Sure, there are the regular resort trappings of any tourism spot - visitors can easily find Italian, sushi and burger options, or take refuge in familiar chains. It all culminates in foodways that are just as joyous, but distinct, from neighbors like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, making Puerto Rico a culinary leader in the Caribbean. And a booming cocktail scene has even caught the attention of the World’s 50 Best Bars. Cafés serving homegrown coffee outnumber Starbucks by far. Farming, which was gaining momentum before hurricanes Irma and Maria, is slowly coming back, with new organic markets popping up throughout the island and a renewed movement toward more self-sufficiency. Restaurants all over the island have opened at a clip, with chefs such as Jose Enrique Montes (Jose Enrique) and Gabriel Hernandez (Verde Mesa) gaining recognition from the James Beard Foundation Awards, and chefs such as Juan Jose Cuevas at 1919 designing menus that emphasize all things local. The island has seen a food renaissance within the last decade.
Every good beach day includes a kiosk-hop for fritters, and large groups dining al fresco at oceanfront seafood spots, sharing platters of Caribbean lobster and whole fish, is not an uncommon sight. Caravans crawl the “pork highways,” lined with lechoneras roasting whole pigs.
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The chinchorreo tradition, for example, brings busloads of families and friends through a series of roadside stands for snacks and cold drinks. Today, rituals around the act of eating portray Puerto Ricans’ inherent drive to celebrate and socialize. This browser does not support the video tag. Now, with the help of local islanders, we’ve assembled this all-encompassing DestiNATION guide to help you navigate everything you need to see, eat, and do in San Juan, Rincón, and beyond. Thanks to the hurricane recovery efforts of its fiercely resilient residents, there’s never been a better time to visit Puerto Rico - which is why we named it one of the 19 best places to go in 2019. One trip won’t be enough to understand it (people have made entire careers out of trying) but it will be enough to entice you into coming back for more.
Since 1898, when the US seized Puerto Rico (and, briefly, Cuba) from Spain in the Spanish-American War, US and Latin American cultural influences have been rubbing up against each other in Puerto Rico, forging an identity that, while conflicted and contested because of the obvious colonialism, is like nowhere else on the planet.
Yet this is, strangely, all part of Puerto Rico’s authenticity.
Travelers seeking “authentic" cultural experiences might be thrown off by this US export and others like it (Subway, Pizza Hut, Burger King, to name just a few). Visitors will find that English is widely spoken, the dollar is king (in fact, there is no other currency) and, well, there are lots of Dunkin’ Donuts. As a US commonwealth, Puerto Ricans are American citizens (though they don’t enjoy all the benefits of citizenship). To answer the original question: Yes, you can leave your passport at home. Yet for so many Americans, Puerto Rico remains a question mark on the map, especially after hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island in 2017.