Attractions

San Juan Attractions

The City of San Juan in Puerto Rico is popularly known and well-visited partly because of its advantageous location in the Caribbeans. The island of of Puerto Rico, due to its location and climate, is home to many natural wonders including beaches, mountain ranges, hilly fields and valleys. It is regarded as having one of the best climates in the entire planet, with a pleasant topical weather that runs all throughout the year making recreational activities such as swimming, sail boating, scuba diving, tourist and shopping as perfectly enjoyable as possible.

Other than the natural wonders that the municipio of San Juan is blessed with, its rich and distinct culture is also another source of attraction to tourists, vacationers, visitors, retirees and immigrants. It is a city whose Spanish ancestry and history continues to live and display itself in almost all areas of living, from religion to local traditions and beliefs. Catholicism is probably the most influential of all the Spanish heritage imparted on Puerto Rico, which continues to be the predominant religion in the entire island. Local attractions owing their existence to Catholicism include the fiestas celebrating patron saints, most notable of which is the patron saint of San Juan who is none other than Saint John the Baptist. Old Spanish missions, cathedrals and churches are also part of the local flavor of San Juan and attract thousands of tourists eager to see relics of bygone year still standing erect until the present.

Museums are also great attractions in the City of San Juan in Puerto Rico, and there several kinds of them to be found and enjoyed during your stay in this historically and culturally engaging municipio. The San Juan Museum of Art and History would definitely top the list of San Juan museums to be visited. Dating more than a century old, this structure was initially built in 1855 to function as a kind of market and town plaza. In 1979 however, the area was restored and rebuilt into a cultural facility which was suppose to house Puerto Rican works of art as well as local festivities. Other notable museums and cultural attractions to be found in San Juan include the Museum of the Coquest and Colonization of Puerto Rico, the Casa Blanca which is considered a national historic building, the Instituto de Cultura Puertorrique, the Casa de los Zaguanes and the Pablo Casals Museum.

Plazas also about in San Juan, Puerto Rico and are a favorite haunt of tourists and sight-seers. The Plaza del Quinto Centenario or the Quincentennial Square was built in commemoration of the 5 centuries that has passed when Christopher Columbus first made his discoveries of the New World. This San Juan plaza, like many others, is home to a number of notable sculptures and works of art including an imposing 40 feet sculpture which many tourists and vacationers cannot help but take pictures of every time they pass by it. Other attractive San Juan plazas include the Plaza de San Jose, Plaza de Armas, Plazuela de la Rogativa, Plaza de Hostos, Plaza de Colon and several others.

San Juan forts, especially those surrounding the walled community of Old San Juan, are also famous attractions in San Juan. The El Morro Fort, Fuerte San Geronimo, Castillo de San Cristobal and the Santa Elena Battery are just some of the surviving forts that once stood to protect and defend the City of San Juan and its inhabitants. These natural, historical and cultural attractions of San Juan have attracted, and will continue to attract, thousands of tourists every year because of their interesting and distinctly Puerto Rican qualities.