Traveling to Puerto Rico

How to Get to Puerto Rico

No matter the time of year, there are several travel options for you to choose from, with international flights, cruises and domestic connections to Puerto Rico. Once you arrive, you'll find it easy to get around on foot, by renting a car or by using the public transportation system. Take your time, relax and enjoy it.

By Air

The easiest way to get to Puerto Rico is by plane.

Puerto Rico airports handle domestic, US and international flights to and from the Island on a daily basis. There is a total of 29 airports (23 usable) in Puerto Rico, 10 of them with scheduled flights, including Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU), which ranks 37th among passenger airports in the U.S., and 26th, out of 250 American airports, in cargo movement. The airport receives over 10 million passengers per year making it the busiest airport in the Caribbean in terms of movement of passengers.

The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan (SJU) is the island's main airport. Conveniently located 14km (9 miles) northeast of San Juan, in the area known as Isla Verde, the airport was, for many decades, known as Isla Verde International Airport, until 1985, when then Governor Rafael Hernández Colón decided to name it after Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rico's first democratically elected governor.

The airport is owned and managed by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. The airport facilities includes restaurants, bars and fast-food outlets, bank, post office, duty-free shops and car hire.

Ponce's airport is located two miles (3.2km) east of town. Flying time from San Juan is half an hour.

Airlines
San Juan has become the hub for flights from the US and Canada to other Caribbean destinations. Flights to San Juan from major US cities are served by American (1-800-433-7300; www.aa.com), American Eagle, American Trans Air, British Airways, Carnival, Continental (787-890-2990), Copa, Delta (1-800-221-1212; www.delta.com), Flamenco, jetBlue Airways (1-800-538-2583), Hill Aviation, Iberia, KLM, LASCA, LIAT, Mexicana, Northwest, PanAm, Spirit Airlines (787-772-7117), Sunaire Express, Towers Air, TWA, United (1-800-241-6522; www.united.com), US Airways (1-800-428-4322; www.usairways.com), Cape Air (1-800-capeair; www.capeair.com) and Vieques Air-link.

Several local airlines operate services within Puerto Rico, including American Eagle, Flamenco and Vieques Air Link, and they have offices either at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, or the Isla Grande airport. There are 4 daily American Eagle flights between San Juan and Ponce. Flamenco Airways flies to Culebra and St Thomas from Fajardo and San Juan. Some charter or inter-island flights leave from the Isla Grande airport.

Gateways & Flying Times

From Puerto Rico To	By Air	By Sea
New York	3 ½ hours	2 ½ days
Los Angeles	8 hours	10 days
Miami	2 ½ hours	2 days
Atlanta	3 ¼ hours
Washington, DC	3 ½ hours
Chicago and Dallas	4 ½ hours
Toronto	4 ¼ hours
Europe	8 hours	14 days
Madrid	7 ¾ hours
Paris	10 hours
Brussels	10 ¼ hours
London	12 hours
Caracas	2 1/2 hours
Mexico City	5 3/4 hours
Sao Paolo	11 hours

Estimated travel time to arrive to major cities and other attractions from San Juan.

From	To	Time (hours)	Kilometers/Miles
San Juan	Aguadilla	2	130km/81mi
	Camuy Caverns	1 ½	80km/55mi
	El Yunque	¾	55km/35mi
	Fajardo	¾	54km/34mi
	Mayagüez	2 ½	160km/98mi
	Ponce	1 ½	112km/70mi

Airports with paved runways

total: 17

over 3,047 m: 2

2,438 to 3,047 m: 1

1,524 to 2,437 m: 2

914 to 1,523 m: 7

under 914 m: 5 (2021)

Airport with total unpaved runways

total: 12

1,524 to 2,437 m: 1

914 to 1,523 m: 1

under 914 m: 10 (2021)

Air transport

passenger arrivals/departures: 9.5 million

air cargo: 835.0 million pounds

ocean cargo: 9.3 million tons (1999)

By Sea

The main passenger port is San Juan. The San Juan Harbor is the fourth busiest in the Western Hemisphere, and is ranked among the top 17 of the world's ports in terms of container movement.

There is no regular passenger service to Puerto Rico by sea, but more than a million passengers visit the island on cruise ships every year.

All maritime facilities in Puerto Rico are owned and administered by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. Facilities include all the ports in San Juan, Guánica, Guayanilla, Guayama, Yabucoa, Mayaguez, Ponce, Arecibo, Fajardo, Vieques and Culebra.

Some of the ships scheduled to cruise operate between Puerto Rico, the rest of the world include: Carnival Cruises (1-800-327-9501; fax 1-305-406-4740; www.carnival.com), Celebrity Cruises (1-800-722-5941 or 1-800-280-3423; www.celebrity.com), Costa Cruises (1-800-462-6782; fax 1-305-358-7325; www.costacruises.com), Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises (1-800-421-0522; fax 310-284-2845; www.princess.com), Radisson Seven Seas Cruises (1-800-285-1835 or 954-776-6123; fax 954-772-3763; www.rssc.com) Royal Caribbean International (1-800-327-6700 or 305-539-6000; fax 800-722-5329; www.royalcaribbean.com), Seabourn Cruise Line, Silver Sea Cruise Line and Windstar Cruises.

Cruise ships and boats may depart from one of several piers located in Old San Juan and Isla Verde.

Piers 1 to 6 are located in the heart of Old San Juan at Marina Street and within walking distance of all the major points of interest. The Pan American Pier is located south of Old San Juan in Isla Grande and further away, because the docks serve larger cruise ships. There are no hotels near the Pan American Pier. The closest hotel is the Caribe Hilton, located approximately 5 minutes away by car.

Pier/Terminal Information:

• Pier 1 - A modern two-tiered terminal 770 feet in length. Equipped with pier-side passenger and baggage gangways, elevators, parking and shopping concessions.
• Pier 3 - Used for transit cruise ships, mainly used by the Royal Caribbean line.
• Pier 4 - A modern terminal at the north shore of the harbor with a total length of 1,196 feet. Managed by Carnival Cruise Lines.
• Pier 6 - A marginal wharf with a total length of 1,196 feet.
• Frontier Pier - A single berth used for cruise vessels and conventional ocean carriers handling open storage cargo.
• Pan American Pier - A modern, two-tiered passenger terminal with a marginal wharf 2,000 feet in length. Managed by Royal Caribbean International.

How to get to the Piers from the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport:

To Piers 1 to 6
Take Baldorioty Avenue (Carr 26). Follow Baldorioty Ave. to San Juan. Turn slight right onto Ponce de Leon Ave (Carr 25). Turn slight left onto Ave Fernandez Juncos which becomes Calle del Muelle. Turn right onto Calle Marina (Carr 1).

Reference Points
Calle Marina, Piers 1-6, Paseo Gilberto Concepcion de Gracia at Calle Brumbaugh, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901

Merchant Marine

total: 3 ships (1000 GRT or over) 87,789 GRT/50,138 DWT

by type: roll on/roll off 3

foreign-owned: 3 (US 3)

registered in other countries: 1 (St Vincent and the Grenadines 1) (2008)