Puerto Rico

Ponce es Ponce (Ponce is Ponce), runs a simple yet telling Puerto Rican saying: the explanation given as to why the nation's haughty second city does things, well, uniquely – and in defiance of the capital. Native son and author Abelardo Díaz Alfaro went further, calling Ponce a baluarte irreductible de puertorriqueñidad – a bastion of the irreducible essence of Puerto Rico. Strolling around the sparkling fountains and narrow architecturally ornamented streets of the historic center certainly evokes Puerto Rico’s stately past. Unfortunately, the neighborhoods that surround the central square exhibit woeful characteristics of Puerto Rico’s present: irreducible snarls of congested traffic, economic stagnation and cookie-cutter urban sprawl.

Separated from mainland Puerto Rico by an 13km stretch of choppy blue water, the two bejeweled Caribbean havens of Culebra and Vieques have an irresistible charm thanks to mellow locals, laid-back expats and itinerant sailors.

Those who explore these winding roads gain a dramatically different perspective on the island and chances to commune with Puerto Rico’s old soul. Best approached with a flexible agenda, this is a place of Taíno legends and sugarcane moonshine, muddy hillside towns and misty afternoons.

You’ll know you’ve arrived in Rincón – ‘the corner’ – when you pass the sun-grizzled gringos cruising west in their rusty 1972 Volkswagen Beetle with surfboards piled on the roof. Shoehorned in the island’s most remote corner, Rincón is Puerto Rico at its most unguarded, a place where the sunsets shimmer scarlet and you’re more likely to be called ‘dude’ than ‘sir.’ This is the island's surfing capital and one of the premiere places to catch a wave in the northern hemisphere.

Established in 1521, San Juan juxtaposes historical authenticity with pulsating modern energy – a mosaic of ever-evolving neighborhoods, silk-sand beaches and well-polished colonial-era artifacts.

Measuring 21 miles long by 5 miles wide, Vieques is substantially bigger than Culebra and distinctly different in ambience. Though still a million metaphorical miles from the bright lights of the Puerto Rican mainland, the larger population here has meant more choice of accommodations, swankier restaurants and generally more buzz. It's renowned for its gorgeous beaches, semi-wild horses and unforgettable bioluminescent bay.

El Yunque National Forest is one of Puerto Rico’s crown jewels. It boasts nearly 29,000 acres of lush mountainous terrain, with waterfalls dotting the landscape, rushing rivers and gurgling brooks, bromeliads clinging to towering trees, and bamboo groves opening to spectacular ocean views.

Occupying a small sliver of land wedged between Hwy 2 and the sea, Aguadilla is a ho-hum coastal city of surprising contradictions. Its world-class surf scene stands in vibrant contrast to its bland sprawl of Eisenhower-era tract housing and the nearby graying campus of a retired US Air Force base known as the Ramey Base.

The east coast is Puerto Rico shrink-wrapped; a tantalizing taste of almost everything the island has to offer squeezed into an area you can drive across in a couple of hours. Sodden rainforest teems with noisy wildlife and jungle waterfalls at El Yunque National Forest, the Commonwealth’s tropical gem. Down at sea level, beach lovers bask on the icing-sugar sand of Playa Luquillo.

Veering from a manicured coast of plush golf resorts and posh surf spots, this region rears up into the less-visited vine-tangled crags of karst country, where landscapes seem positively prehistoric with yawning cave systems, mogotes (vegetated, steep-sided hillocks) and undulating spreads of forest.