Ana and Joe will be in PR from the 3rd to the 23rd of March.
Puerto Rico is a US territory, so you are entering the USA and all that entails. British passport holders need an ESTA.
If you are connecting via the US to come to Puerto Rico, you will only go through customs once in your first port of entry. For example, if you connect in Miami, you will go through customs in Miami before getting on the connecting flight. Once you get to PR, you wont need to go through customs again as it is an intra-US flight. There is the mobile passport control app which makes things infinitely easier.
If you connect elsewhere, like Madrid or Bogotá, you will go through customs in Puerto Rico as you will be arriving on an international flight. It’s the same control process as the USA. You can use the app here as well.
Luis Muñoz Marín Airport is very close to the tourist areas of San Juan, 20-30 minute drive max. Ubers are not allowed to pick up passengers at the airport (as of August 2023), so you have to use the official taxis. They’re fine, just slightly more expensive, not a lot of English, but they will take you where you need to go. Cash is preferred, card might be accepted.
Currency: USD, all major credit cards accepted. Main banks: First Bank, Oriental, Banco Popular.
Getting around San Juan
Local Taxis
Are safe and knowledgeable but slightly more expensive, and are not often driving around looking for passengers so you need to call them. It is common for taxis to pool passengers together if you are going to a similar area, in which case they charge per head. This is more common when leaving large events or popular hotspots, I wouldn’t expect it from a hotel, but maybe from the airport. It’s usually fine to do this, they then charge like $5 per head.
Uber
They may take some time to show up, depending on your area, but it is the best way to get around.
Rent a Car
This option is best recommended if you want to visit places outside San Juan (like the rainforest or other beaches). You can get Ubers to take you to these places, but you might not be able to call an Uber back. Also, I don’t think there are Ubers in places like Rincón, where a car is much needed to move around. More detail on these locations in the other pages.
Pharmacies:
Puerto Rican pharmacies sell everything from medicine to homemade cakes to homeware. They open during normal working hours. Their logo is a pestle and mortar and NOT the green cross that might look pharmacy-like. Those are cannabis dispensaries and they are everywhere. You need a cannabis license to go in and buy. American brand pharmacies, Walgreen’s and CVS, are more likely to be open 24/7 and sell more familiar things.
Note this Puerto Rican quirk: we often use American brand names instead of the generic names. If you ask for ‘Advil’ you might get generic ibuprofen, it’s the same.
- Paracetamol: “acetaminofén”, brand name Tylenol.
- Ibuprofen: spelled the same, brand name Advil.
- Pads, tampons: “toalla sanitaria”, easier to ask for “Kotex”.
- Closest thing to Gaviscon: Pepto Bismol, Tums, Prevacid. All over the counter.