San Juan Hotels

San Juan Hotels

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.

Hotels in the city of San Juan are often required for tourists whio require short term accommodation in the city. Some may want to see the culture, history, tourist attractions, entertainment, sports, architecture, theme parks, landscapes, beaches and mountains of the city and region. Some may want to stay at a hotel in the city that has good facilities. Some may want to stay at a luxury or cheap hotel.

Old San Juan occupies the western end of a rocky islet at the mouth of San Juan Bay. During the 20th century, the main population centers surged well beyond the walls of the old city and onto Puerto Rico's main island, and merged with the existing settlements east and south of Old San Juan. As a result, the city is now composed of a variety of neighborhoods.

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.

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.

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 accidentally switched.

n 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.

Old San Juan (Spanish: Viejo San Juan) is the oldest settlement within the territory of the USA and it is the historic colonial section of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is one of the two barrios, in additiion to Santurce, that made up San Juan prior to 1951, in which the former independent municipality of Río Piedras was annexed.

Old San Juan is located on a small island connected to the mainland of Puerto Rico by two [bridge]]s and a causeway.

The city is characterized by its narrow cobblestone streets and colorful buildings which date back to the 16th and 17th century when Puerto Rico was a Spanish possession.

In 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement, Caparra. (named after the province Caceres, Spain, birthplace of the then-governor of Spain's Caribbean territories, Nicolas de Ovando). The ruins of Caparra are known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo, behind the almost land-locked harbor just to the west of the present San Juan metropolitan area. In 1509, the settlement was abandoned and moved to a site which was called at the time "Puerto Rico" (meaning "rich port" or "good port"), a name that evoked that of a similar geographical harbor in the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. In 1521, the name "San Juan" was added, and the newer settlement was given its formal name of "San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico", following the usual custom of christening the town with both its formal name and the name which Christopher Columbus had originally given the island, honoring John the Baptist.

Old San Juan along with La Fortaleza were declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1983.

The district is also characterized by numerous public plazas and churches including the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, which contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. It also houses the most ancient Catholic school for Elementary education in Puerto Rico, the Colegio de Párvulos, built in 1865.

With its abundance of shops, historic places, museums, open air cafés, restaurants, gracious homes, tree-shaded plazas, and its old beauty and architectonical peculiarity, Old San Juan is a main spot for local and internal tourism. A free tourist trolley serves the city.

The slum neighborhood of La Perla outside of the historic city wall on the rocky north coast belongs to sub-barrios Mercado and San Cristóbal.

Old San Juan is divided into seven sub-barrios:

Ballajá
Catedral
Marina
Mercado

Puerta de Tierra
San Cristóbal
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