This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Puerto Rico, The All-Star Island. All opinions are 100% mine.
If you live in New England, you love the snowy part of the winter months, but this year mother nature has taken it a bit too far. Here in Boston we’ve already had more than 95 inches of snow this season, nearly 60 inches of which has hit in February alone. With 10 days left to go in the month, we officially rank second as the snowiest season ever. Not to bore you with stats… but that’s a lot of snow… as you can see in the pic below I took the other day or in this BuzzFeed article with “pictures that perfectly capture how insane the snow in New England is.”
Anyway, I’ve had enough of the snow, so I’m continuing my mission to plan a tropical vacation. I started thinking about this back in November when the cold first hit (more on that here), but now I really need some sunshine to look forward to.
One of the destinations I’ve been thinking about is Puerto Rico. I’ve been there a couple times, but haven’t been recently and one of the best things about it is how easy it is to get to from Boston (and other major cities). You can jump on a four-hour direct flight (no passport or foreign currency needed) and you’re there in no time, sitting on the beach with a drink in your hand.
{W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island – pic via Starwood Hotels}
While I’m most concerned with relaxing on the beach and maybe at the spa right now, there are also so many other world-class attractions for everyone to enjoy, whether you’re into golf, the latest food trends, outdoor adventures or just lounging on the beach. If we end up traveling to Puerto Rico this year, here’s what I’d love to do:
1. Spend a few nights at the W Retreat & Spa on Vieques Island. You just take a ferry ride over there and you’re immediately surrounded by 21 miles amazing beaches. And Vieques is where Mosquito Bay is, a popular attraction for kayaking or pontoon boating because it’s the brightest bio bay according to the Guinness Book of World Records (the water glows neon green in the dark!).
2. Relax on as many of the beautiful beaches as I can, including Flamenco Beach in Culebra. Puerto Rico has 270 miles of coastline and the island was featured in the Top 10 beaches from Travel Channel!
3. Hike through the U.S. national park service’s only rainforest, El Yunque, and take in the views of the island from above and waterfalls and other scenery along the trails (this is the perfect activity if you want to be active on vacation).
4. Try the local rums and Puerto Rican gastronomy. Tours of the Bacardi factory are fun (I did this many years ago) and there are so many delicious foods to try.
5. Walk around and enjoy the old world charm of San Juan. The colorful houses and buildings are beautiful and make for great photos. Plus, there’s lots of history behind Old San Juan.
{Flamenco Beach – pic via Tanya Ramakers}
{San Juan – pic via Jenni Konrad}
Check out the video below to learn how you can live your own 5-star vacation story in Puerto Rico. And for more on vacationing in Puerto Rico, visit SeePuertoRico.com, like SeePuertoRico.com on Facebook or follow @PRTourismCo on Twitter.
If you’re dying to take a vacation like I am, let us know in the comments below why you’d love to travel to Puerto Rico. And now I’ll go back to being snowed in forever… or until a vaca is finally booked!