Where We Stayed in Puerto Rico - San Juan and Utuado

When John and I decided to travel to Puerto Rico, we started looking at what we wanted to do and where we wanted to visit. We knew we were flying in and out of San Juan, but we didn’t know what we wanted to do between those flights. We found plenty of lodging in San Juan, and we picked our favorites for the first and last night.

​We had two more nights to plan, and we were torn between the beaches and the jungle.

​This relatively small island has so much to offer, and we wanted to see it all. The easiest way for us to narrow down where to go was to look at where we could stay. We looked through Aribnb’s listings all over the island, but when we discovered a private space in the jungle near Utuado, we couldn’t resist!

One thing we did in Utuado was explore Canon Blanco!

You can read more about all of our other planned trips in Puerto Rico including plans to visit Ponce, Rincon, and El Yungue National Forest in the “How We Planned a Trip to Puerto Rico” blog post - coming soon!

Old San Juan 360-Degree View Room

Robert and his beautiful apartment were our first welcome to the island. We flew into San Juan late at night and Robert accommodated our midnight arrival graciously. He greeted us with a tour of his home, located in the hear of Old San Juan, then showed us our bedroom for the night.

Photo taken the next morning!

Once we’d taken off our backpacks, he invited us upstairs and outside to his prized rooftop terrace. We sat under the stars and enjoyed the breezy evening getting to know one another and talking about the island.

The view was even more beautiful the next morning when we could see the city, the ocean, and Old San Juan. We understood why he loves and adores his place, because we did too. We only stayed one night before heading to Utuado for another great Airbnb stay!

If you would like to book your own stay at Robert's room in Old San Juan, check his availability here!

If you have never booked with Airbnb before, use this discount code on your first stay and save up to $60! https://www.airbnb.com/c/taylorc1809 

The view from Robert's 360-degree terrace!

Old San Juan was beautiful this morning!

You can see more from all of the places we stayed in our YouTube video below, and in more videos on our channel, here!

Lago Caonillas Lake View House

​The mainstay on our Puerto Rican vacation was the Lago Caonillas Lake View House. We booked this studio room in Utuado because of its private hot tub and view of the rainforest surrounding Caonillas Lake. It looked extremely dreamy, and it turned out to be better than we thought.

Enjoying the spectacular views from Lago Caonillas!

The apartment itself isn’t much.There is a kitchen table, couch, and kitchenette with a coffee pot, minifridge, and microwave in the main room; a bedroom with a bathroom, closet, and queen sized bed; and a TV room with a large couch and closet. Though the necessities are on the inside, the main amenity is on the outside.

Sunsets were beautiful in Puerto Rico!

If you walk through the bedroom, you come out onto the balcony, and that’s where we spent the majority of our time at the house. Before we went to bed each evening and when we woke up both mornings, we soaked in the hot tub. It’s bubbles and the sounds of the croaking Coqui frogs made for an incredibly relaxing atmosphere.

If you would like to book your own stay at in Utuado, please call Danny at 787-616-8949 or check his Airbnb calendar here!

Looking down onto the other clamping option they offer.

Hotel La Terraza

Eventually, we had to return to San Juan to catch our flights back home. We booked our second stay in Old San Juan at a place fit for wandering the area, but when we suffered a flat tire in the jungle, our plans changed dramatically.

Read all about our wild experience driving through the jungle in our “What It’s Like To Drive In Puerto Rico” blog post here.

We booked a room at Hotel La Terraza for its rooftop infinity pool and bar, and we arrived just in time. A rain shower didn’t stop us from getting into the pool. The view was spectacular as we looked down on Old San Juan from the chilly water’s edge anticipating a good night’s rest.

The infinity pool from Hotel La Terraza.

Excuse our mess! We made ourselves right at home.

The room itself was very luxurious. It featured a king-sized bed and a large bathroom. It was the perfect place to lay our heads after a busy weekend and before our early flights. We flipped through cable channels before allowing the soothing noise of a Puerto Rican rainstorm lull us to sleep. 

​If you would like to book your own stay at Hotel La Terraza check their Airbnb site to see what's available  here! 

All things considered, we chose great places to stay through Airbnb and can’t complain about a thing. A good place to call home-away-from-home can make or break a trip, and all of ours made the trip even more special. 

We loved every place we stayed and visited in Puerto Rico. Read more about every where we went in Old San Juan, Utuado, and Arecibo in our blog post HERE!

Read more of our Puerto Rico blog posts:
"Where We Found The Best Food On The Island"
"What It Was Like Driving Through The Jungle - It Wasn't Totally Successful (Spoiler!)"
​"Touring Cafe Gran Batey Coffee Farm in Utuado Puerto Rico"