Safest areas between San Juan and Dorado?

It seems I will be moving with my family to PR, work will be in Dorado but we need to live close to San Juan. Any areas that we should avoid? The house needs to be outside the downtown area but close enough for my wife to drive to the Natatorium in Central Park, maybe a 20 minute drive for her. Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom!

Check out Bayamon. I would recommend a gated community any where you live.

Thank you!

I, too, would recommend Bayamon.

Very few places I would consider unsafe, but as a general rule try to live away from Caserios (public housing). Gated communities are oversold, crimes do occur inside and people do find back ways and jump fences, besides who said there are no criminals living in gated communities?

Most of PR is safe, just use common sense and don't tempt people. But the biggest thing is be respectful they are sharing the island with you.

Gated communities are by far safer. They may not deter all crime but it does help. It was simply a suggestion.

When we lived in PR, we lived on the border of Bayamón and Guaynabo.  Guaynabo has many nice areas and may be worth looking into.

If looking in Bayamon, there's nice urbanizacion not close to town where is crowed in traffic. You're Looking about $800-$1,000. If is furnished it could vary!

I don't like Urbanizaciones, in most of them the houses are extremely close together, the houses are 2 to 10 feet from each other on the sides, they block each others wind, parking is a problem since some houses have 5 or 6 cars and most of them are parked in the street. When they throw a party they keep you awake, when they flush the toilet you hear it, when they fight its like they are fighting in front of you, when they come to pick somebody they honk the horn instead of getting out of the house and use the doorbell.

I lived in one many years and it was not too bad back in those days, I have since revisited and is bad and cars parked on both sides of the street with barely 1 car space in the middle of the street to drive thru.

There are some where houses are a little far apart but usually that is in well to do places.

Most of the PR folks that I know detest Bayamon for the traffic and general appearance. It is convenient and central, but after living there for over a year in a gated complex, I was glad to leave.

Management can make or break a complex, and as has been mentioned, the proximity to neighbors can be an issue. My relatives live in a very nice complex on the edge of Bayamon/Toa Baja, pool in the backyard and gorgeous. But, their neighbors are atrocious and security has been called several times because of issues. You literally hear everything as you are about 5 feet from the next house. While security is great, if you are looking for privacy, you will only find that that in the most expensive gated communities.

There are some really interesting developments happening in Santurce close to the Natatorium (Ciudadela comes to mind), very walkable and vibrant from what I saw. Lots of cafes, restaurants, etc. Security is so tight in the complex you have to come in with whomever lives there.

One thing to keep in mind is that PR-22 can be a mess any time, day or night. I saw a post on here a while back alleging that you can get to Dorado in 20 minutes from San Juan. Maybe if you owned a helicopter. :)

Oh Rey, I was living in one of those for the first year, every sound just bounced off every other house. I could hear everything at once, you could barely hear yourself think. Now we live in this condo community that is SO quiet some days I could swear we don't have ANY neighbors. Sure ppl play music, tvs, have parties but it doesn't reverberate like it did in that old neighborhood and sounds like it is blocks away instead of in your face. The level of privacy is such a relief too.

Used to live in Vega Baja, PR --a short drive to Dorado.

Toa Alta is a great choice too.