El Morro Fort in Old San Juan Guards the Harbor
Many cruise ships arrive for a brief stop, or begin their cruise at the Old San Juan Cruise Terminal. This article is for those that want to explore Old San Juan right from the cruise terminal. Old San Juan Puerto Rico Shore Excursion!
On arrival to Old San Juan, you will be most impressed with the massive 42′ walls that at one time surrounded the city. Back in the 1500’s , these walls protected the residents from attack and are clearly visible as you arrive in the harbor. A tour of El Morro (shown) is highly recommended and they allow you to walk pretty much anywhere on these grounds. If you are pressed for time, you could take a taxi to El Morro and begin your walking tour at the Fortress and walk back to the port through town. If you have more time, you can add the Castillo San Cristobal Fortress to to your tour. Both parks are part of the National Park system, so these are options you can choose when planning.
To begin our excursion, you want to plan for some walking. Take your camera and a portable umbrella in case of showers. Take some US cash in case you plan to use the taxi or tours offered by the locals, or stop for shopping and food. This excursion below is a walking tour for those do-it-yourself shore excursion explorers who have time to walk approximately 2 to 3 miles. So, wear good walking shoes. Sunblock is also recommended. If you plan to walk this complete excursion, we recommend you venture out early before the sun hits the peak afternoon and bring some water.
Cruise Director’s Tip: If you have a smart phone, download Wazefrom the App Store. It is a free GPS app usually used for car travel! However, this app will allow you to search for an address and it will cache the map for you and generally lead you to your destination with turn by turn directions by foot too. Just make sure you put key landmarks in the search and verify the destination before you use the GPS as they can misinterpret your search. I typically double check it picked the correct end point. Waze will cache your map on WiFi and you dont need a data plan once the route was initiated.
Map of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
On arrival to Old San Juan, you will be docked at the cruise terminal just below El Morro and Castillo San Cristóbal Fort. The cruise terminals face Calle Marina streets. From this point, you have many options to explore. Let’s start with Castillo San Cristóbal Fortress. If you have the full day, you can explore each fort and then walk back into the shopping district and back on to the ship. Allow at least an hour to explore each fort, plus the walking time. If your ship leaves the same day, be sure to plan this trip carefully so that you make it back to the ship in plenty of time (at least 1 hr before departure). Sidewalks are very narrow and you will find cobblestone streets in Old San Juan. With regard to crossing the street, always yield to the drivers as they may not stop at cross walks! Be careful and on your guard when crossing the streets.
From the cruise terminal, you can see Castillo San Cristóbal Fortress which is the large Spanish Fortress to the front of the ship and towards the top right hill. (Shown Left)
To begin, exit the ship and walk towards the Marina’s front street. You want to cross the street and walk straight towards the fort direction and follow Calle Recinto Sur to Avenue Muñoz Rivera which will take you to the bottom of the fortress and up to the entrance. For a small fee, you can visit the fort and walk around. When you are done touring this fort, exit and proceed to your right down Avenue Muñoz Rivera. If you are headed back to your ship, you want to walk back to Calle Recinto Sur that will lead you back into town towards the ship. You will have walk through town to do some shopping. If you choose to walk to the next Fortress, then proceed directly up to Calle Norzagaray and follow this to the El Morro fort. This is directly up the hill and the walk from one fort to the other is approx 1.3 km. Again, if you are concerned on time, you can take a taxi from one fort to the other for a few dollars, or skip El Morro and walk back to town shopping and on to the ship’s terminal.
For those that have time, the El Morrow Fort is worth the trip. It has multiple levels and a huge ramp that was used to roll the gun powder and ammo down to the lower canons. They let you walk pretty much anywhere on this fort, both levels and the wide open field that begins.
When you complete your tour of the fort, you wan to walk down the hill and stay to the right by the old barracks onto Caleta de las Monjas. When you come up to the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, turn right and walk down towards the water front. When you come into this area, you will start to see the shops, cafes and stores. You can being your shopping tour. Try to stay within the street heading towards the water front. You will arrive at the 42′ wall again at the Parque de las Palomas. (Park of the Pigeons). You can’t miss them!
Chapel of Christ our Savior in Old San Juan Puerto Rico
Of particular interest in this park is the Chapel. The Chapel of Christ the Savior, Old San Juan, (Capilla del Cristo). This chapel was built in 1753 to celebrate a miracle. A youth participating in a horse-race lost control of his horse and plunged over the cliff. Don Mateo Pratts, a secretary of the city, prayed to Christ to spare the boy’s life and the youth was saved. To express his gratitude, the young man had the chapel erected later that same year. To the right of this chapel, is the Parque de las Palomas.
Park of the Pigeons – Old San Juan Puerto Rico
When you are ready to leave and head back to the ship, follow the street down hill towards the ship and you will make a right at the Governor’s Mansion that will take you back to the main marina street. From here, the ship’s terminal is clearly visible.
That concludes this Shore Excursion!
As an option, if you are pressed for time, you could take a taxi from the Ship’s port of call to El Morrow. Do this walking tour as mentioned above, then walk back to the ship using the directions above from El Morro back to the ship. The approximate time to do the taxi ride to El Morro, tour The Fortress (1 hr), then walk back through Parque de la Palomos and visit the chapel, then return to the ship via shops is about another 2-3 hours depending on your stops. Once you are in the vinity of the chapel you are only about 10-15 mins walk to your ship. This is the typical shore excursion offered.
42 Foot Wall Surrounded Old San Juan
Old San Juan, Peurto Rico offers a great opportunity to explore on your own. If you choose do use a local tour guide, immediately outside the ship you will find taxi and tour companies offering a tour of Old San Juan for about 10.00 per person. If you decide to use a tour of this nature, be sure to check on the timing with the guide before you depart. However, based on our experiences, if you can walk 2 to 3km and it is a nice day, the above Shore Excursion is a great time in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.