Frommer's Puerto Rico (Frommer's Complete) (Paperback)

by John Marino (Author)
Key Phrases: karst country, phosphorescent bay, nuevo latino, Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rican (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
America's #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series
• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides
• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries
• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design

Much more detailed and complete than its major competitors, Frommer's Puerto Rico, 9th Edition gives you in-depth, honest reviews of lavish honeymoon resorts, intimate inns, family-friendly condos, and dirt cheap hostels. Written by a travel writer and city news reporter based in San Juan, this edition has its finger on the pulse of the island, with updates on the latest openings and selections in every price category. We'll point you to a gorgeous white-sand beach that only locals know about, give you the scoop on both upscale dining and roadside nosh pits, and we list the best places for snorkeling, hiking, golf, sailing, deep-sea fishing -- even the best town to see a cockfight.

You'll also get a complete shopper's guide, and up-to-date coverage of the newest nightlife in the region, from casinos to salsa clubs to lowkey beach bars. Look for tips on finding the best package deals, plus a color fold-out map.

From the Publisher
Frommer's offers you all the information you need on:

The Best Beaches
The Best Scuba Diving
The Best Golf & Tennis
The Best Hikes
The Best Natural Wonders
The Best Family Resorts
The Best Honeymoon Resorts
The Best Big Resort Hotels
The Best Moderately Priced Hotels
The Best Attractions
The Best Restaurants
The Best Offbeat Travel Experiences --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; 9 edition (September 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470257113
• ISBN-13: 978-0470257111
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why doesn't someone write a decent travel guide to PR?, October 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Puerto Rico, 4th Edition (Paperback)

I've used this guide for three PR vacations, and each time I want to throw it across the hotel room. But I can't because the other guides are even worse or even less comprehensive. What's the problem with this one? The lack of description: it gives you no feel as to what makes each beach/hotel unique. Invariably every second beach is summed up vaguely as 'one of the best beaches on the island,' even if one has brownish sand and no snorkling while another "best" beach is pristine white, loaded with fish, and secluded. It's the same with hotels, too, except there's no explanation of what the mood is like there, what kind of people stay there, what the view is like, what the rooms are like, if there's a bar to hang out in after dinner, how close the beach is.... It's almost comic, except when you're trying to figure out where to spend your precious time and money.

Another frustrating problem is that no one took the time to edit this guide. One beach or hotel will be mentioned in two (or three) places in entirely different tones, so it's hard to guess whether a place is just wacky or dirty (or, in the instance of La Parguera, too polluted to swim in one mention; just fine in another). Also, uninspired writing means a breathtaking mountain retreat like the Casa Grande Hotel in Utuado comes across as completely unremarkable and possibly worth skipping. Can't the writers come out and say "This place is great" or, if necessary, "This place is a dump?" A reader might wonder if these guys visited anything but bloated resorts at all. PR deserves better and I certainly expected better from Frommer's.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book had few redeeming qualities., June 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Puerto Rico (Paperback)

My husband and I purchased this book to go on our honeymoon and were sorely disappointed. The descriptions were vague and often downright incorrect. Luquillo beach, which the authors described as one of the best beaches in the Carribean, had dingy grey water and was filled with garbage. This is only one example of many many misrepresentations. The guide leaned almost exclusively to very expensive restaurants, and even these were nothing to write home about. We had more luck after we ditched the guide and started exploring on our own. Its one good point was some interesting background on the history of Puerto Rico. However, this was not enough to make me buy another Frommer's guide.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Cultural Tour of Puerto Rico for Mid-Income Tourists, January 11, 2003

By	D. R. Ransdell (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's Puerto Rico (Paperback)

This is a good guide for seeing the cultural sights of Puerto Rico, especially in San Juan. The book is geared towards travellers only moderately concerned with budget. A few pieces of information are outdated, such as bus numbers and changes in price, but the numbering system (up to three stars) is useful for the first-time traveller with little knowledge of the country. Detailed descriptions of the sights in San Juan help visitors get a sense of the city's history while the walking tour takes them around to key spots. There is a comparable walking tour of Ponce, along with a description of the Museo de Arte de Ponce which prevented me from missing out on this fine museum. Ponce is the only place where we tried one of the listed hotels. Although the book described Hotel Belgica as "roughing it," we thought the accommodations were fine and enjoyed the unusual atmosphere of an old-style hotel. The book is full of useful tidbits. For example, en route to Parguera (which should get two stars, not one), the name of the road changes several times along the way (101, 116, 315, 305, 304). No wonder people get confused. Additional information: The book should include a warning that the $5 boat trip to the Phosphorescent Bay near Parguera doesn't let you see much, so it's best to go with the friendly folks at Paradise Scuba Center (the address is listed). Additionally, the Rio Camuy Cave Park sometimes sells out of tickets by 9am (especially on weekends), so it's best to get there early. Finally, good snorkeling is available in San Juan on the west side of the Wyndham Hotel (Condado).