San Juan Puerto Rico Best Places to Stay
Best Tourist Districts and Hotels – 2024 Guide

Tips for Saving Money on Places to Stay in San Juan, Puerto Rico

The high season for San Juan is from mid-November until mid-April.  Summer months are also busy, especially July.  

To save money, we highly recommend you book your hotel in advance to get the best rates, as hotels fill up the rates get higher.   Rates go lower from August until early November.  The month of September is a gamble since most hurricanes occur during this month, if you do choose to travel in September choose a hotel and flight with a flexible cancellation policy, just in case you need to make any last-minute changes. 

Eat where the Locals Eat – Food can be pricey in San Juan, especially in the tourist places we have mentioned.  Go where locals go to eat.  A popular place in Old San Juan is Manolin, great for breakfast and lunches.  La Picadera Bar & Grill is a popular place serving traditional dishes and fritter platters.

Where are the safest places to stay in San Juan?

We highly recommend that you stay in the tourist districts we have recommended in this guide.  Police presence is greater, lighting is better and the main streets where hotels and restaurants are located are considered safe.  Some travel guides recommend visiting places such as Santurce where you may find vacation rentals; while it may be popular for locals, we don’t recommend it, since not all parts are safe for walking at night, and parking may be difficult if you have a car rental.

What is the best area to stay in San Juan?

In summary, the best, most fun, safest, and most tourist-friendly places to stay in San Juan are the following:

• Old San Juan where you can enjoy the best attractions on foot.
• Condado is the best place to stay for easy access to beaches.
• Ocean Park is low-key with budget-friendly accommodations but you’ll need a car to get around.
• The Convention Center District is great for business travelers.

Related Guide: Best places to go and stay in Puerto Rico.

Which areas should you avoid in San Juan?

If you stay around the beaches and places of main attractions you should not encounter any issues.

Santurce – Many travel guides recommend tourists go to Santurce, such as La Placita de Santurce, and roam around the streets to see art murals.   La Placita is a farmer’s market during the day; at night, especially on weekends, it is a local hangout place with street bars, and chinchorros.  In the past years, some nicer restaurants have opened up changing the scene and inviting a more discerning clientele.  During the weekends,  people congregate at the square eating, drinking, and dancing.  If you choose to go, we recommend you leave at a reasonable time and not stay into the late night hours.  Like most places, most issues occur when people become heavily intoxicated with alcohol.  Bars and restaurants in the tourist districts get less out of control, it is more casual, in Santurce it is a party scene, a place we don’t consider family-friendly to take children.  If you wish to go bar hopping, we recommend you stay in Old San Juan and Condado.  While Santurce has many art murals of interest to art lovers, we recommend you go during the day and don’t walk the streets at night.

The crime statistics in San Juan have mostly been related to drugs in clusters of neighborhoods away from tourist areas such as government housing called caserios.

La Perla in Old San Juan – In between Castillo San Cristobal and El Morro, you’ll the one and only place considered a slum in Puerto Rico, La Perla.  For decades this place was considered one of the most dangerous places on the island basically run by drug lords.  A unique aspect of La Perla is that they don’t bother anyone outside of the neighborhood, in the same way that locals never went inside unless you lived there or had business to do there.  A music phenomenon happened with the popular song Despacito, La Perla was a filming location, therefore gaining interest from people all around the world.  Over the past years, the neighborhood of La Perla got a facelift, many of the abandoned homes were painted with murals and rich colors making them more pleasing to the eye.  Some tourists that love the song, have gone down the steps to see the neighborhood.  We don’t recommend you go there on your own, but if you really wish to do so, go with a local professional tour guide.