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It seems like everyone has their eyes on an Italian or Greek island summer this year, but you know what we’ve always said: when the craving for turquoise water and piña colada strikes, there’s no better place to switch off and relax than in the good old Caribbean.
Now we get it if you don’t want to deal with the whole hassle of international travel.
It is a very different travel landscape than you might have been used to a few years agowhat about the growing web of restrictions and the US passport that diminishes in strength every year – not sure what we’re talking about?
Read it here, but you don’t actually need a passport to tap into that Caribbean magic.
Forget the Cozumels, Punta Canas and Jamaicas of the world.
One of the trendiest Caribbean islands right now is welcoming Americans without passports…and before you know it, you’re disappearing down a veritable Bad Bunny rabbit hole and wondering if moving there full-time is really a terrible idea.
Puerto Rico is the handiest getaway in the Caribbean this summer
Add between Southwest more non-stop flights of Florida, to a 13% increase in tourism revenue year after yearit’s safe to say that La Isla del Encanto has never been as trendy as it is right now.
This could definitely have something to do with Bad Bunny fans coming there for one DtMF-summer with soundtrack, but even if you’re not really a big fan of the Puerto Rican superstar, the sun, Latin culture and lush coastal scenery are will definitely convince you.
However, unlike most Caribbean destinations, Puerto Rico is open to US citizens without a passport.
Sorry to say it like your 9th grade geography teacher, but as I’m sure you know at this point, the island is an unincorporated territory of the United States.
No, it’s not a state, and the fact that it has its own flag, and Puerto Ricans themselves proudly claim a separate nationality and cultural identity, probably makes you wonder if you’ve got your facts wrong, but Puerto Rico is. might as well be part of the US of A. such as Hawaii or Alaska, for example.
What ID can you use to travel to Puerto Rico as a US citizen?
Voting characteristics and territorial peculiarities aside, Puerto Ricans are American citizens, and at the international level it is Washington that handles foreign affairs and defense.
This makes it just as easy to fly to Puerto Rico as to Mauiwithout carrying an internationally valid passport, as long as you can present one of the following alternatives:
- A REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or state ID (the one with the star)
- A US passport card
- A Trusted Traveler card (Globaly Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI)
- Military ID
- Other TSA-approved IDs (see full list here)
Naturally, the above applies to US citizens only. If you are flying to Puerto Rico as a non-US citizen, you will still need your internationally valid passport.
International travel has become a bit tricky as countries double down on security and re-tighten entry rules due to the post-COVID travel boom.
Thailand just reduced the number of days Americans can stay in the country from 60 to 30 days, and if you’re heading to Europe this summer, you may want to prepare for long border delays and airport lines due to mandatory fingerprinting and new EES registration.
If you fly abroad, anywhere not PR this summer: perform a small destination check on the Entry Requirement Checker to avoid problems at the boarding gate.
Going to Puerto Rico, on the other hand, is as lighthearted as it ever was.
Old world charm everywhere you look
Speaking of Europe, you don’t actually have to fly halfway around the world to soak up all that Old World charm:
San Juan, the capital of Boricua, has everything Old world charm and Mediterranean flair of a Spanish city, minus the fingerprints and the Schengen bureaucracy.
Built by the Spanish after their conquest of the island in the 16th century, it is a cobbled maze of colonial churches, in the shadows squaresand brightly painted facades that could easily fit anywhere in Andalusia.
It has not one, but two enormous oceanfront castles, Castillo San Felipe del Morro And Castillo San Cristobalthe kind of quintessential European sights you don’t normally see on this side of the pond, a picturesque waterfront promenade in Paseo de la Princesathat looks as beautiful as it sounds, and palm tree-lined streets that somehow never seem to lose their vibrancy.
Wondering how safe Puerto Rico is to visit?
Due to its U.S. territorial status and unique status under the U.S. Constitution, it happens to be one of the most stable, tourist-friendly destinations in the Caribbean.
While risks can never exactly be downplayed, pickpocketing, violent crime, and other types of petty crime that plague much of Latin America happen on a significantly smaller scale here, and travelers generally feel safe during their visit.
The island currently scores an exemplary 85 out of 100 on the Traveler Safety Index, indicating strong overall safety conditions for visitors:
The beaches here? Amazing.
Metropolitan San Juan also has a number of beautiful beaches to its name. This is the Caribbean after all:
Even though it is not an island per se, Isla Verde certainly feels that waywith its long stretch of soft, golden sand, surrounded by skyscraper-high palm trees, beachside resorts and relaxed cocktail bars.
In Condado, where all the high-rise hotels and nightlife are centered, you’ll find more powdery sand, turquoise waves and beach clubs, and for the snorkeling enthusiasts there, El Escambrón is known for its coral reefs and calmer waters.
Outside San Juan, the An day trip you definitely want to book is El Yunque: this is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest systemand it’s chock full of waterfalls, jungle hikes, swimming holes and Costa Rica-esque misty mountain scenery.
If you have time, take a little detour to Ponce, Puerto Rico’s elegant second city. It has all the colonial charm of San Juan, with Spanish-built plazas, museums and family restaurants, only the pace is much slower.
Are there surfers here?
Rincón, on the west side of the island, is where you immediately head: think big waves, beach bars playing reggaetón 24 hours a day, and a relaxed surf town atmosphere that feels more like a real Pacific coastline than the Caribbean.
Hungry for more PR? Check out this incredible, lesser-known beach town that was recently voted the island’s best affordable summer getaway.
