4-Hour Tour of San Juan's Historic Monuments

Plaza Colon

Highlights

Admire Castillo San Cristobal and El Morro

Take pictures at Ballaja Barracks as you stroll on the battlefield

Enjoy a drive down the Cristo Street

San Juan, Carolina

cultural, historical, sightseeing

Group Tour

4 Hours

Easy

English

Description

Experience Old San Juan in a delightful ode to its seat of honour within the history of the New World’s conquest. Receive insight into the life of the typical city dwellers along with the military origins of the Spanish stronghold that became the City of Saint John the Baptist as you see sites such as Castillo San Cristobal, Ballaja Barracks, La Catedral San Juan Bautista, and La Fortaleza.

Itinerary

Old San Juan Tour - Driving
- Visit the State Capitol on the outskirts and you are rewarded with beautiful mosaics and acquire a broader sense of the Puerto Rican identity.
- Continue by driving into and along with the most famous landmarks of the San Juan National Historic Site.
- Back in the vehicle, and as you enter, view Castillo San Cristobal and El Morro.
- Stop at Ballaja. Take pictures here as you stroll about the battlefield, touch the battlement walls and their embrasures.
- Look on the Cemetery below, between you and the shore.
- Finish the tour with a drive down Cristo Street, where La Catedral San Juan Bautista and La Fortaleza (the Governor’s Palace) are found. Your San Juan guide will show you around spotlighting the best San Juan offers, its history and mystique.
Some sights you’ll see include:
San Juan Cathedral (1528), Cathedral, Basilica, and first place of worship
La Fortaleza (1533), is the oldest seat of government in continuous use in the Americas.
Columbus Square (1772) between the historic old city and the new.
Ballaja Barracks (1854), the last Spanish construction of monumental proportions in the Americas. Barracks, Hospital, Culture Center and patrimony of P.R. to the world.
State Capitol (1924) was built to guard the city’s harbour entrance.

What's Included

Chilled bottled water and a Frito-Lay's snack

What's Excluded

San Juan National Historic Site: Castillo San Felipe del Morro and/or Castillo San Cristobal

Know Before You Go

This tour does not enter San Juan National Historic Site.

Though it is highly recommended you visit Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristobal, because of both merit a detailed explanation. The tour time centres on the city and its parts as they fit each other. The guides touch on how San Juan came to be, why it came to be so heavily fortified, who attacked and when. Along with these, they address other things that can help a visitor better connect its dots, understanding more of the old city's past and how it reached its present.

Important Note: The State Capital may or may not be accessed. This depends entirely on the directives and security measures followed by the police force. The guides don't control this access.