Visiting Puerto Rico: the essentials

Getting in and flying home

The ID you need, and the one inspection that surprises people on the way back.

• From the mainland it is a domestic flight: no passport for U.S. citizens. The TSA checkpoint asks for the same ID as any domestic flight, a REAL ID-compliant license or a passport.
• Visitors who are not U.S. citizens enter on the same terms as the rest of the United States: a passport and a visa or an approved ESTA.
• Flying back to the mainland, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors check every bag before check-in; most fresh fruit, plants and soil stay behind.
• San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín airport (SJU) is in Carolina, east of the city; Aguadilla (BQN) and Ponce (PSE) take some mainland flights. The line below is the FAA's delay programs for SJU and the gateways; your own flight's status is the airline's.

Sources: TSA: REAL ID (opens in a new tab) · CBP: ESTA (opens in a new tab) · USDA APHIS: traveling from Puerto Rico (opens in a new tab)

Language, time, phones and money

What works as at home, and what doesn't.

• Spanish and English are both official; Spanish is what you will hear most outside the tourist areas.
• Atlantic Standard Time all year, with no daylight saving: the same clock as New York in summer, an hour ahead of it in winter.
• U.S. phone plans generally work as at home; local numbers start 787 or 939. Outlets are U.S. plugs at 120 volts.
• The U.S. dollar. Cards are taken almost everywhere in the metro area; carry some cash for kiosks, small towns and públicos.
• Sales tax (IVU) is 11.5% on most purchases (10.5% commonwealth + 1% municipal).
• Tipping runs as on the mainland: 15 to 20% at a sit-down restaurant. Check the bill first; some add a service charge, especially for groups.

Sources: Hacienda — IVU (sales & use tax) (opens in a new tab)

Getting around

Driving and tolls, the San Juan metro, públicos between towns, and the ferry to the islands.

• Driving is on the right. Speed limits are in miles per hour, but distances on road signs are in kilometers and gasoline is sold by the liter.
• A valid U.S. driver's license is all a visitor needs to drive.
• The toll highways (PR-22, PR-52, PR-53 and PR-66 among them) take no cash: tolls are charged electronically through AutoExpreso. Rental cars carry a toll tag and the rental company bills the tolls back, often with a fee, so ask at the counter.
• In the San Juan area the Tren Urbano runs one line from Bayamón to Santurce, AMA buses cover the metro, and Uber operates. Tourist taxis at the airport and the cruise piers charge set fares by zone, published by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
• Between towns, públicos (shared vans) leave from each town's terminal when they fill, mostly in the daytime on weekdays; they are cheap, cash only, and keep no timetable.
• Vieques and Culebra are reached by ferry from Ceiba or by small plane. Ferry Watch, below, has today's sailings and every change the operator has posted.

Sources: AutoExpreso (tolls) (opens in a new tab) · DTOP (driving) (opens in a new tab) · Puerto Rico Tourism Company (opens in a new tab) · Puerto Rico Ferry (opens in a new tab)

Beaches and the water

Currents, the beaches under a water-quality advisory, the sun, and the tap.

• Most beaches have no lifeguard. The north and west coasts get big surf and rip currents, most of all with winter swells; the National Weather Service posts its rip current and high surf statements with the alerts on this page.
• Caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shore until you are out of it, then back in at an angle.
• The Department of Natural Resources (DRNA) samples the water at beaches across the island; a beach under its advisory is not suitable for swimming. The line below is this week's word.
• The sun is strong all year. In summer, Saharan dust can haze the sky; the weather page carries the air quality reading.
• AAA treats the public tap water. When a storm or an outage affects an area, AAA can issue a boil-water notice; the water page lists them.

Sources: NWS: rip current safety (opens in a new tab) · Beach water quality (787daily) · Water service and notices (787daily)

Weather and hurricane season

The alerts in force now, and the season to plan around.

• Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, busiest from mid-August to mid-October.
• If a storm threatens, follow the instructions of the government and NWS San Juan. The Hurricane Hub tracks every system the National Hurricane Center is watching and lists what's closed on a storm day.
• Afternoon showers are common, more so in the mountains and in El Yunque; flash floods rise fast in the interior's rivers.

It is hurricane season now. The Hurricane Hub →

Sources: NWS San Juan (opens in a new tab) · NHC: hurricane season climatology (opens in a new tab)

Holidays and what's closed

Puerto Rico keeps the federal holidays and its own.

• Puerto Rico observes the U.S. federal holidays and its own. On each, government offices and public schools close; what else closes, from banks to stores, is on the holidays page.

Sources: Holidays and what's closed (787daily)

Emergency numbers

The numbers to keep.

• 911 for police, fire and ambulance, from any phone.
• Poison control: 1-800-222-1222.
• At sea, call 911 or the Coast Guard on VHF channel 16.
• Shelters and disaster information come from Puerto Rico's emergency management bureau (NMEAD).

Sources: Poison Control (opens in a new tab) · NMEAD (emergency management) (opens in a new tab)