La Concha Resort, Puerto Rico

I'm back from a lovely vacation in Puerto Rico, which is such a great spot - I highly recommend it. Four hour direct flight from Boston on JetBlue, which means you can leave after work on a Friday and be there in time to enjoy the nightlife.

You may recall that I stayed at El Conquistador last time around, which is in Fajardo on the East Coast of the island (about 50 minutes from San Juan). While that resort was beautiful, with gorgeous rooms, a private island of white sand beaches, and close proximity to Bio Bay and El Yunque rain forest, its remote location meant you rarely left the resort. And the restaurants/food options there weren't great.

This time, I opted for a spot closer to the action: La Concha Resort along the Condado Beach region of San Juan. It was built in 1958 but renovated in 2008 and considered to be one of the most modern & luxurious hotels on the island, often frequented by celebrities (more on this in a later post!).

It is indeed modern, with a very Miami feel...from the interior design to the glamorous patrons packing the lobby bar on weekend nights. It boasts 5 on-site restaurants, a 24-hour casino, a gym, salon, 3 pools, and of course the beach. Here are some highlights:

Our room:

 

The view from our room:

 

The three pools:

 
 
 

 

Poolside:

 

The seared-ahi tuna salad at Solera, the open-air, pool-side restaurant - our favorite spot for lunch!

 

The infamous lobby bar:

 

The fancy La Perla restaurant, which sits in a giant seashell over the ocean (the blue part surrounding it is actually water):

 
 
 
 

Overall, a great spot. It's also a short walk to some other great restaurants and shops, and a quick cab ride to Old San Juan, my favorite part of the city (more on that later, too).

To see the full set of pictures from La Concha, including ones of my lovely travel companions, head on over to the Flickr set.