Caribe Hilton Puerto Rico
Hi friends! I’m so thrilled to share my recent trip to the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico with you! This was my first time visiting this beautiful island and it was a blast having the opportunity to go with another blogger, my friend Yasmina!
SHOP THE LOOK
From the moment we landed we were treated with amazing hospitality. The hotel arranged for a van to pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel. Our flight out of Dallas was at 7am..brutal..so by the time we arrived at the Caribe Hilton we were STARVING. We decided to stay on property for lunch and ate at the Pina Colada Club. This restaurant was probably the most casual of all the Caribe Hilton choices, and the food was delicious! I had the Mahi Mahi lettuce wraps and Yasmina had the garlic shrimp with rice and beans – both SO GOOD.
After lunch we checked into our room on the 9th floor and was pleasantly surprised with a meat and cheese board, fun little gifts from the hotel and to top it off – an AMAZING view from our balcony! Yasmina and I unpacked a little and discovered that we both wear the same size shoe! If you saw my Insta story from that day, you would know that together I think we brought 26 pairs of shoes..so ridiculous, I know. Haha but anyway, the more options the better! Once we were settled we decided to go to the OLAS spa on property for manis/pedis. The ladies that worked at the spa were the nicest! They brought us hot tea, pina coladas (a MUST have) and hot herbal heating pads for our shoulders. Needless to say, we were VERY relaxed for the time we were there!
SHOP THE LOOK
Saturday night in Puerto Rico called for a night out! Even though we were pretty tired from a day of traveling, we decided to go to Old San Juan for dinner. We chose Toro Salao as our first dinner spot of the trip. This was a tapas restaurant so we ordered several things to share: Fried Mahi Mahi tacos, patatas bravas, calamari, empanadillas and of course the most delicious sangria! I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. The food, atmosphere and service was incredible. Old San Juan is the cutest place with cobblestone streets, musicians playing and lots of people walking around exploring.
According to our Uber driver and waiter, La Placita is THE place to be on a Saturday night. So after dinner we headed there to see what all the buzz was about. This was like a strip of fun bars you can pop in and out of. As the night went on it got pretty crowded in this area, but we had a blast checking out the scene! Our favorite bars were El Rubi and Garabatos..they both played really good music and the drinks were reasonably priced.
SHOP THE LOOK
The majority of Sunday it rained so unfortunately the beach was closed. Since that put a damper on us spending the day outside, we decided to try out more of the hotel’s food options. The Caribe Hilton has a poolside bar and grill called Atlantico. We obviously couldn’t eat outside as planned, but they allowed us to order the grill’s food inside at the Caribar. The menu had so many great options but we went with the mango ceviche, and watermelon + feta salad with grilled chicken. I am such a foodie at heart, and was in heaven with these choices! I topped off my meal with another pina colada..no disappointment there! The Caribe Hilton is actually the birthplace of the pina colada which I thought was so cool! If you ever visit this property, you’d be crazy not to try one!
The rain finally cleared up that night so it was a perfect night to visit Old San Juan again. We went to Dragonfly, an asian fusion lounge located right next to our dinner spot from the previous night, Toro Salao! We tried the chicken dumplings and they were too good! I also got the Sensual Seduction and Roll in the Hay sushi rolls and both were delish!
SHOP THE LOOK
We woke up Monday morning to gorgeous weather – YAY! So we decided to have breakfast at the hotel and then spend time shooting outfits for you guys! Palmeras was a great choice for breakfast, they had a full buffet with so many options it was a little overwhelming. I went with an egg white veggie omelette and a plate full of fruit. After our shoot we went straight to the pool. It was actually the day of the eclipse so everyone at pool was chatting about that and getting excited for it. There was a lady who had eclipse glasses and she let us borrow them to see it – how cool was it!? I thought it lived up to all the hype for sure. Plus it was a fun experience to witness it in Puerto Rico!
After the pool we enjoyed happy hour with the Caribe Hilton’s marketing team at the Caribar, located in the lobby of the hotel. The entire team was SO friendly and it was great to put a face with all the emails we had sent over the previous weeks. I could tell immediately how proud they all were of the hotel and Puerto Rico itself.. and who can blame them? We actually tried the “rocks” version of the Pina Colada and it was SO tasty! Topped off with plaintain chip nachos, I’d say it was the best HH I’ve had in awhile!
SHOP THE LOOK
SHOP THE LOOK
Our third dinner in PR was a little bit more on the fancy side. We went to Perla inside the La Concha Resort. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful this restaurant was! It is actually right on the beach and the interior decor was impeccably elegant. It was pretty slow for a Monday night, but we didn’t mind. This is the type of place you can’t really go wrong with anything you order. We had the sea bass with lobster risotto and a few glasses of wine. I would definitely recommend this for a fancy date night.
After dinner we went to La Factoria in Old San Juan. This is actually the bar where Despacito was filmed – we thought that was so cool! You walk in the bar and then there’s actually another door that leads you to a middle wine bar followed by a THIRD that takes you to the back SALSA room where all the dancing takes place! We sipped Lavender Mules and watched the locals salsa dance all night. I am not a dancer by any means but it was so fun admiring all the skills the locals had! It’s no surprise to me that La Factoria is in the Top 50 bars in the entire world. I will definitely be back if I’m ever in Puerto Rico again!
SHOP THE LOOK
We were out pretty late at La Factoria, so we slept in the next morning and had lunch at the Atlantico bar outside overlooking the ocean. The weather was incredible that day so it was the perfect lunch spot. The catering manager and GSI booking tour company joined us and we had the best conversation over more delicious food and drinks!
SHOP THE LOOK
SHOP THE LOOK
After lunch we hung by the pool for a few hours and got our last dose of vitamin D. The swim up bar was so convenient when we were hot and needed a quick bev. After the pool we headed back to Old San Juan to experience it during the day. It’s such a quaint area and all the colorful buildings were photo opp heaven! The shops in Plaza de Colon were the cutest and it was nice walking through and checking out all the things they sold. We walked along the marina and randomly stopped in at Senor Frog’s for drinks and chips + salsa. It was a party in there ( big surprise ) with bachelorette groups and the whole deal haha.
SHOP THE LOOK
Our final night in Puerto Rico we went to Princesa Gastrobar. It was basically an outdoor venue with lights stringing above and such a pretty setting. We finally tried the dish Puerto Rico is known for – “mofongo.” It was pretty good! I definitely think you need to try it if you visit PR. After dinner we headed back to La Factoria and had another fun night in the Salsa room! The lavender mule is now one of my favorite drinks. We stayed out a little too late considering our early AM flight but hey, when on vacay!
SHOP THE LOOK
SHOP THE LOOK
The Caribe Hilton was the perfect hotel for our stay in Puerto Rico. The entire staff was SO welcoming and friendly towards us. From the incredible views, to the fun laid back atmosphere of this property, I can’t say enough good things about it. I definitely recommend staying here if you’re ever in the area! I can’t wait to go back in the near future and experience even more of this amazing island.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
XOXO
Whit
