A large gated community on the east coast of Puerto Rico with a hotel, villas, condos, etc, in several spread out communities with two golf courses, tennis, horseback riding and a marina.

Lodging

We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton, where we were upgraded to a suite. A little tired, and with no outdoor space of any sort, but it did have two closets and plenty of space (and a makeup mirror!). The lobby, partly outdoors, seemed OK, the pool pleasant and the beach nice excepting the constant noise of the wind and waves. More of a surfing than bathing beach and the undertow dangerous. Bizarrely, no umbrellas at the pool or beach. No children’s program in sight, so not too many children.

Eating

Two lunch places/outdoor bars, at the pool and beach. Pretty good, varied selection, but the one by the pool was SLOW.

Only breakfast place was a David’s Cookies shop in the lobby that served Danish, bagels and eggs (no table service).

The restaurants were pleasant, but with a laid back attitude. When they decided they had enough reservations, they just stopped answering the phone. Nonetheless, we didn’t starve. We had two good dinners at Caracoles, within walking distance of the hotel, behind the tennis center but down a dark unpaved road. Good Caesar, jambalaya, local preparation of chicken with garlic sauce and pizza (you have to ask for it specially). People ate early; at 9 p.m. we were the last diners to be seated. Another nice dinner at Candelero, nice salads (although bleh tomatoes everywhere we ate) and churrasco.

On New Year’s Eve, we ate at Chez Daniel, the chef being one of the well-known chefs of Puerto Rico, who emigrated from France many years ago. Good bistro food, although without the interest of the food we had in San Juan.