Hotels in San Juan Puerto Rico

Hotels in San Juan Puerto Rico

Hotels in Sanu Juan are often required for tourists who want a vacation in the city. Some may want to see the culture, the history the tourist attractions and the society of the city. Some may want a hotel that has good prices, good entertainment and good parking facilities. Some may want a hotel that has good access to views of the city.

hotels in san juan puerto rico

San Juan is the capital and largest municipality in Puerto Rico. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("Rich Port City"). Puerto Rico's capital is the second oldest European-established city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo, now in the Dominican Republic. Several historical buildings are located in San Juan; among the most notable are the city's former defensive forts, Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristobál, and La Fortaleza, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Americas.

San Juan is located along the north-eastern coast of Puerto Rico. It lies south of the Atlantic Ocean; north of Guaynabo and Trujillo Alto; east of and Bayamón; and west of Carolina. The majority San Juan's water territory is composed of San Juan Bay and two natural lagoons, the Condado and the San José.

Today, San Juan serves as one of Puerto Rico's most important seaports, and is the island's manufacturing, financial, cultural, and tourism center. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area, including San Juan and the municipalities of Bayamón, Guaynabo, Cataño, Canóvanas, Caguas, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Carolina and Trujillo Alto, is about 2 million inhabitants; thus, about half the population of Puerto Rico now lives and works in this area. San Juan is also a principal city of the San Juan-Caguas-Fajardo Combined Statistical Area. The city has been the host of numerous important events within the sports community, including the 1979 Pan American Games, 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games, 2006 World Baseball Classic and the Caribbean Series.

In 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement Caparra (named after the province Caceres, Spain, the birthplace of then-governor of Spain's Caribbean territories Nicolas de Ovando), which today is known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo, just to the west of the present San Juan metropolitan area. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called Puerto Rico, Spanish for "rich port" or "good port," after its similar geographical features to the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. In 1521, the newer settlement was given its formal name, San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, in honor of John the Baptist, following the tradition of christening the town with both its formal name and the name which Christopher Columbus had originally given the island.

The ambiguous use of San Juan Bautista and Puerto Rico for calling both the city and the island led to a reversal in practical use by most inhabitants: by 1746, the name for the city (Puerto Rico) had become that of the entire island, while the name for the Island (San Juan Bautista) had become the name for the city.
La Puerta de San Juan (San Juan Gate)

San Juan, as a settlement of the Spanish Empire, was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, a network of fortifications was built to protect the transports of gold and silver from the New World to Europe. Because of the rich transports, San Juan became a target of the foreign powers of the time.

The city was witness to attacks from the English led by Sir Francis Drake in 1595 and by George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, in 1598. Artillery from San Juan's fort, El Morro, repelled Drake; however, Clifford managed to land troops and lay siege to the city. After a few months of British occupation, Clifford was forced to abandon the siege when his troops began to suffer from exhaustion and sickness. In 1625 the city was sacked by Dutch forces lead by Boudewijn Hendricksz, but El Morro withstood the assault and was not taken. The English attacked again in 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, led by Sir Ralph Abercromby (who had just conquered Trinidad). His army laid siege to the city but was forced to withdraw in defeat as the Puerto Rican defenses proved more resilient than those of Trinidad. Various events and circumstances, including liberalized commerce with Spain, the opening of the island to immigrants as a direct result of the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815, and the colonial revolutions, led to an expansion of San Juan and other Puerto Rican settlements in the late 18th and early 19th century.

In May 1898, United States Navy ships, among them the USS Detroit, USS Indiana, USS New York, USS Amphitrite, USS Terror and USS Montgomery, commanded by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, bombed San Juan during the Spanish-American War, though the city was not occupied. On July 25, General Nelson A. Miles landed at Guánica (in southwestern Puerto Rico) with 3,300 soldiers and took over the island with little resistance. Spain ceded the island to the United States later the same year by signing the Treaty of Paris.
Lieutenant Teofilo Marxuach

Camp Las Casas, located in the district of Santurce, served as the main training camp for the Puerto Rican soldiers prior to World War I and World War II; the majority of the men trained in this facility were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. This regiment has been active since 1898, and it is still active today. Camp Las Casas was eventually closed down, and in 1950 a public housing project by the name of Residencial Fray Bartolome de Las Casas was constructed on its former location.

Lieutenant Teofilo Marxuach (Retired as a Lieutenant Colonel), a native of Arroyo, Puerto Rico, was responsible for the first bullet shot by the American military during World War I, when he ordered the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" to open fire on the Odenwald, an armed German supply vessel, when it was trying to force its way out of San Juan’s bay. This event occurred on April 6, 1917, the day that the United States declared war on Germany.

Originally, the city of San Juan was called Puerto Rico meaning "rich port", and the entire island was called San Juan. The capital and the island's names were later accidently switched.

Former municipio of Río Piedras

Caimito
Cupey (formerly two “barrios”: Cupey Alto and Cupey Bajo)
El Cinco
Gobernador Piñero
Hato Rey Central
o Ciudad Nueva
o Floral Park
o Las Monjas
o Quintana
Hato Rey Norte
o El Vedado
o Eleanor Roosevelt
o Martín Peña
o Puerto Nuevo (including Puerto Nuevo Norte)
Hato Rey Sur
o Bella Vista
o Hyde Park
o La 37
o Santa Rita
Monacillo
Monacillo Urbano
Oriente
o Borínquen
o López Sicardó
o San José
Río Piedras (pueblo)
o Buen Consejo
o Capetillo
o Monterey
o Río Piedras Antiguo
o Ubarri
o Venezuela
Quebrada Arenas
Sabana Llana Norte
Sabana Llana Sur
Tortugo
Universidad
o Amparo
o Auxilio Mutuo
o Institución
o Valencia

Former municipio of San Juan (until 1951)

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico (San Juan Antiguo)
o Ballajá
o Catedral
o Marina
o Mercado
o Puerta de Tierra
o San Cristóbal
o San Francisco
Santurce
o Alto de Cabro
o Bayola
o Bolívar
o Buenos Aires
o Campo Alegre
o Chícaro
o Condadito
o Condado
o Figueroa
o Gandul
o Herrera
o Hipódromo
o Hoare
o Isla Grande (recently named the Puerto Rico Convention Center District)
o La Zona
o Las Casas
o Las Marías
o Las Palmas
o Loíza
o Machuchal
o Marruecos
o Martín Peña
o María Mozcó
o Melilla
o Merhoff
o Minillas
o Miramar
o Monteflores
o Obrero
o Ocean Park
o Parque
o Pozo del Hato
o Pulguero
o Sagrado Corazón
o San Juan Moderno
o San Mateo
o Seboruco
o Shanghai
o Tras Talleres
o Villa Palmeras

collective terms (former “barrios”)

Sabana Llana is a former “barrio” of Río Piedras (current barrios of Sabana Llana Norte and Sabana Llana Sur, see above)
Monacillos is a former “barrio” of Río Piedras (current barrios of Monacillo and Monacillo Urbano, see above)
Hato Rey is a former “barrio” of Río Piedras (current barrios of Hato Rey Central, Hato Rey Norte, Hato Rey Sur , see above)

San Juan is the birthplace of numerous artists and musicians, locally known as Sanjuaneros, who have significantly influenced the Puerto Rican culture. During the 20th century the musical aspect of the city was influenced by performers including Afro-Caribbean dancer and choreographer Sylvia del Villard and José Enrique Pedreira who became a renowned composer of Puerto Rican Danzas.

Find a Villa from Across Europe

Grand World Villas - Find a Villa from anywhere in the world

Grand Global Villas - Find Villas from Around the Globe

Planet Villas

An Index with links to almost all our sites

Holiday to - Great places to go on Holiday to
Holiday to 2 - More Great places to go on Holiday to

Holiday to 3 - More places to go on Holiday to

Holiday to 4 - More places to go on Holiday to

Hotel in 6

Hotel in 7

Hotel in 8

Hotel in 9