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​Winter Escape to Puerto Rico “One of the Best Tropical Places in the USA” It’s the 27th of December, Christmas parties and gifts are done with but TravelChicTV never rests to discover great places for your vacationing pleasure.  It’s cold here in NYC and TravelChic is seeking a warm place to decompress after the holidays but somewhere not too far by flight from NYC – Puerto Rico it is.  I am just so excited for this Puerto Rico trip.  I want to discover the foods and the culture of this island – so off I go.   The first day I arrived in Old San Juan I was pretty surprised by the town, the beautiful architecture, plentiful fine dining and local restaurants galor . I felt like I was somewhere in little old European town, some of the streets have retained their traditional spanish style and the small alleyways have incredible character.

 

I love the colors of the buildings in Old San Juan, they are so colorful and pretty and the old spanish character creates a relaxing and idyllic atmosphere.  While the buildings are grand, the most unforgettable experience here is the food. Every single restaurant that I experienced in Old San Juan whether a small local kitchen or a fine dining extravaganza served dishes of the highest quality all with a unique Puerto Rican flavor and flair. Everything I ate in Puerto Rico was so fresh, the seafood was phenomenal.  Now a little bit about traditional local food that you must try if you visit Puerto Rico.  One of the classics is a dish called mofongo.  Traditional mofongo consists of green plantains mashed with seasonings and sometime broth and then formed into a mound and either baked or fried.  Most of the restaurants serve their own unique versions topped with choices of meat such as chicken, beef, shrimp, lobster and crab.  Mofongo was one of my favorite dishes in Puerto Rico and I ordered as many variations as I could find.  Besides the Mofongo, Puerto Rico is well-known for its fresh fish dishes, locally produced rum (you will some great mojitos on the menus down there) as well as some pretty amazing roasted pork – more about the pork later in this article. For more information about TravelChicTV Recommendation check out my video Puerto Rico Best Place to eat

 

I love the weather in Puerto Rico especially when escaping the dreary weather in NYC during January.  One of the best winter escapes from NYC to a tropical place in the USA and it was only takes about 4 hours to get there.  Since I was in Puerto Rico and I love to snorkel and I couldn’t miss out on a day snorkeling trip.  Everywhere I go if it close to the ocean I seek out the best places to snorkel.  One thing that I think was a bit of a hardship for the traveller in Puerto Rico is the distance to get from one place to other – especially if you are staying in the San Juan area.  In any event I booked a snorkeling one day tour with a company, East Wind, that uses a party catamaran to take you from Fajardo on the east coast of Puerto Rico out to a number of islands for some great snorkeling.  It was high season and the boat was a bot crowded but the service was great. They served food and drinks on the boat with the best being the fresh made run punch.  The snorkeling was fun with lots to see but the trip is quite far to and from San Juan, especially with rush hour traffic around the San Juan area. 

 

For more information and a fun video from snorkeling check out my video on  Puerto Rico Snorkeling Day 2 Episode by TravelChicTV/Media. Wherever I go I always love to try to local food so based on everything I heard I could not miss the chance to visit a town in central Puerto Rico called Guavate.  It’s about a 50 minute drive from Old San Juan.  Guavate is known for having the best roast pig around.  The whole area is full of local restaurants and kitchens, lechoneras, serving their version of lechon, roasted pig.  You have to arrive early as most of the food is gone by 5pm, especially the lechon. In addition to the lechon, you will find a lot of local root vegetables such as yuca and plantains cooked almost every way imaginable, most of the dishes will be served with rice, beans and plantain or yuca.  You have to visit Guavate for the experience, the sights and the smells and watch the lechoneras roast the whole pig it’s a big party with the pig as the star of the show.  There are long lines at the best lechoneras so plan to wait for 20 minutes – I did so of course I had to get everything from the famed lechon to fried rice, yuca, different types of sausages and many other delicious delicacies of Guavate so please check out my video on Puerto Rico Day 3 Guavate Local Roasted Pig Town Episode.      

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After recovering from a day of eating I decided to be adventurous and traveled to Toro Verde, on of the largest aerial parks in the world.  Toro Verde is about a 45 minute drive from San Juan but has some of the most amazing zip line courses anywhere.  I hired a driver to take me to the aerial park for the day and it was well worth it.  If you book in advance through your hotel you can bypass most of the long lines at Toro Verde upon arrival.  The zip line course has 8 primary lines ranging from short and low to long and well over 1,000 feet in height.  Make sure you have big breakfast when you come here, I was starving after 3 lines. It takes a while to finish and there are some lines when things get backed up and some minor hiking in between the lines.  There is no real restroom here but a cabin so be warned.  The zip line course was great but after the 7th line there tends to be a long wait for the last line as things tend to get backed up, but it was worth it the wait.  It was high and all green from my bird’s eye view.  After I finished zip line course I had the driver take me to a local restaurant not far from Toro Verde.   The plantain soup was delicious with pureed plantains in a chicken stock base.  The best dish there by far was the chicharrones de pollo, basically delectable pieces of deep fried chicken.  The soup and the chicken was well followed by a huge portion of local BBQ, for more information about Toro Verde and the local cuisine please check out my video on Puerto Rico Longest Zip Line in the World & Great Local Food by TravelChicTV Media Day 4 Episode.

 

Lastly, here is a little fun thing to do in Old San Juan.  Cigars.  Puerto Rico is home to some great cigar lounges, the best being Cigar House in Old San Juan. It’s a nice and relaxing place to hang around.  There is a full bar where you sip your Puerto Rican rum (I highly recommend the local rum Barrilito) on the rocks while smoking a great cigar. They have a great cigar selection – one of the best I have seen.  It’s a great, relaxing way to spend the afternoon after a nice lunch.  If you want to know how relaxing it is check out my Cigar House video on  Cigar House in Old San Juan Puerto Rico by TravelChicTV/Media www.travelchictv.com        This Video will bring you all the best restaurant in Puerto Rico so “Don’t miss the best part of this trip! Check out - Puerto Rico Best Place to Eat in Old San Juan Puerto Rico by TravelChicTV/Media Recommendation    

 Puerto Rico is our new destination for the beginning of 2013 and we will continue to bring our fans the best destinations in the near futures so stay tuned for more destinations around the world!

LuxeTravelVisor's Passion

When I travel to the place where people takes food seriously. I get that excitement in my gut, to be able to enjoy great food is like traveling to new places that I had not been yet. The architecture in Old San Juan is a very special and lively. The mixed of culture between U.S.A. & local Spanish vibe is only exist here in Puerto Rico.