Puerto Rico’s 435 kilometres of coastline and almost 300 beaches extend across diverse geography, revealing everything from secluded white-sand coves to marinas filled with water-sports adventure. While San Juan’s Condado Beach is popular with tourists, locals head instead to the more swimmable Escambrón Beach or Ocean Park Beach. Closer to the airport, the safe and water-sports-friendly Isla Verde Beach props up a string of hotels, restaurants and cafés.
The beaches of the east islands of Culebra and Vieques are top-level, particularly the spectacular Flamenco Beach, regularly cited in the top-20 lists. Sun Bay is Vieques’s most trendy hangout, a great place to break out the paddles. Over on Puerto Rico’s west coast, the town of Aguadilla Pueblo is noted for a beach called Crash Boat, favoured for the surfing and the sunsets. And the isolated La Playuela in Cabo Rojo is Puerto Rico’s best LGBTQ2SI-friendly beach, replete with azure water and postcard-perfect views.
