Introduction

Puerto Rico is where four centuries of Spanish Caribbean culture comes face to face with the American convenience store. This leads to some strange juxtapositions - parking lots and plazas, freeways and fountains, skyscrapers and shanties - but it's all apiece with the Caribbean's hybrid history.

Travellers who venture into the island's mountainous interior or explore its undeveloped coasts come across stately hill towns where the locals in the plaza seem to have been feeding the same pigeons for decades, and reefs where divers can see 30 species of fish in as many seconds.

Add to this a spirited capital that blends mod cons with unabashed beach bumming and a perplexing culture that is proud of its past yet unable to seize its independence and you have the ingredients for an intriguing adventure.

When to Go

The peak tourist season is between December and April, but this has more to do with the climate in North America than anything else. During these months the island is swamped by visitors, prices are highest and accommodations can be hard to find. The best time to avoid the crowds is during the official hurricane season (May through November). Although hurricanes are rare, they're able to do more than put a dampener on your holiday. Definitely keep an eye on weather reports if you're in Puerto Rico at this time. If you intend to travel inland bring a sweater for the evenings regardless of when you visit - it's much cooler in them thar hills.

Events

Every Puerto Rican town celebrates its saint's day, often with a mixture of pagan and Catholic iconography and Indian, African and Spanish traditions. There are solemn religious aspects and plenty of feasting, music, dancing and colorful costumed processions. One of the best is the Festival of St John the Baptist in San Juan in late June, which wonderfully fuses the religious and the secular. The highlight of the parade is a communal luck-enhancing midnight walk backwards into the sea. Worth a detour are Mayagúez's twinkling La Virgen de la Candelaria in early February and Loíza's jubilant St James Festival, which takes place late July and celebrates the town's multicultural heritage.

Old San Juan takes to the streets during the Saint Sebastian Street Festival in the third week in January. Ponce, where revellers dress up in horned masks for dancing and parades, is the best place to celebrate Carnival in February. In June San Juan's Casals Festival honors the famous cellist who came to call Puerto Rico home. It attracts classical musicians of international repute and is one of the Caribbean's major cultural events. Puerto Ricans get baseball fever when the season starts in November, reaching its climax in February.

Las Navidades between 15 December and 6 January is the peak period of socializing and religious observation, though many of the celebrations take place at family homes. Not so the riotous Festival of Innocents in Hatillo on 28 December, when masked and costumed participants chase kids through the streets in memory of Herod's bid to wipeout baby Jesus. Look out for parrandas, wandering bands of minstrels and revelers, around Christmas time.

Puerto Rico is one of the Caribbean's cheaper destinations, but there's no limit to what you can spend if you're in a party mood or on a gambling binge. It's possible to travel very comfortably on around US$250 a day, staying in ritzier hotels and eating three meals a day in decent restaurants. A moderate guesthouse-and-diner budget would slip somewhere between US$150 and US$200, while budget travelers can get by on less than US$100 a day by bunking up in no-frills hotels, eating at local food stands and taking public transport in preference to hiring a car. Note that accommodations are cheaper in the May through November low season.

All major credit cards and traveler's checks are widely accepted and there are plenty of ATMs should you prefer to access your home bank account directly. Once you leave the cities and touristed areas, it's best to carry cash. The US dollar is sometimes referred to as the peso.

Tipping follows North American rules. Restaurants usually include the service charge in the bill, but if they don't a 15% tip is expected. Some hotels add a 10% service charge, otherwise an equivalent tip is expected. There's a government tax of 7-10% on hotel rooms and some hotels charge an energy surcharge of around 3%. These extras can really add up - find out what you're in for when you make your booking to save a nasty surprise at settle-up time. Bargaining isn't common except in artisan markets where you can probably wrangle a discount.

San Juan is a spirited modern city with high-rise beach strips and a justly famous colonial core. Founded in the 16th century, it's the second-oldest city in the Americas; today it's the engine of the island's economic and political life and the cultural beachhead for US influence in the Caribbean.

Many Caribbean adventurers never make it past Puerto Rico's seductive capital: there's a lot to be said for being able to lay a towel down on an pristine white Caribbean beach while having the culture and quaintness of a historic city and the convenience of a modern metropolis just minutes away.

The Taínos believed the god of happiness hung out on El Yunque, which is no doubt why hiking through the rainforest to this 1065m (3500ft) peak leaves travellers basking in the glow of well being, personal achievement, sore muscles and callused feet. The mountain is part of the Luquillo range and gives its name to the surrounding forest reserve, otherwise ostentatiously named the Caribbean National Forest. Tourist authorities are fond of promoting the reserve as the only tropical forest in the US national park system.

There are more than 400 tree and fern species in the 11,200 ha (28,000 acre) reserve, most of them growing like crazy in the hothouse conditions created when sopping clouds blown in by the Atlantic winds dump their load on the Luquillo range. There are 13 well-maintained hiking trails in the reserve, ranging from leisurely 15-minute prances along sealed paths to a trek to the peak of El Yunque. You might not see the Taíno spirit up top, but on a clear day you may bag an eyeful of the Virgin Islands.

If you stretch your legs in the rainforest, you'll hear the sing-song of the coquí frog (Puerto Rico's national emblem), see miniature orchids, get to play in waterfalls and maybe even glimpse the rare Puerto Rican parrot. El Yunque is less than an hour drive from San Juan, and there's road access to the reserve.

Luquillo Beach, not far from the El Yunque turnoff, is a popular seaside outing. The water is millpond flat, making it ideal for children, and though the slew of food and souvenir stalls mean this is no getaway, Luqillo's wide stretch of sand is still a picturesque picnic and dip spot.

Nearly half a billion dollars have been spent preserving the colonial core of Puerto Rico's second city, and it's not only architecture buffs who declare the money well spent. The heart of Ponce dates from the late 17th century and has been declared a national treasure. It consists of plazas and churches and highly decorative colonial homes, some glorious fountains and what may well be the funkiest fire station in the world. One of the reasons Ponce is so easy on the eye is that an early city regulation required that street corners be chamfered (curved), making it easier for carriages to pass and to carry wooden houses from one site to another.

Ponce is a fraction inland on the central southern coast, and the locals are a breed apart from their brash northern cousins. They are justifiably proud of their civic heritage, the centrepiece of which is the stately Cathedral of our Lady of Guadeloupe that looms over the Plaza Las Delicias. The city's reputation as a centre of cultural excellence comes in the modern form of the Ponce Museum of Art, the best in the Caribbean, and is enhanced by the Museum of the History of Ponce and the Puerto Rican Music Museum. If you're a sucker for a vista, the plexiglass Cruceta el Vigia just north of the centre looks over Ponce to the sea. Eagle eyes might be able to pick out La Guancha, Ponce's boardwalk and beach area just south of the city. The swimming isn't great, but the social scene is buzzing.

The excellent Tibes Indian Ceremonial Center, a reconstructed Arawak village on an Amerindian archaeological site is about 15 minutes north of the town centre. The 13 ha (32 acre) site was discovered in 1975 after hurricane rains uncovered pottery and only a small portion has so far been excavated. Access to the site is by guided tour only - it's a very interesting walk through a botanic garden, a reconstructed Arawak village, sporting grounds and the archaeological site where digging continues. The museum, though small, is well-presented and informative.

This jagged karst region in the northeast of Puerto Rico is littered with sinkholes and surreal limestone formations so you don't have to have completed Geography 101 to guess that this is prime spelunking territory. Over 200 caves have been discovered in the region, some capable of swallowing skyscrapers, and the Camuy River is one of the largest subterranean rivers in the world.

Experienced cavers can get dirty and wet by climbing, scrambling, abseiling and swimming through the underground river system, but you have to know the difference between grappling and rappelling to contemplate entering this dangerous terrain. Mere mortals can get an antiseptic version of these thrills by riding a trolley-tram into a sinkhole and accessing Cueva Clara, which is graced with both stalagtites 'n' mites. From the safety of viewing platforms, you can glimpse the Camuy River as it flows past the 120m (400ft) deep Tres Pueblos Sinkhole.

This picturesque town set in the southwestern foothills of the Cordillera Central looks like it was lifted lock stock and barrel from Mediterranean Spain. It's Puerto Rico's oldest settlement outside San Juan, and it wears its flaky plaster heritage with charm and aplomb. There's nothing more taxing to do here than take a genteel stroll through the town's two plazas, admire the courtly townhouses graced with gingerbread trim and poke your nose in the Church of Porta Coeli ('Gate of Heaven'). The latter was built by Dominican monks in 1606, and its august career includes a stint in the 19th century as the town jail.

San Germán is close to Phosphorescent Bay, where you can prove you're inhabiting the body electric, and Boquerón Beach, one of Puerto Rico's most gorgeous strands.

Tucked away in the gorgeous backroads and byways of northwestern Puerto Rico is the largest radio telescope in the world. The facility is operated by Cornell University and word has it this is where the US government monitors extra-terrestrial life, but even if you want to steer well clear of X-ophilia, you can enjoy the excellent science and space interactive museum and the impressive 305m diameter (1000ft) telescope itself.

Since the US Navy stopped using the archipelago for target practice in the mid-1970s, this cluster of 24 scrubby islands 35km (22mi) off the coast of eastern Puerto Rico has experienced a more beneficial boom. The definition of traffic here is still sharing the road with another vehicle, but more and more travellers and locals are beginning to appreciate the charms of this sleepy backwater, drawn by its beautiful beaches and the fantastic snorkelling and diving offered by its coral reefs.

Culebra itself measures a modest 11km by 6km (7mi by 4mi), but it dominates the archipelago. The island's undistinguished main town, Dewey, contains most of the area's 2000 souls. Travellers should head to the northern coast to Flamenco Beach or to nearby Playa Resaca. The Culebra National Wildlife Reserve encompasses parts of Culebra and the outlying islands, protecting significant seabird colonies and turtle-nesting sites. You can visit the surrounding cays by chatting up the local fishermen or by arranging dives through local operators. There's a ferry to Dewey from Fajardo that takes an hour or so, and air connections to Culebra from both Fajardo and San Juan.

There's no town to speak of on this lovely stretch sandwiched between the coast and well-forested mountains, but this low-key beachy settlement is a good base if you want to go bushwalking, horse riding or simply take in a few sunsets. Get local advice before you plunge into the surf - some stretches of beach here are treacherous. Patillas is on Puerto Rico's southeastern coast about an hour's drive east of Ponce.

This eco-savvy town with surf and bay beaches is well-colonised by American wave addicts and Puerto Rican families. The surf's up from October to April, when if you're not sun-bronzed and hair-bleached, you're just not cutting it. Non-watery attractions include El Faro (lighthouse), where there's a small maritime museum and whale- and dolphin-spotting platforms. From here you can also sneak a peak at the spooky dome of Latin America's first nuclear plant, operational between 1964 and '74 and now nestled innocently among palm trees.

Activities

The best beaches in San Juan are at Isla Verde and Condado, both backed by a fortress wall of high rises. If you want to get out of the city (though not away from the crowds) try picturesque Luquillo, 30km (19mi) east of the capital, which is backed by nothing more intrusive than palm trees. The beaches on the southern coast are more sheltered and have calmer water for swimming than those on the northern Atlantic coast. In the south, there's a gem at Punta Guilarte near Arroyo. The west has a whole series of great beaches; the pick of the bunch is popular Boquerón. If you're exploring the islets off Puerto Rico, Flamenco Beach on Culebra regularly makes most people's regional top 10 list.

The best dives off Puerto Rico are a couple of kilometers offshore, since water visibility nearshore is often clouded by river runoff. Legendary Desecheo Island, west of Rincón, is perched on the edge of a 9km (5mi) deep submarine canyon and is regarded as one of the ultimate Caribbean diving destinations. Other top sites include La Parguera, off the southwestern coast; the islands of Culebra and Vieques, off Fajardo; Humacao, south of Fajardo; and Mona Island, a six-hour boat trip from Mayagüez. Sections of the northwestern coast near Isabela and Aguadilla offer shore diving, but water conditions can be rough and visibility poor.

You'll also need to hire a boat to reach the very best snorkeling sites. There's a number of spots on the southwestern coast, notably around La Parguera. Other superb spots are the deserted islet of Palomenitos, off the coast of Fajardo, and Mona Island. For something completely different, it's definitely worth renting a boat or kayak to see the nightly displays of bioluminescence at Phosphorescent Bay near La Parguera and at Esperanza on the islet of Vieques.

The best surfing is along the northwestern stretch of coast between Rincón and Isabela between October and April. Serious windsurfers arrive in winter to take advantage of the swells on the northern Atlantic coast, particularly at Isla Verde. Rincón and Jobos near Isabela are also pretty hot, though beginners prefer the sheltered waters of San Juan's Condado Lagoon. If you're interested in sailing, Fajardo is the main yachting marina, and there are plenty of boats for hire. San Juan is the main deep-sea fishing charter port. There's world-class marlin, tuna and sailfish in the waters off the capital.

There are hiking opportunities galore in the island's interior, particularly in the rainforest of El Yunque, in the karst region of Río Camuy Cave Park and, for birdwatchers, in the coastal mangroves of the Guánica Reserve on the southern coast. If birds ain't big enough, there's humpback whale watching from Rincón between January and March.

Experienced cavers can explore the extensive underground sections of the Camuy River system with National Parks guides. Novices can take an expensive trolley-tram that accesses one cave via a sinkhole - be aware that weekends are so crowded that the experience is more rush hour transit than restful nature. Cockfighting may not be your idea of a relaxing Sunday afternoon, but if you have a strong stomach and want to see what excites the locals, fights take place in galleras in most country towns. The more sedate sport of kite flying is popular on the grassy, breezy slopes surrounding El Morro in San Juan, said to be the world's best kite site.

History

A number of Amerindian peoples have lived on Puerto Rico, which may be the earliest site of human habitation in the Caribbean. It was the Taínos who were in residence when Columbus arrived in 1493. This largely peaceful family of autonomous tribes had developed a sophisticated culture, language and religious system. Unusually, the Taínos had female chiefs as well as male, who were entitled to numerous husbands, the foremost of which was burned with his wife at the time of her death. Taínos received prophecy from gods and the dead through such mind-altering practices as inhaling a hallucinatory powder made from cohoba seeds and crushed shells. They were also remarkably nifty at ball games: They invented the rubber ball and the results of their contests were of oracular value.

Unfortunately, game-playing and shell-inhaling did not leave the Taínos prepared to defend themselves against the well armed Spanish settlers who arrived from Hispaniola with Juan Ponce de León in 1508. The settlers enslaved and evangelized the Taínos, and many of the mostly male conquistadors took local ladies as 'wives.' Although pockets of Taíno resistance could be found in the mountains, swamps and other inaccessible areas if the island until the 19th century, the vast majority succumbed to superior weaponry and European diseases by the beginning of the 17th century.

The Spanish settled at San Juan, which became one of the most strategic outposts in the New World. Over the next century it underwent massive fortification to protect it from British, French and Dutch maritime incursions. In response to a Spanish stranglehold on regional trade, Puerto Rico imported African slaves and dabbled with sugar, cotton and tobacco plantations in the 16th and 17th century, but there was more money to be made in black market trading with its neighbors.

Spain's inability to prevent smuggling undermined its moral authority on the island, and Puerto Rico began to develop its own distinct identity during the 18th century. This was enhanced by a growing number of immigrants and an emerging bourgeoisie of coffee plantation owners. As revolution swept through the New World, Spain relaxed its totalitarian trade policies in a bid to keep Puerto Rico and Cuba in the colonial fold.

Spanish loyalists and Puerto Rican nationalists spent the second half of the 19th century arguing the pros and cons of self-rule with the colonial government. An unsuccessful revolt in the mountain town of Lares in 1868 focused everybody's mind on the seriousness of the problem at hand. A degree of autonomy - including an elected local government, representation in Spain and their very own currency - was achieved in 1897. This became obsolete almost immediately when US forces invaded and occupied Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.

The USA ruled Puerto Rico as a colonial protectorate for the next five decades, despite continued calls for autonomy. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, just in time for them to be eligible for military service in WWI. Reform and investment improved the economy for large landholders (particularly US sugar interests), but the 1930s depression hit the island hard and the independence movement turned to violence.

During World War II, the US military appropriated extensive agricultural lands that have never been returned, including the loudly disputed island of Vieques. Puerto Rico won the right to elect its own governor in 1948, shortly after President Truman implemented 'Operation Bootstrap,' aimed at kickstarting the island's economy, largely by forcing the sale of many publicly owned enterprises and giving tax breaks to resident US companies.

Puerto Ricans voted three to one in a 1951 referendum to become a commonwealth of the US rather than remain a colony. Nationalists seeking full independence took the fight to the US mainland where they attempted to assassinate President Truman and opened fire on US congressmen from the visitors' gallery in the House of Representatives. Political support for full independence waned and calls for US statehood increased, though neither independence nor statehood has ever won a majority vote in any of numerous referenda on status.

The Puerto Rican economy continued to post impressive gains in GNP, around one million Puerto Ricans went to work in New York City and elsewhere in the US during the 1950s and '60s. Return migration to Puerto Rico increased during the 1970s and '80s; US citizenship has helped facilitate a type of circular migration that has led some intellectual types to label Puerto Rico the 'commuter nation.'

The island has a high standard of living compared to most other Caribbean islands, but it still languishes behind the poorest US states and continues to suffer high unemployment. Puerto Ricans voted in 1993 and 1998 for commonwealth status in preference to statehood, though the margins were not decisive.

On 21 February 2000, at least 100,000 Puerto Ricans gathered for what was possibly the nation's largest demonstration ever, to protest US Navy plans to resume training on the island of Vieques. The crowd, which had been summoned by religious leaders, carried the Puerto Rican flag and banners demanding peace. Although organizers claimed the march was not political, many leaders of the Independence Party participated, as did Governor Sila Calderon.

On 24 April 2001, Calderon signed a law prohibiting activities that create more than 190 decibels of sound; US officials admitted that the repeated shelling of Vieques break the new law, but stated that they would continue bombing. In June 2001, however, President George W Bush agreed to end the assault on Vieques, agreeing to phase out military activities on the island by May 2003.

Although the victory at Vieques has many Puerto Ricans celebrating, the US territory's ability to determine its own future continues to be compounded by an inability to vote in US national elections.

Culture

Puerto Rican culture is a mixture of Spanish, African and Taíno traditions overlaid with a century-thick layer of American influence. At times, parts of San Juan can seem like any US city with a large Latino population, but dig a little deeper or get into the countryside and you'll find a complex Creole culture that certainly won't be erased by the arrival of Budweiser and Burger King.

The intermingling of cultural influences is so pronounced that nothing on Puerto Rico is ever one-dimensional. Spanish is the island's main language, though the local version contains plenty of English, Amerindian and African words. Roman Catholicism is the main religion, but it's infused with spiritualism, Indian and African folkloric traditions. The music you hear on Puerto Rico's streets may sound like it originated in the 'hood, but la bomba and la plena, featuring call-and-response dialogues and satirical lyrics sung in high, plaintive voices, are distinctly African, and salsa hails from émigrés in New York. Out of boombox range, typical Puerto Rican instruments include maracas, güiro (a type of gourd used as percussion) and cuatro, a ten-stringed guitar-like instrument. Puerto Rican painters, both native and expat, are achieving international recognition. Names to look out for include Arnaldo Roche-Rabell and Jorge Zeno, as well as canonized Spanish masters such as Angel Botello.

Uncomfortable with their ambiguous political status, much debate on the island revolves around questions of national identity. Though political will for independence is a slippery animal, vocal Puerto Ricans clearly see themselves as distinct from their gringo cousins - and there's little doubt that the island has much more in common with its Caribbean and Latino neighbors than it does with Uncle Sam.

Much Puerto Rican literature is produced by expatriates and deals with national identity and the links between acá (here) and allá (there). 'Nuyoricans' such as Pedro Juan Soto, Emilio Díaz Valcárcel and José Luis González tackle the elusive idea of home in stories, novels and poetry.

Environment

Puerto Rico is rectangular, sandwiched between the bulk of Hispaniola and the tiny archipelagoes of the leeward islands. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. The mainland measures 175km by 56km (100mi by 35mi), about the size of Corsica, and is roughly bisected by the rugged Cordillera Central, whose high point is the 1340m (4400ft) Cerro la Punta. The hills drain into Puerto Rico's lush northern coast and the drier southern region. The small islands of Vieques and Culebra (to the east) and Mona (to the west) are also Puerto Rican territory.

The rainforest of El Yunque, in Puerto Rico's northeast, is its steamy pride and joy. Birds, reptiles and plantlife thrive in this sodden national park that receives over a billion gallons of rainfall per year. Typical canopy trees include the patient yagrumo humbra which can lie for months on the forest floor before shooting up rapidly to plug a gleaming sliver of sky. Shade-tolerant trees such as ausubo and tabonuco live under the rainforest canopy. Moving south, the countryside becomes much more arid and rocky, incorporating environments such as the Guánica Dry Forest, unusual for being dry, coastal and tropical. Guánica includes coastal mangrove stands, cacti and other hardy shrubbery inland and evergreens (lignum vitae) in the hills. The northwestern karst country is hilly, lush and pocked with caves and rocky outcrops.

Puerto Rico's native frogs, known as coquís, are the beloved symbol of the island, though their presence is experienced much more through sound than sight. Though the largest coquís are only a couple of inches long, these little croakers belt out a hell of a 'KO-KEE' chant. Though you're unlikely to see one, you'll certainly hear them if you head into the countryside. Their froggy aria is all the more special for its being uniquely Puerto Rican: popular wisdom has it that they stop singing if they're removed from home.

Puerto Rico is balmy year round with daily highs between 75-85°F (24-30°C). Hurricane season is between May and November and, as the terrible destruction wrought by Georges in September 1998 showed, it's worth keeping an eye on weather reports if you're heading to Puerto Rico at this time of year. Usually, hurricane season means that the weather is a fraction hotter, wetter and gustier than at other times, not that debris routinely flies through the streets. The mountains are significantly cooler than the coast but forget about building snowmen even at the height of winter.

Getting There & Away

Puerto Rico is the most accessible island in the Caribbean. San Juan is a major hub for American Airlines, so there's easy access to its US domestic network. A number of other North American carriers fly between Puerto Rico and a score of mainland cities; Miami has the most frequent flights. British Airways has services from London, Iberia from Madrid and Lufthansa from Frankfurt.

There are excellent air connections to a heap of Caribbean islands, including BWIA flights to Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad, and Air France connections to Guadeloupe and Martinique. American Airlines and American Eagle have short-hop flights to the popular day-trip destination of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. There are also flights to South and Central American destinations. There's a US$5 airport departure tax when leaving San Juan, usually prepaid with your airline ticket. There are weekend ferries from Fajardo to St Thomas and St John in the US Virgin Islands.

Getting Around

Renting a car is the best way to see the island. International car rental agencies are well represented on the island, and there are plenty of local operators. Your home driving license is valid. Note that local driving habits are erratic (to be kind) though relatively aggression-free (to be fair). Also watch out for the speed limit signs, which are in miles per hour, even though distances are in kilometers. Drive on the right-hand side of the road.

If driving doesn't appeal, you can stock up on patience and take public transport. Minivans known as públicos link all decent-sized towns on the island. They have no set schedule and usually operate on short hops, so be prepared for several changes if you're traveling a long distance and it's not between two major cities. Públicos are cheap, sociable and recognizable by the 'P' or 'PD' on their license plate. You can flag one down anywhere. Metered taxis are plentiful in San Juan and other major tourist centers.

San Juan's Luis Muñnz Marín International Airport is on the eastern fringe of the city. There are car rental agencies at the airport and plenty of taxis and buses for the short jaunt into San Juan. There's a baggage check in Terminal C, which is handy if you're island hopping and want to travel light.

Cheap government-operated ferries do the run from Fajardo to the islands of Culebra and Vieques. At least four ferries a day ply either route and the journey to either island is around one hour. It's possible to take a car, including rental cars, on the ferry to Culebra but it's necessary to book well in advance.