Four beaches for a swim this weekend, one for each stretch of the island, from Rincón to Ponce, and each came back clean on its latest water test, taken September 14 and 21. DRNA sampled again October 5 and 6, and its notice from that round does not list them.
Four beaches for this weekend
| # (Its number on the map above) | Beach (The beach as our guide holds it; the reading belongs to the DRNA station it sits on) | Town | What's there (Features mapped in OpenStreetMap within 350 m of the beach — presence, not a count) | Last reading (Clean: the latest published sample at the beach's DRNA station came in under the federal action value of 70 colonies of Enterococcus per 100 mL. The date is the day it was collected; each station's own number is on the beach water quality page) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Balneario de Rincón | Rincón | restrooms, parking, food and drink and playground | Clean · Sep 21 |
| 2 | Sardinera Beach | Dorado | parking and food and drink | Clean · Sep 14 |
| 3 | Playa del Caribe Hilton | San Juan | parking, food and drink, playground and rentals | Clean · Sep 14 |
| 4 | Playa Hilton Ponce | Ponce | parking and playground | Clean · Sep 14 |
DRNA sampled again October 5 and 6. Its per-beach counts from that round are not published yet, and its notice from that round does not list any beach above.
A balneario is a public beach with an operator — usually the Departamento de Recreación y Deportes or the town — which is where the restrooms, the gate and the parking come from. Two of the four here are.
What each coast offers
Two of this week’s picks are balnearios, the public beaches run by the town, with a gate, an operator and restrooms. Balneario de Rincón, on the West stretch, is the most fully equipped of the four, with restrooms, parking, food and drink and a playground, so it suits a family that wants everything within a short walk of the sand. Sardinera Beach in Dorado, on the North stretch, is run by the Municipio de Dorado and keeps things simpler, with parking and food and drink close by.
The other two are everyday city beaches that make an easy day trip. Playa del Caribe Hilton in San Juan has the widest range nearby, from parking and food and drink to a playground and rentals, which makes it a good fit for a mixed group that wants options once it arrives. Playa Hilton Ponce, on the South stretch, is the quieter pick, with parking and a playground and little else mapped close by.
The weekend forecast
Saturday’s forecast is drizzle at three and thunderstorms at Balneario de Rincón, with highs of 85 to 88°F. Rain is likely at three of them. Sunday brings drizzle at two and thunderstorms at Sardinera Beach and Playa Hilton Ponce.
| Beach | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| Balneario de RincónRincón | Thunderstorm88°F 64% rain | Drizzle88°F 57% rain |
| Sardinera BeachDorado | Drizzle87°F 27% rain | Thunderstorm87°F 63% rain |
| Playa del Caribe HiltonSan Juan | Drizzle85°F 73% rain | Drizzle84°F 85% rain |
| Playa Hilton PoncePonce | Drizzle87°F 91% rain | Thunderstorm88°F 80% rain |
Forecasts are Open-Meteo’s for each beach’s coordinates, read the morning this was published.
Before you go
Four beaches are under a DRNA advisory this week and best skipped until the next notice lifts it: Tropical Beach (Naguabo), Playa Guayanés (Yabucoa), Balneario Cerro Gordo (Vega Alta) and Balneario Pico de Piedra (Aguada).
What a reading does and does not tell you
“Came back clean” means one water sample, taken at one station in the sampling run of September 14 and 21, came in under the 70-colony federal action value — what DRNA calls within limits. It is the strongest thing the monitoring program can say, and it is a description of that morning, not a forecast for Saturday. Rain is the variable that moves these numbers fastest: runoff after a heavy shower can put a beach over the action value hours after a clean sample was taken, and the next notice is a week away.
A beach the notice does not name was either within limits that round or was not sampled, and the per-beach counts that would say which are not published yet. An advisory is lifted by the next notice, not by the weather; DRNA’s notice is the only thing that puts a beach under one.
Every monitoring station, with its own number and its own date, is on the beach water quality page, and the official list is DRNA’s current beach notice (also a scanned PDF).
This is the 4th Where to Swim. Read the previous Where to Swim.