LUXURY IN LUQUILLO II OCEAN FRONT CONDO

The view from the condo was hard to beat. You could see the ocean and the beaches for miles and miles. The beach right outside the condo became our favorite place as the waves were huge. We loved taking the boogie boards and swimming in the ocean. All in all, we had a great time in Luquillo and enjoying all of the awesome food around the condo. We would definitely come back for another vacation.

This condo's greatest asset is that it sits adjacent to an incredible undeveloped and wild beach that stretches several miles east. You take the elevator down, walk onto the beach, turn right, and your are alone. My wife and I walked it almost daily and hiking for over 90 minutes east of the condo you see nothing but ocean, dunes, sand, and the tropical forest. The only people we saw were a sea turtle reseacher and a Department of Natural Resources employee patrolling the beach. I brought my snorkeling gear with me and one hour hike from the condo is a quiet cove that is great for swimming through the reef. There are over 200 marked sea turtle nests on the beach and every day we saw fresh Leatherback Sea Turtle tracks from the night before leading to and away from the new nests. This condo is also only 10 minutes from Fajardo (ferry to Vieques and Culebra) and 20 minutes from Ceiba where we chartered a cheap flight to Culebra for the day--an amazing adventure in itself. I recommend this for anyone who desires a real beach experience--seeing how Puerto Rico may have looked when Juan Ponce De Leon was governor, 500 years ago.

My family (6 of us including 2 children and 2 grandparents) stayed at this condo in mid May 2011. Despite having more rain than even the locals could remember, we had a wonderful time staying at this condo in Luquillo with a few nice days (we knew May was the rainy season but it had more day long overcast/rains than usual). It is very close to the rain forest (amazing), a short 15 min. drive over to Fajardo (we took the ferry over to Culebra and spent the day at Flamenco Beach which is truly breath taking), and it only a half hour or so to San Juan which we didn't spend too much time in due to the small children but it was great to see/experience as well. Luquillo Beach (a short three minute drive) is also a great place to spend the day either for couples or a family; it has very calm waters to swim in, is exceptionally clean, nice facilities, a great little lunch spot with beer, alcoholic drinks and non-alcholic drinks alike; definitely pay the $5 or so to park in the actual park area as the area behind the kioskos is totally trashed by the locals. The kioskos are very unique to eat at and offer a great variety with our favorite being El Jeffe Burger. Other stand alone restaurants we also liked in Luquillo were the Brass Cactus (2 min. drive) where we ate twice, Pasta y Pueblo (sp?) which had the best food in the world for the very modest shack it is in, and Lolita's mexican restaurant (4 min. drive) was also great. The little surfer bar on the la pared beach just to the left of the condo was a great place for adults to hang out in the afternoon.
I did not find this as a negative as my wife and I have traveled out of the country to many island locations and we were aware of the poverty level area around the condo complex, but vacationers should be aware that the area (not beach front) surrounding the condo is a very poor/depressed community. This is typical of many carribean islands with the nice beachfront condos/resorts and directly behind them is the ghetto. We didn't go out much at night (walking) but during the day all of the people were nice and welcoming. My parents had not been out of the continental U.S. before and it took them a couple days to build up their comfort level as it is definitely different than Florida, etc.
I would recommed this condo and trip to families or couples who want to experience a great place and different culture. Also, Spanish is the primary language but everywhere we went someone spoke english.