Beach Maniac photos from Isla Verde Beach. Click on photo for slideshow:
Isla Verde Beach, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Beach Maniac Photo.
Without a doubt, the highlight of a visit to San Juan is Old San Juan, with its rich history, romantic European appeal, great restaurants and historic forts that provide amazing views of the coastline. The best beaches in Puerto Rico are located outside of San Juan, but the city still offers some great opportunities for sunbathing and water sports.
Isla Verde – Green Island – is the most upsale beach in San Juan, and the place to be seen. The crescent-shaped beach is surrounded by casinos, restaurants, resorts, clubs and sporting activities, including kayaking, banana boating, parasailing and jet skiing. Isla Verde is not the best snorkeling beach on the island (that would be away from San Juan), but the soft tan sand caresses the feet, and a walk along the beach is both relaxing and invigorating. People watching is one of the top activities at this vibrant beach scene.
Beach Maniac.com recently visited Isla Verde and filed this blog report… This is the most popular and busiest beach in San Juan. With sometimes strong waves – and a lot of wind the day we visited – this beach is great for surfing and body-boarding. Not, however, for snorkeling. As you walk along the beach, your feet sink into the golden sand, which in areas comes out of the sea at a fairly steep slope. This beach is lined with hotels, condominiums, resorts, casinos, restaurants and bars, and you will find jet ski and other water sport rentals. My favorite area of the beach was the quieter western end where the sand is firm but gentle on the feet and the water washes slowly across it and splashes onto a rock formation along the shore. This palm tree-lined beach has a downside. On the central and eastern side of the beach, you will hear a lot of airplane noise. We spent the afternoon as visitors at the Marriott Courtyard, and the airplane noise was deafening at times, with the runway directly behind a treeline at the back of the resort. Although the resort has the typically beautiful pool area that Marriotts are known for, the roaring noise of jet engines strongly detracts from the “get away from it all” atmosphere most beach-goers are seeking.
West of Isla Verde and closer to the center of town are Condado and Ocean Park Beach. Both generally get good reviews, although the water at these beaches can be choppy and cloudy and the sand lacks the beautiful white luster of many Caribbean beaches.
Beach Maniac photos from Condado Beach. Click on photo for slideshow:
Condado Beach, San Juan. Beach Maniac Photo.
BeachManiac.com’s report on Condado Beach: This is the second most popular beach area in San Juan, and like Isla Verde – but to a lesser extent – is lined with hotels and resorts. The water here can also be choppy at times, making it cloudy as it kicks up the sand and brings in some algae in spots. But this beach is convenient to the Condado shopping area and is a mostly clean, relaxing beach. As you walk along the beach you will find it goes from a tourist crowd near the hotels to more a local crowd to the east. The area that most impressed me was near the Renaissance La Concha Hotel, which borders the very tropical Park La Ventana al Mar, which is basically a small, well-maintained palm tree forest in the sandy soil. The park also has a cement pier that juts out into the water and back along the shore for panoramic views of Condado Beach. The pier also helps create a small protected cove alongside the park with a quiet sandy beach that is great for the kids.
Traveler’s video of Isla Verde Beach sand and water.
Articles about San Juan:
- Looking for some great free beach wallpaper for your computer screen?
- Beach-goers are glowing over Puerto Rico's magical bio bays
- Isla Verde Beach, San Juan, Puerto Rico, photo slideshow
- Beach Hopping: How to turn your Caribbean cruise into a tour of the some of the world's best beaches
- Fox picks 6 best beaches to escape the winter blues
- Grand Cayman tops TripAdvisor's list of Caribbean destinations
View San Juan Beaches in a larger map
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