Puerto Rico Info
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 Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject: NIGHTLIFE IN PUERTO RICO / PUERTO RICO NIGHTLIFE (SAN JUAN) |
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NIGHTLIFE IN PUERTO RICO (SAN JUAN)
San Juan nightlife comes in all varieties. From the vibrant performing-arts scene to street-level salsa and the casinos, discos, and bars, there's plenty of entertainment available almost any evening.
As in a Spanish city, nightlife begins very late, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Hang out until the late, late afternoon on the beach, have dinner around 8 o'clock (nine would be even more fashionable), and then the night is yours. The true party animal will rock until the broad daylight.
Qué Pasa?, the official visitor's guide to Puerto Rico, lists cultural events, including music, dance, theatre, film, and art exhibits. It's distributed free by the tourist office.
Romantic Sunsets
There is no better place on a Sunday night from 5:30 to 7pm to watch the sun set over Old San Juan than at Paseo de la Princesa. In this evocative colonial setting, you can hear local trios serenade you as the sun goes down. After such a romantic interlude, the night is yours. Of course, you should take along a lover.
La Rumba Party Cruise
The trouble with most nightlife venues in San Juan is that the real parties in conventional night clubs begin at hours so impossibly late that the average visitor will tend to be deep asleep by the time the first dancers begin to rock 'n' roll. So if you love to salsa and merengue, but if you maintain relatively conservative ideas about your bedtime, consider the La Rumba Party Cruise as a viable option. It all takes place aboard a neon-lit two-level mini-cruiser that's moored most of the time to a point near Old San Juan's cruise pier no. 1 (Plaza Darsenas) and the Wyndham Old San Juan Hotel. Schedules vary according to business, but tend to last 75 minutes each, and depart every Thursday at 9:30pm, every Friday and Saturday at 9:30pm, 11:30pm, and 1:30am; and every Sunday at 9:30pm and 11:30pm. And if you show up about an hour prior to a scheduled departure, you can fit in up to an extra hour's worth of shaking your booty to Latino music as the boat sits in port, music blaring, waiting for other clients. Cruises cost $12 per person, with a cash bar on board selling beer for between $4 and $6 each, depending on the brand. There's a sightseeing benefit to the experience as well: en route, as it chugs out to sea, participants garner sea-fronting views of both of San Juan's 18th-century forts and the coastline of Isla Verde. For reservations and more information, call tel. 787/375-5211.
Casinos
Many visitors come to Puerto Rico on package deals and stay at one of the posh hotels at the Condado or Isla Verde just to gamble. Nearly all the large hotels in San Juan/Condado/Isla Verde offer casinos, and there are other large casinos at some of the bigger resorts outside the metropolitan area. The atmosphere in the casinos is casual, but still you shouldn't show up in bathing suits or shorts. Most of the casinos open around noon and close at 2, 3, or 4am. Guest patrons must be at least 18 years old to enter.
The casino generating all the excitement today is the 18,500-square-foot (1,719 sq. m) Ritz-Carlton Casino, Avenue of Governors, Isla Verde (tel. 787/253-1700), the largest casino in Puerto Rico. It combines the elegant decor of the 1940s with tropical fabrics and patterns. This is one of the plushest and most exclusive entertainment complexes in the Caribbean. You almost expect to see Joan Crawford -- beautifully frocked, of course -- arrive on the arm of Clark Gable. It features traditional games such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, and slot machines.
One of the splashiest of San Juan's casinos is at the Wyndham Old San Juan Hotel & Casino, Calle Brumbaugh 100 (tel. 787/721-5100), where five-card stud competes with some 240 slot machines and roulette tables. You can also try your luck at the Wyndham El San Juan Hotel & Casino (one of the most grand), Av. Isla Verde 6063 (tel. 787/791-1000), or the Wyndham Condado Plaza Hotel & Casino, Av. Ashford 999 (tel. 787/721-1000). You do not have to flash passports or pay any admission fees.
Cockfights
A brutal sport not to everyone's taste, cockfights are legal in Puerto Rico. The most authentic are in Salinas, a town on the southern coast with a southwestern ethos, which has galleras, or rings, for cockfighting. But you don't have to go all the way there to see a match. About three fights per week take place at the Coliseo Gallistico, Av. Isla Verde 6600, Av. Isla Verde, esquina Los Gobernadores. Call tel. 787/791-6005 for the schedule and to order tickets, which cost $10, $12, $20, or $35, depending on the seat. The best time to attend cockfights is from January to May, as more fights are scheduled at that time. Hours are Tuesday to Thursday 4 to 10pm and Saturday 2 to 9pm.
Bars
More than any other place in the Caribbean, San Juan has a nightlife that successfully combines New York hip with Latino zest and the music of the Spanish tropics.
First, head for a pair of holes in the wall across the street from the El Convento Hotel. El Batey, Calle del Cristo 101 (no phone), and Don Pablo, Calle del Cristo 103 (no phone), are battered side-by-side hangouts with a clientele of locals, expatriates, and occasional visitors. (In the 1980s, a Hollywood director selected these spots as the set for a Central American drug den, much to the amusement of the regular clientele.) Whereas El Batey's music remains firmly grounded in the rock 'n' roll classics of the 1970s, with a scattering of Elvis Presley hits, Don Pablo prides itself on cutting-edge music that's continually analyzed by the counterculture aficionados who hang out here. El Batey is open daily from 2pm to 6am; Don Pablo, daily from 8pm to 4am.
These bars, along with the dark and smoky Café Bohemia, just across the street, in the cellar of the El Convento Hotel, Calle del Cristo 100 (tel. 787/723-9020), are hip hangouts for late-night dialogues. At this hideaway you can often hear live jazz while enjoying fruity cocktails, drinks, and light meals. Older locals mingle with hotel guests, the patronage mainly in the post-35 age group.
You might also stumble into Carli Café Concierto, Calle Tetuán 206, off Plazoleta Rafael Carrión (tel. 787/725-4927). This is one of Old Town's best spots for drinking margaritas and watching the world go by. Owner Carli Muñoz, who earned fame as one of The Beach Boys, plays jazz and piano classics nightly, often with invited guests. There is no cover charge.
Also recommended as a dining option, Tantra, Calle Fortaleza 356, (tel. 787/977-8141), serves creative martinis to crowds of interesting clients till very late (between 4 and 5am) every Tuesday to Saturday. After the mainstream menu ends, a different menu that includes platters of fried prawns and pizzas is made available, along with one of the most intriguing selections of martinis in town. Priced at between $8 and $9 each, they include versions with mango, passion fruit, and a personal favourite, a version with cinnamon and clove. Live belly dancers amuse the crowd on Friday and Saturday nights, and any night of the week, you can rent, for $20, a Mogul-style hookah pipe for every member of your dining table if the idea of playing pasha for a night appeals to you. |
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