Any affordable, decent hotels in Puerto Rico?

There's plenty of decent hotels and there's some affordable hotels but they are never one-and-the-same. For instance, a Hamptons Inn or Holiday Inn in PR will be over $100 per night. Come to think of it, almost every place is over $100 per night.

For one of the rare places under $100, I'd recommend El Boriquen in Isla Verde. Chances are you'll have a room without a window though. (Isla Verde has also somewhat become the Daytona Beach of PR - Condado is a nicer area.)

For a decent place, well, there's a bunch. The Marriott in OSJ is nice but has small rooms. It doesn't really matter though because its location is superb. The Marriott at the SJ Convention Center is newer and top-notch, but there's nothing around it within walking distance. Both of these are expensive, though. Easily over $100 per night and then-some.

The East has a bunch of world-class resorts but they are very expensive.

For Ponce, the Holiday Inn is fine but only if you have a car, as it's to the west of the town. It has excellent views. The Melia is on the square in Ponce and is a nice old building with character. (It may have changed its name since I stayed there - not sure.)

Just don't stay at El Convento in Old San Juan. Although it's a wonderfully stunning historic building (one of the best examples of Spanish architecture in the world, actually), it usually charges close to $400 a night plus an occupancy tax (as all of the hotels do) plus an historic buildings tax, which is what really hits you hard. To wit, I stayed there for several nights at $400 per night only to learn about the historic building tax upon checkout, which bumped my total bill up to $500 per night. I was not happy.

Flamenco Beach on Culebra has a series of cottages you can rent that are quite reasonable considering they're right on one of the world's nicest beaches. You'd better make sure you have a reservation though.

Vieques has one world-class resort (I believe it's a Weston) that is expensive. A lot of celebrities stay there. However, most people rent houses when staying in Vieques. You can usually rent a house for less than the cost of one night at the resort. Also, there are some awesome B&B's on Vieques. Just use google to find plenty of websites.

Regardless of where in PR you end up, I think the best places to stay are to hire someone's apartment. Just google "holiday apartment rental" or some such and you'll find plenty of options. There are some really nice homes in OSJ for rent (and elsewhere).

Good luck.

Like NomadLawyer said, 40-75 dollars per night is not going to pay for your stay here on the island.

I'd recommend to check out the small hotels or "paradores". Here's the website: http://puertoricosmallhotels.com/

I've stayed in a couple of them and was never disappointed.

i spent seven weeks in puerto rico over january and february, with all but five nights in hotels virtually everywhere on the island...your desired price range is unrealistically low...the only thing in your price range is tent or cabin camping through parques nacionales or the department of natural resources (DRNA)...the good news is there are campsites in the central mountain range and on beaches...my wife and i found them very enjoyable...i could help you more specifically if i knew the part of p.r. where you want to spend the bulk of your time...for instance, vieques and culebra islands off the east coast have nice campgrounds...in the central mountain range, you can rent a nice cabin in monte guilarte forest and there are good campgrounds at de toro negro and maricao forests.

There is a hostel in Rincón that has semi private and private rooms that range between $25 and $100 a night. You might be able to get a private room there for about $45 a night. I won't mention the name of the place because of the spam rules of this website but lets just say that the place is a Rincón inn.

There is another hostel in San Juan that has similar prices and private rooms. This hostel in San Juan has guests from all over the world so you could say that it is a San Juan international hostel.

There are a few other ones, one of them claims to be a Palace, but as with all hostels the quality of your stay will depend on the other people who stay there at the time. Just don't expect luxury of any kind.

But if you're looking for a proper hotel, you won't find one for that amount of money. But there are about 5 coupon websites on the island that offer discounts and you might be able to take advantage of them.

Good luck!

Ok, thanks everyone for the information!

Hi, Samc72!

As everyone has said, it will be pretty hard (if not nearly impossible) to get a hotel for less than $100/night.  Normally, you might be able to get a Parador... these are smaller hotels which are scattered throughout the Island; most of them near the beach.  However, they do not have casinos or the luxury of a hotel.  Anyhow, for the most part they are clean, simple, some have restaurants and pools.  You can try checking Paradores of Puerto Rico.

Good luck & enjoy your stay!

Lauryburg wrote:

You can try checking Paradores of Puerto Rico.

Yeah, that's what I wrote a couple of posts up - I also provided the link..

Great!!!

Thanks again, everyone!

One more question I have. What's the best means of transportation in Puerto Rico? Should I rent a car, take the shuttle bus?

I plan on doing a lot! I want to see the rain forest and I want to see a few beaches and tourist landmarks. I want to visit Isla Verde if it's possible. Any information will be helpful.

Thanks

samc72 wrote:

One more question I have. What's the best means of transportation in Puerto Rico? Should I rent a car, take the shuttle bus?

Which shuttle bus?
If you want to see the island, rent a car - that's the only viable option.

samc72 wrote:

I plan on doing a lot! I want to see the rain forest and I want to see a few beaches and tourist landmarks. I want to visit Isla Verde if it's possible. Any information will be helpful.

To visit the mentioned places you'd need a hotel in the metro area like f.i. Condado or Ocean Park. In Isla Verde there's is not much to see: beaches that are difficult to reach because of the lack of parking space and many high rise buildings.

If you want to see a lot you should rent a car and plan to stay in different paradores all over the island.

An option without rental car would be staying in f.i. Condado (beaches all over) and visit Old San Juan by using public transport or a taxi.
You might book a couple of excursions to f.i. El Yunque rainforest.

Make a plan!

I've actually booked a hotel in the Condado area. I was thinking of renting a car but wasn't certain if it was the best option to get around.

I'll definitely look into the excursions to El Yunque rainforest. Sounds interesting!

Thanks for the heads up!

Hi, Samc72!

Looks like you're on your way to having a wonderful time! As some have suggested, you must rent a car if you are planning to explore other areas of the Island, mainly because public transportation in not too reliable.

Hope you have a great time and if you visit El Yunque, please stay on the 'veredas' that are identified; otherwise you might get lost.