Suggested Areas near San Juan.

45 minutes in Puerto Rico can be as little as 5 miles! Be sure you understand rush hour traffic and tapons  before you decide where to live if you husband wants to keep his job!

Do you know where your kids will be going to school? We live in Ocean Park and are walking distance to school as well as 10-25 min from airport.

Thank you for your response we have been consider everything you have mentioned.

We are still researching schools. We have found 2 private school that will let them enroll mid year so we are hoping to get to tour them next week I believe one is downtown Episcopal Cathedral School and the other is Cupeyville School. How is Ocean Park?  We will be staying in Isle Verde next week.  How is living in Ocean Park, is it family friendly?

We love it here, lots of kids on the beach and in all of the buildings around us. They go to St John's so lots of their classmates live nearby. I would definitely ask at the schools where the students tend to live - i have found it to be all over the place.  Are you thinking apt or house? BC if you are interested in a house you might be better off further inland. ALso, make sure you ask about the water provider for each place you look at - our area is not affected by the rationing, yet, but some areas are going to water one day per week.

Thank you.  We are not sure about house or apt. we have a 25 pound (small-medium) dog that will be making the move with us so we are trying to figure that out.  I know my husband would prefer to be near the beach and closer to work as he will be on call 24 hours at a time. We have been reading and trying to keep up with what is happening with the drought, what water provider is rationing water.  How is your internet service, electric and we are hoping to keep out ATT cell phones how is the service in Ocean Park?

AT&T is the best service on the island. We lose internet here and there but never for long, and we use Liberty for that. Electric goes in and out everywhere on the island but we haven't found it to be a big problem here. There's a map online that you can google that shows the areas for water rationing. All in all I think we are in a great location.

I posted this summary of safety & other things regarding different neighborhoods of San Juan in a previous thread (https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 32#2666394), but here it is again. Sorry if it is a bit repetitive:

Obviously, one should exercise caution everywhere with regards to safety. Consider the following a rule-of-thumb with regard to the tourist neighborhoods of the San Juan metropolitan area.

All of Old San Juan is safe & very touristy. A beautiful place to visit. Up to 15,000 cruise ship passengers disembark to OSJ every day, which means it can get a little busy (& touristy!) depending on the time of day & year. If you have a car or rental car, parking is a pain in the butt - although there are several parking garages and the rates are not too bad by U.S. standards. One of the few highly walkable neighborhoods on the island. Rental apartments abound. Some are reasonable in price. There are also a range of smaller boutique hotels, and a couple of large hotels on the fringes.

Puerta de Tierra is the stretch of land connecting Old San Juan to the rest of the city. Most parts are safe during the day, but should be avoided at night. There are some apartment buildings in this area that probably have tourist rentals - but I'm not aware of any hotels. Not particularly walkable.

Paseo Caribe is a small commercial area with hotels (such as the Caribe Hilton), a few restaurants & stores, and some high-end condominium apartments. Safe night or day due to lots of security around the hotels.

Condado is extremely popular with tourists & also extremely safe. Reminiscent of Miami Beach in some ways. Also quite walkable. Also somewhat difficult to park without paying for it. Mostly high-rise apartment buildings. I'm sure that there are lots of short-term tourist rentals there, and there are a number of major hotels (but these are quite expensive).

Ocean Park (which consists of one gated beach neighborhood called 'Ocean Park' and the surrounding area) is quite safe, although one should be cautious at night particularly south of Avenida McCleary / Ashford. There is a housing project (caserio) called Llorens south of Parque Barbosa towards the east end of Ocean Park that is extremely dangerous (evidently - I, of course, have never been there). Ocean Park is mostly houses & small apartment buildings. I bet there are lots of short-term rentals here, although I have not investigated it. Parking is easy as you can park on the street on gated streets & many houses have driveways.

Punta las Marias is kind of between Ocean Park & Isla Verde (part of the metro area, but technically part of Carolina, not San Juan). This area consists of a few gated streets by the ocean. I understand that the gated streets are relatively safe, but this neighborhood is also very close to the Llorens housing project, so one should be careful in this area.

Isla Verde, actually part of Carolina, this is the stretch of coast immediately west of the international airport. This is a safe touristy area with many large beachside high-rise condominium apartment buildings. Most of Isla Verde is safe to walk night or day. I don't find this area particularly interesting, but it is another quite walkable area as there is even supermarkets that can be walked to easily from most of Isla Verde. There are also a number of high & mid-range hotels in Isla Verde.

Miramar is actually on the south side of the lagoon from Condado. This area has a few hotels and probably also has some short-term vacation rental apartments as well. This is a safe & walkable neighborhood - but the area that is safe & walkable is somewhat small, and if you stray beyond it you are in an area of Santurce that is not particularly safe (especially not at night). Parking here on the street is not too bad - and relatively safe (for your car).

Hato Rey is the business district & includes the "milla de oro" (golden mile) consisting of the PR headquarters of banks, investment firms, and the like. There are also a number of luxury high-rise apartment buildings and the coliseum of Puerto Rico (nicknamed the 'Choliseo'). This area is safe, but because it is primarily a business district the streets at night are quiet & thus should be avoided for this reason.

Rio Piedras is the area containing the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico. The campus is beautiful and there is at least one museum on campus that is open the general public. There are also events at the the Teatro de UPR which is also very beautiful. Rio Piedras as a whole, however, is not particularly safe (although the area around the university during the day is completely fine).

Santurce is the area east of Miramar & south of Ocean Park & Condado. Santurce contains the Art Museum of PR, the Contemporary Art Museum of PR, the Plaza del Mercado (an outdoor market), many historic buildings, some cool restaurants, and lots of street art including many amazing murals. (Look up Santurce murals on Google and you will find many examples.) Santurce is fine to drive through, and the main roads such as Avenida Ponce de Leon are fine to walk down during the day; however Santurce is generally considered to be unsafe at night.

Of these neighborhoods, I have only *lived* in Miramar, but friends are in OSJ, Condado, Ocean Park, and even Rio Piedras.

Miramar is very safe & relatively quiet if you are not close to Ponce de Leon or Juan Fernandez Juncos avenues. It is a middle/upper-middle/upper class neighborhood. You can actually probably live without a car here too, as there is a full service grocery store, pharmacy, movie theater, parks, beaches nearby; and it is a slightly longer walk to other amenities such as the Centro de Bellas Artes, the Museo del Arte de Puerto Rico, the contemporary art museum, and the Ballet de San Juan. It is also easy to catch a bus from here to the Tren Urbano or to Old San Juan.

Old San Juan is very safe due to the high police presence - but very touristy. Also has grocery stores & many other walkable stores and amenities. I know a number of people who own apartments here & they love it. More noisy than Miramar, and very busy during the day.

Condado is also touristy & safe. I have never felt unsafe in Condado day or night. It is a little touristy & noisy at street level, but I'm guessing if you are on the 14th floor of a condo apartment building overlooking the lagoon or the ocean it would be quiet. Some friends live on the 18th floor of a building towards the west end of Condado & they have spectacular views - plus that means you will have amazing breezes year round.

Ocean Park, within the gated community of Ocean Park, is very safe - although somewhat dark & quiet at night. A friend had his car robbed - but I think he left it unlocked by accident & it was parked on the street. My two friends who live in Ocean Park absolutely love it. Ocean Park outside the gated area is a little bit more questionable - particularly close to the 'Llorens' public housing project. This area is also quite walkable with relatively easy access to stores, etc.

Isla Verde is also reputed to be super safe and is very walkable. (There are at least two large grocery stores that are walking distance.) Again, the end of Isla Verde closest to Llorens is generally considered less safe at night. The real estate inventory over here is almost all high-rise condo apartment buildings, so that is a little bit different from the other neighborhood. Also lots of gringos over here!

I know very little about Bayamon & Guaynabo.

The crime trend in San Juan is going in the right direction now (i.e., declining) and crime in PR is almost always drug-related, even when it's not.

Thank you for the wonderful information we are hoping to check out many of these areas next week.

You also might consider Guayanabo. Very exclusive (at least portions of it), all gated and very nice.

I live in Toa Baja, very close to the high way. If needed you can walk to Plaza Rio Hondo. I drive 15-20 min to San Juan.
My community is gated. There are a couple around here. I love this side of the island. Dorado is 10 min. To drive and your on an awesome beach.
Hospital us about 10-15 min.
Yes, traffic is everywhere but if you don't go in the high traffic time, your fine.
Good luck