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Old San Juan 1 day walking tour

Description:

This trip can be done in a sort of circle around the Old city, starting with either fort and working your way to the other side. There's not much to do in San Cristobal, although the views are nice (see photo), but El Morro is worth the trek up and into the different rooms and displays. Many of the other stops are quick photo ops (such as La Rogativa, the Totem, the churches), so they don't take that much time. El Convento is a beautiful hotel, great to stay at, but you can also stop for a cocktail in one of the outdoor patio restaurants. The museums are also small, but intriguing and unique, and housed right next door to each other. A word to the wise, the city itself is compact, but the hills can be steep (nothing along the lines of San Fransisco however) so be prepared; wear walking shoes and light clothing. Walking around in the heat, we were really grateful to stumble upon carts dishing out perfect-sized servings of pirqaguas (shaved ice with fruit syrup) and sorbets.

Author: Melanie

Day 1 - San Juan

We started off on the San Cristobal side, with breakfast at La Mallorca, and then toured the Cristobal Fort. From here we walked along Norzagaray St., on the water, over to El Morro. Most of the museums and historic points of interest are on this side. El Morro takes a little more time to tour than Cristobal. We were a bit tired and hot at this point (wear comfortable shoes and be ready for the bright sun!), so we stopped and rested at El Picoteo in the beautiful El Convento hotel. We ordered a few tapas and cocktails, and although ready for a nap, moved on. The two museums are right next to each other, and are small, so we did those pretty quickly. A lot of the the other sites are quick photos, but worth a look at. We ended this side by taking El Paseo de la Princesa, outside the city wall, which is a nice walk, but brings you back to the other side of the city. So then we had to double back to explore the many shops along San Francisco and Fortaleza. Streets. After shopping, we went up to El Jibarito and had a huge dinner! It was a long, full day, but there's so much to do in Old San Juan at the same time. It's a charming city!

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