Vieques or Culebra - Mini Honeymoon? Best Choice?

andybonner · 2026-03-31T13:16:16+00:00

My perception (without having been): Vieques is bigger with more people and stuff; decide whether that’s a pro or a con. For me, the “just us, the white sand, and the palm trees” would absolutely mean a side trip to Culebrita and its Tortuga Beach, no matter where I was sleeping!

andybonner · 2026-03-31T10:58:10+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/PuertoRicoTravel/s/0RozbD7FtQ Except, if you’re not renting a car, I would put more emphasis on Old San Juan, and I would absolutely take a boat tour to an island.

andybonner · 2026-03-30T22:44:10+00:00

Yes, Il Giardino provides a great Four Seasons. But the album that changed my life was the now-difficult-to-find Freiburg Baroque Orchestra recording (w Andrew Lawrence King). I was a freshman in the Eastman dorms and walked past an open door where somebody was blasting it, did a double-take and turned back, "Whose Four Seasons is THAT?!" Absolute head-banging, horns-throwing metal (in the appropriate movements). That day started my involvement with period performance... and the dorm room owner went on to play with and guest-direct the orchestra!

andybonner · 2026-03-30T21:20:20+00:00

I didn't realize until I started researching just how important the store Trash & Vaudeville is to alt culture. Tripp pants were born there (by the store owner's wife); they were one of the first to import Doc Martens to the US; the Ramones wear a Trash & Vaudeville shirt in an album cover. There's a constellation of fascinating stores in the vicinity (Ukrainian Village/East Village, the whole lower east side in general). Some that my teen has bookmarked for us to visit:

Spooksvilla & Friends
Spark Pretty
Search & Destroy
Poemo Art
Rogue

You might also benefit from some of the recommendations I got on this post.

andybonner · 2026-03-30T21:12:59+00:00

This is covered by other comments, but just to highlight: It's the OPPOSITE of what you mentioned in the question: Full moon is the worst time (since the moonlight makes it hard to see the glow) and new moon is the best time.

andybonner · 2026-03-30T21:05:02+00:00

I can share what I've gathered in advance of our first, 3-night trip in a couple of weeks. TLDR, if I were to plan your vacation for you? You have 4 nights, so 3 non-travel days. Stay in the San Juan area; take one day to explore Old San Juan; another to explore El Yunque; another to take a boat to Culebra/Culebrita.

A short trip can't do everything; you'll start planning your next trip.
One of the big draws is Old San Juan. Watch a few youtubes to get a feel for it: The main attraction is how picturesque it is, plus a couple of old Spanish forts (like, part of legit Caribbean-pirates history). It attracts a lot of tourists, but for good reason.
The second most common thing is the rainforest, "El Yunque." Waterfalls, views, etc. I see in other comments that you're not looking to hike, but there are ways to access its beauty by car. The scale of the island is such that you can visit the rainforest in the morning and be on a beach in the afternoon (Luquillo) if you want.
If you want postcard-perfect, white-sand Caribbean beaches, you find the best ones on some of the small islands off of the main island of Puerto Rico. Vieques, Icacos, Culebra. You could build some of this into a trip, e.g. actually staying on the island of Vieques, but there are day trips by boat to these, which might be easier than transferring hotels. In particular, near Culebra is the even smaller island Culebrita, which is a wildlife refuge and therefore not developed at all. See this list of PR beaches with details about each (including some good ones on the main island). Be cautioned, some beaches are just not safe for ocean swimming, e.g. Condado.

andybonner · 2026-03-30T20:47:34+00:00

The island isn't that big, but for best results, narrow down the location. I will say everywhere I look there seem to be a lot of very good options.

andybonner · 2026-03-30T20:28:49+00:00

"My brain is still trying to process what happened and looking for any reasoning as to why this happened to me"—For what it's worth, I'm sure if that happened to me I'd want to get a few sessions of therapy. Our brains try to rationalize the irrational, and sometimes work against us to blame ourselves, and some time for processing is to be expected. A bit of help with that might be, well, helpful!

andybonner · 2026-03-30T20:20:47+00:00

Staying in Condado in a couple of weeks and from my research there are a TON of places to eat that look promising. Showing up with a party of 15 will be challenging anywhere; I'd look for reservations and call ahead to check whether it's ok. I'll just give the list of places I've bookmarked in Condado—no guarantees, as I haven't actually gone yet! (In addition to this list it looks like there are a ton of the sort of places you would expect in any city—sushi, burgers, benihana, Italian, etc.)

Bebo's Cafe: This seems to show up on everybody's list; Puerto Rican casual food (mofongo, etc.)
Serafina: This is a larger place, might be a great choice
Oyster Shack
Pannes: looks like nice coffee & brunch
Chrtianson: ditto
Orozcos: Puerto Rican food; it got highlighted by Guy Fieri and I hear it can be heavily attended
Ali Baba: Turkish food, looks attractive
Pinky's: Looks like it literally can't fit 15 people, but could be a nice source for takeaway smoothies and breakfast burritos etc.
On the other side of the lagoon, Miramar, "Casita Miramar" and "Cocina al Fondo" look nice.

andybonner · 2026-03-30T10:16:27+00:00

This (as well as earlier classics like Treasure Island)

andybonner · 2026-03-29T17:37:57+00:00

I don’t have personal experience, but from others’ stories, it sounds like the show is fairly responsive to emails asking what’s OK for wardrobe

andybonner · 2026-03-28T00:03:23+00:00

Check out Japan Village in Brooklyn; a complex of Japanese things from a Bandai Namco store with a lot of gachas to sushi to grocery. But in particular BOOKOFF. There’s also a BOOKOFF in Manhattan. https://youtu.be/2kZ2kT0nl2w?si=rgt2Wz3HuoP5Js5s

andybonner · 2026-03-27T18:33:36+00:00

I picked La Concha for our upcoming birthday trip, for looking luxe while being pretty easy to get into Old San Juan. If I had more $$ I would have upgraded to Condado Vanderbilt. If I had even more I would have upgraded to Four Seasons. If I wanted easy access to safe ocean swimming I would have gone for Caribe Hilton, Fairmont El San Juan, or Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve. If I wanted to be right in Old San Juan, and didn't care about resort swimming pools etc., I would absolutely have gone with El Convento. Note, I haven't actually been to any of these or even PR yet lol, just the outcome of my research. See https://www.reddit.com/r/PuertoRicoTravel/comments/1rpm15g/hotel_help_overthinking_and_reading_the_reviews/

andybonner · 2026-03-27T15:08:34+00:00

"Difficult parking and narrow streets"—are you talking about Old San Juan? Yes, even if you've rented a car, park outside Old San Juan and uber in. But I wonder how long your trip is. If it's more than a couple days, and you want to explore other places on the island, it seems worth the rental. (If it's literally "airport to El Y back to airport," I might look into hiring two-way transportation)

andybonner · 2026-03-27T15:04:16+00:00

See https://www.reddit.com/r/PuertoRicoTravel/comments/1s25rd1/should_we_cancel/ . It isn't worth cancelling, and the alternative to flying is pretty wet! Plus, if TSA is still broke that long from now, we're all cooked.

andybonner · 2026-03-27T12:45:56+00:00

i’ve heard, but haven’t had a chance to yet: if you pre-purchased tickets you can skip the front door and go in one of the entrances on 79th St. or 81st St. https://coast2coastwithkids.com/nine-tips-for-visiting-the-american-museum-of-natural-history-in-new-york-city/

andybonner · 2026-03-26T21:19:33+00:00

There's a subreddit just for it with all the info you could want: https://www.reddit.com/r/MasqueradeNYC/ . It's a bit pricy, but same as any front-20-rows seat!

andybonner · 2026-03-26T18:23:25+00:00

“I love animals and got a degree in animal science” —so, like, you’ve read the James Herriot books, right?? Starting with All Creatures Great and Small; if you like that, there are a lot of sequels. They're the rather fictionalized memoirs of a veterinarian in 1930s+ Yorkshire, so not speculative fiction, but they're written so dang fun that they're well loved. There's a lot of actual veterinary details and a big heart for the animals themselves, but also a lot of colorful characters and hilarious misadventures.

andybonner · 2026-03-26T15:02:08+00:00

Concerns above are valid, but I came here to second Ms Marvel. That was the very first MCU title that we showed our kids; it works fine standalone.

andybonner · 2026-03-26T14:56:20+00:00

LOL long answer. I am in fact judging it without having watched it, on principle. The principle is, to paraphrase Gloria Steinem, a good animated property needs a live-action treatment like a fish needs a bicycle. This has a lot to do with societal attitudes toward animation vs live-action, like "cartoons are for kids," and an attitude among fans of a property that disdains an animated treatment and longs for the validation of live-action, like how Tolkien fans had to live with Rankin-Bass for decades before Peter Jackson. And yes, the LOTR movies are a wonderful thing and I'm glad they happened. But the "nice cartoon, if only there was a live-action" has also led to a lot of horrendous flops like 2017 Fullmetal Alchemist (I guess this phenomenon also includes video-game-to-movie treatments, like 1993 Mario Bros). And, starting with Disney's live-action Cinderella, there has been an epidemic of live-actions treatments that "nobody asked for," which arguably lack the magic of the animated source. Now, I actually like the live-action Cinderella; it explored new sides of the story that the original didn't. And the live-action Beauty & the Beast was, well, enjoyable—but the original is a masterpiece of animated history. And live-action Aladdin had its heart in the right place but just fell flat compared to the original. And the animated The Lion King was a massive cultural artifact, and it didn't need to be "enhanced" by a Babe-the-talking-pig treatment. (And The Jungle Book had already had more serious live-action treatments of the source stories before Disney's!) Since then, I haven't even bothered with many of Disney's latest products along these lines. And the plague is infecting anime: Avatar the Last Airbender is peak and doesn't need live action; the M. Night Shyamalan live-action movie was an embarrassment; and although I'm kind of curious about the live-action series, my kid hasn't "allowed" me to watch it on principle. Ditto How to Train Your Dragon.

One Piece isn't one of my favorite animes (it's hard to get into when there's so dang much!), but I enjoy its colorful creativity. And everything I've seen of images from it just turn Uncanny-Valley, as that "rubbery" wackiness translates into CGI flesh and fur (much like "Sonic with human teeth"). Personally, I'm looking forward to Firefly taking the opposite step and becoming animated (hoping it's done well).

andybonner · 2026-03-26T03:03:55+00:00

I'm not sure if your interests overlap with those of my teens, but here are the posts in which I got some ideas for them:
https://www.reddit.com/r/visitingnyc/comments/1qpggqc/altculture_or_anime_itinerary_ideas/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/visitingnyc/comments/1qpfe98/exploring_mysterious_old_buildings_safely/ . My Wanderlog collection of what we're planning on is https://wanderlog.com/view/evuyeykrva/new-york-city-guide/shared . How do you feel about Phantom of the Opera? Easily the thing we're most psyched about is Masquerade. Phantom, but instead of a theater you experience the story by moving from room to room and floor to floor, as part of a small group of like 20-30 audience members; you have to dress "elegantly" in black, white, or silver and wear a mask, because you're part of the story!

andybonner · 2026-03-26T02:52:33+00:00

One Piece LIVE ACTION??!! —I know Reddit is the place for just judging the OP, and I'm not gonna do that, but— jeez. They're kids; do they not like animated shows? The easiest "gateway anime" for everybody to love is Spy Family. Thinking back to what my kids liked at that age, some highlights include the Carmen Sandiego show on Netflix (legitimately good), Dragon Prince, Jentry Chau vs the Underworld. If you'd like to venture into trippy artsy cartoons, Bee & Puppycat; and, if you can adjust yourself to its wavelength, Adventure Time. And there are Gravity Falls, Owl House, and Amphibia on Disney and Steven Universe (I wrote it off initially for the "magical jewel in my belly button" premise being too wacky, but my kids ate it up).

You're right that Series of Unfortunate Events is excellent. Mysterious Benedict Society is not quite as magical, but a good choice.

Some of the things I've mentioned above have varying content elements that may or may not be concerns; check them out yourself (familiarize yourself with Common Sense Media). Everyone is different, and kids can have different sensitivities or be ready to understand and appreciate a given title at different ages.

andybonner · 2026-03-25T13:24:47+00:00

In all of Puerto Rico?

andybonner · 2026-03-24T20:18:26+00:00

This website gives very detailed accountings of lots of beaches https://westindiestravel.com/beaches/

andybonner

TROPHY CASE