2018.^[8]

Lighthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Castillo San Felipe del Morro Lighthouse, also known as Faro de Morro Port San Juan Light by the National Register of Historic Places and colloquially Faro del Castillo del Morro and Puerto San Juan Light, is a lighthouse atop the walls of Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan. It's the first lighthouse built in Puerto Rico.

The first Castillo San Felipe del Morro Lighthouse was built in 1846 and exhibited a light using five parabolic reflectors. In 1876, a new octagonal iron tower was constructed atop the walls of the fort. The tower was hit by U.S. artillery fire in the Puerto Rican Campaign of the Spanish–American War on May 12, 1898. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1899 but developed structural problems and was demolished in 1906. The new and current lighthouse was constructed in 1908 as a Moorish Revival style "square tower on castle". Public admission tours into the tower are held, and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, along with Castillo San Cristóbal and much of the city walls are part of the San Juan National Historic Site also open to the public.^[9]

Music hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Ateneo Puertorriqueño, is a cultural institution in Puerto Rico. Founded on April 30, 1876, it has been called Puerto Rico's oldest cultural institution, however, it is actually its third oldest overall and second culturally, after the Bar Association of Puerto Rico and the Casino of Mayagüez.

One of its founders was the playwright, Alejandro Tapia y Rivera. The Athenaeum was the first to give accolades and awards to artists and writers such as José Gautier Benítez, José de Diego, Manuel María Sama, Francisco Oller, Manuel Fernández Juncos, Lola Rodríguez de Tió and Luis Lloréns Torres.

The Athenaeum serves as a museum, school, library, and performance hall for the arts in Puerto Rico. It hosts a number of contests, conferences, and exhibits each year, presenting Puerto Rican art, literature, and music. Since 1937 the use of the spaces of the Athenaeum has been limited to activities it sponsors. Its headquarters are located in Puerta de Tierra, adjacent to Old San Juan, in a strip that also houses the "Casa de España", the Carnegie Library, the Capitol complex and the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee headquarters.^[11]

Fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fortín de San Gerónimo de Boquerón is a small fort located at the mouth of the Condado Lagoon, across from the historic sector of Miramar in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

It was built during the 18th century to replace a smaller battery (called El Boquerón) that stood at the easternmost end of the San Juan islet. The original Boquerón battery was used by the Spanish to defend the city of San Juan from attacks by Sir Francis Drake in 1595 and George Clifford, the third Earl of Cumberland in 1598, who managed to destroy it during his attack. San Gerónimo became part of San Juan's first line of defense, along with the Fortín San Antonio and Escambrón Fort, while the last line of defense was the formidable Castillo San Cristóbal, which guarded the city entrance proper and also defended from land attacks.^[14]

Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de San Juan Bautista, or in English, Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist, is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico. The cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in San Juan, located in Old San Juan, the oldest cathedral in the United States, and is the second oldest cathedral in the Americas. Even though the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, is an older church building, the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista was the first cathedral church in the Americas as San Juan, then known as the city of Puerto Rico, was the first diocese of the New World with bishop Don Alonso Manso in 1511. A private Puerto Rican foundation known as Fundación Protectora de la Catedral Metropolitana de San Juan, Inc. has been established to fund the historical restoration of the building and its art treasures for its 500th anniversary in 2021, and to protect it for coming centuries.^[17]

Theater in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center is a multi-use performance centre located in the barrio of Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It features three main concert and theater halls for plays, ballet, operas and concerts. It was renamed in 1994 after the late Puerto Rican philanthropist, politician and Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis A. Ferré.

The Center opened on April 9, 1981 under the administration of Governor Carlos Romero Barceló after ten years of planning, project financing, and construction. Since then, it has become the most important performing arts venue in the Puerto Rican capital, presenting the highest level of commercial theater in Puerto Rico along with ballets and operas, and also hosting artists such as Plácido Domingo and Menudo. The center is home to the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the annual Casals Festival.

In January 2019, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton began its third touring production at the venue, with Miranda reprising the titular role of Founding Father and Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, with higher praise than his original run on Broadway. Miranda returned to the venue after nine years since he reprised the role of Usnavi exclusively in San Juan during the North American touring production of In the Heights, which he also wrote.^[18]

Ferry terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Port of San Juan is a seaport facility located in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The "Port of San Juan" is the general name used to call various passenger and cargo facilities located in lands around the San Juan Bay (Bahía de San Juan). The port is composed of a total of sixteen piers, of which eight are used for passenger ships and eight for cargo ships. The port's facilities, in addition to, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport and the Cataño Ferry "Lancha de Cataño" services, are property of the Puerto Rico Ports Authority.

The bay and its docks are located along San Antonio Canal, a narrow navigable section of San Juan Bay lying south of Old San Juan and San Juan island, and north and west of the Puerto Rico Convention Center District and Isla Grande Airport. The municipalities of Cataño, Guaynabo and San Juan compose the south side of the bay and port.^[21]

Church of San Mateo de Cangrejos of Santurce was first built in 1832 as a chapel. In 1896, State Architect Pedro Cobreros, who designed other churches in Puerto Rico, reconstructed its facade and enlarged the interior.

The church is different from others in Puerto Rico in that its not related to a municipality's urban center. When first built it was the parish church of Villa de Cangrejos but with the urban development of the metropolitan area, Santurce was absorbed into San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. The building is located at the highest elevation of Santurce, which allows for a view of Santurce, now a barrio of San Juan.

Its large facade has two towers with three stories in between. This feature is known as westwork; (a west-facing entrance with towers, a vestibule, and a chapel). However, in the case of this church, its main entrance faces south. Curved steps lead up to the main entrance. The church, oriented from north to south, deviates from the traditional east to west orientation. On the west side of the church is a small parish house built in the same style as the church. The buildings are separated by a fence and a garden.

The interior main floor follows the basilica form with two lateral naves which are divided by means of an arcade of six bays resting on pillars. Each bay has a small rectangular window.

Originally, the nave had a flat wooden roof which has been replaced by one of concrete with massive exposed beams of concrete. The square apse is roofed with a dome that rests on pendentives.

The floors are made of marble and have been placed diagonally from the main axis. The church had a choir floor which no longer exists and had four portholes to illuminate the altar, which have been closed.

The building is in good shape, maintaining its original character. The two main changes have been the expansion of the sacristy and the installation of an air conditioning system.^[29]

Landmark colonial-era seaside cemetery. The Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery is a colonial-era cemetery located in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the final resting place of many of Puerto Rico's most prominent natives and residents. Construction began in 1863 under the auspices of Ignacio Mascaro. The cemetery is located outside the walls of Fort San Felipe del Morro fortress, one of the island's most famous landmarks. The average height of the wall is 40 feet and the width ranges from 15 to 20 feet. It was named in honor of Saint Maria Magdalena de Pazzi.

According to Rafael Rodríguez, Chaplain and director of pastoral services at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón located in the Santurce district of the capital, the location of the cemetery is central to the Puerto Rican belief in the separation of death and life. The colonial Spanish government at the time construction of the cemetery commenced, viewed death with fear because it was a mystery. Therefore, they decided to build the cemetery to overlook the Atlantic Ocean to symbolize the spirit's journey to cross over to the afterlife.^[31]

Botanical garden in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The San Juan Botanical Garden, officially known as the Botanical Garden of the University of Puerto Rico, is located in the Caribbean city of San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico. This lush 300-acre “urban garden” of native and exotic flora serves as a laboratory for the study, conservation and enrichment of plants, trees, flowers, grasses and many other plants. Seventy-five acres are landscaped and open to the general public as well as researchers.

The entrance is located off the south side of the intersection of Highway 1 and Road 847 in Río Piedras. The “Bosque Urbano del Nuevo Milenio” (Nuevo Milenio State Forest), a project for the conservation and growth of the urban forest, is on the eastern side of the Botanical Garden.^[33]

A 16th-century fort and cozy cocktail bars. Old San Juan is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios of barrio San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is the oldest settlement within Puerto Rico and the historic colonial district of the city of San Juan. This historic district is a National Historic Landmark District and is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places as the Old San Juan Historic District. Several historical buildings and structures, particularly La Fortaleza, the city walls, and El Morro and San Cristóbal castles, have been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 1983. Historically the mixed use commercial and residential real estate in the main streets like Cristo Street, Fortaleza Street from Tanca Street to the Governor’s Mansion is the most valuable in the area and it has kept its value and increased steadily through several years despite the past economic turmoils.^[34]