Río Camuy Cave Park

A 268-acre park preserved and administrated by Puerto Rico Park Trust. Enjoy a vacation day for the whole family on walking trails, picnic areas, food facilities, exhibition hall, theater, souvenir shop. Experienced cavers can get dirty and wet by climbing, scrambling, abseiling and swimming through the underground river system, but you have to know the difference between grappling and rappelling to contemplate entering this dangerous terrain. Mere mortals can get an antiseptic version of these thrills by riding a trolley-tram into a sinkhole and accessing Cueva Clara. From the safety of viewing platforms, you can glimpse the Camuy River as it flows past the 120m (400ft) deep Tres Pueblos Sinkhole.

El Yunque

El Yunque, the only rain forest in the U.S. National Park Service, is 28,000 acres of lush tropical forest, unique flora and fauna, and myriad brooks and waterfalls. Hiking trails and rest huts abound, and an observation tower offers sweeping views of the northeast corner of the Island. El Portal Tropical Forest Center has film exhibits and interactive displays about the rain forest. Groups can also use the Forest Center building for special events after 5:00 PM. The rain forest is only 45 minutes from San Juan.

There are more than 400 tree and fern species in the 11,200 ha (28,000 acre) reserve, most of them growing like crazy in the hothouse conditions created when sopping clouds blown in by the Atlantic winds dump their load on the Luquillo range. There are 13 well-maintained hiking trails in the reserve, ranging from leisurely 15-minute prances along sealed paths to a trek to the peak of El Yunque. You might not see the Taíno spirit up top, but on a clear day you may bag an eyeful of the Virgin Islands.

San Juan

The beautiful city of San Juan was founded in 1521. The capital of Puerto Rico is a spirited modern metropolis with high-rise beach strips, a major commercial center and a justly famous historic colonial core. The city was used as a stopover for ships that came from Spain and a stronghold to prevent the enemy from taking control of the island and making Puerto Rico an enemy base. It dates from the early 16th century, making it the second-oldest city in the Americas (after granddaddy Cuzco, Peru). Today the cobblestone streets, interior patios, hanging balconies, plazas, and chapels make of this historic city a charming and picturesque place to visit.

San Juan had the first municipal government in the "New World," outside Santo Domingo, as well as the first military presidio in Spanish America. By the 19th century, the old city had become a charming residential and commercial district. The city itself, with its institutional buildings, museums, houses, churches, plazas, and commercial buildings, is part of the San Juan Historic Zone which is administered by municipal, State and Federal agencies..

Ponce

Ponce is Puerto Rico's second largest city. Also known as "La Perla del Sur" which means 'Pearl of the South'. Ponce was founded in 1692 by Loíza Ponce de León. Ponce was Spain's capital of the southern region until it fell to the U.S. in 1898.

The heart of Ponce dates from the late 17th century and has been declared a national treasure. It consists of plazas and churches and highly decorative colonial homes, some glorious fountains, many beautiful neoclassical buildings and facades and a unique fire station. The city's reputation as a center of cultural excellence comes in the modern form of the Ponce Museum of Art, the best in the Caribbean, and is enhanced by the Museum of the History of Ponce and the Puerto Rican Music Museum. If you're a sucker for a vista, the plexiglass Cruceta el Vigia just north of the center looks over Ponce to the sea.

Ponce is an important trading and distribution center, and has a port of entry, Playa de Ponce Port is Puerto Rico's principal shipping port and one of the busiest ports in the Caribbean area, handles tobacco, coffee, rum, and sugar cane.

The excellent Tibes Indian Ceremonial Center, a reconstructed Arawak village on an Amerindian archaeological site is about 15 minutes north of the town center. Access to the site is by guided tour only - it's a very interesting walk through a botanic garden, a reconstructed Arawak village, sporting grounds and the archaeological site where digging continues. The museum, though small, is well-presented and informative.

San Germán

This picturesque town set in the southwestern foothills of the Cordillera Central looks like it was lifted lock stock and barrel from Mediterranean Spain. It's Puerto Rico's oldest settlement outside San Juan, and it wears its flaky plaster heritage with charm and aplomb. There's nothing more taxing to do here than take a genteel stroll through the town's two plazas, admire the courtly townhouses graced with gingerbread trim and poke your nose in the Church of Porta Coeli ('Gate of Heaven'). The latter was built by Dominican monks in 1606, and its august career includes a stint in the 19th century as the town jail.

San Germán is close to Phosphorescent Bay, where you can prove you're inhabiting the body electric, and Boquerón Beach, one of Puerto Rico's most gorgeous strands