The Best Places in PR to live

We love Aguadilla. Good proximity to excellent beaches, to the gringo population of Rincon, several wonderful forests, waterfalls, hiking, large shopping centers, and more. We will probably look in Moca on our next trip down, due to its smaller size yet close proximity to Aguadilla.

I love the east coast for many reasons, like I grew up in metro-east, have family and childhood friends in east and Central-east, gateway to the other island with boating, fishing, snorkeling, scuba, waterfalls, rain forest, close to metro, possible business opportunities with the Roosevelt Road old base.

I spend a lot of my infancy in the metro/San Juan/Condado/Carolina area and Las Piedras / Juncos,Naguabo and Humacao (center east).

I love the southwest part of the island. I grew up in Guayanilla, minutes to the beach and overlooking the mountains. Criminality is low and people knows each other's.
My new house is in Sabana Grande, quiet area, minutes from everything.

I like the east for living and the west for day trips or weekends.

It's the lushness of the east that I like, as well as its coastline and mountains.

You all be lucky to live where this policemen works, he truly enjoys his work. https://www.facebook.com/NotiUno630/vid … 421547191/

ReyP wrote:

You all be lucky to live where this policemen works, he truly enjoys his work.

I don't know what his work is but I'm pretty sure it's not dancing.
Nevertheless I rather see them like this than with a gun in their hands..

At first we were in Quebradillas for 2 years and it was great. A small town where you see the same people in church, drugstore, grocery store, etc and it was wonderful. People would give you "pon" a ride into town and not even know you. It was a sleepy little town except when there were festivals in town. We still go to the festivals.
Now we are in Isabela which is next door and it is a young vibrant town with something always happening here. We have the best of both worlds, the beach and the country.  We love it and will definitely be here for another year and then who knows.
Anywhere in PR is great.

Hey Tonie, how is your business going?

Totally agree with you.  Weekend trips to the west are always fun...miss the Island and looking forward to return.

Hi Tonie,  See you when we get back. 

We live in Hatillo, NW coast area.   Lively on weekends, quite during the week.   Local Home Depot, Walmart and Sam's are convenient for shopping.    Looking forward to getting back to the island.

Love it!

Tonie,

If I recall correctly, you and your husband own a restaurant? Could you please remind me what the name is? I am hoping my husband and I can break away here in the next month or so and get over to the West coast.

Karenqc wrote:

Tonie,

If I recall correctly, you and your husband own a restaurant? Could you please remind me what the name is? I am hoping my husband and I can break away here in the next month or so and get over to the West coast.

Here is the info:
Las Olas Del Mar 787-551-3777
Sector Villa Pesquera, Isabella, PR 00662 Building A6, Guayabos Barrio

Give her a surprise. She is too busy running the place to come to the site often.

I believe it is a breakfast/Lunch place and if busy may do more hours as I understand.

Thanks Rey, found her FB page and am following, hopefully we can check it out. Cheers!

Good post and great responses!

For me, I don't see an area that really couldn't work. Just some closer to what I'm after. Heck, I live in Nor'east and the furthest I have to go is 2hrs to get to what I want. The best skiing is 2hrs away, with good ones within an hour. Seacoast is 45 minutes, yet I can be in my boat in Great Bay within 35 minutes. So, 2hrs drive to get what I want for the day/week/weekend, I see as a non-issue there. But that's me..

I am looking for the escape from the winter weather. Will I go back up to ski with friends, ya.. Then return. My thoughts, my plans.. and only that.

As I type this laying in my hammock, Listening to the birds and enjoying a nice breeze, I can tell you there's no better place than this. I lived in the states for over 20yrs. Most of you know that in most parts you live inside your home, go from work inside to inside a house or apartment. I feel blessed that I am able to return to this beautiful island to enjoy my semi retirement.

It is by no way a perfect place, but deam close!!

I noticed no one has mentioned the central valley nor the south (east or west).  What about places like San Lorenzo, Caguas, Barranquitas, Petillas, Yauco?

holisticdoc wrote:

What about places like San Lorenzo, Caguas, Barranquitas, Petillas, Yauco?

San Lorenzo is nice, it's one of the places where we go for our daily needs (the other one is Las Piedras)
Caguas is not bad either although I personally don't want to live in town.
In Yauco there's one of my favorite panaderias on the island. Whenever I'm in the area that's where I go for brunch or lunch.

Thing is there are many nice places here on the island. Depending on your taste you will find something that suits you.
For me up in the hills south of Juncos, in between San Lorenzo and LasPiedras is home and paradise. I've been here for like 14 years, no plans to leave anytime soon.

Sounds wonderful!!!!
So many hiking spots to choose from

Never been to Yauco, But familiar with Caguas, Juncos and Las Piedras. All those towns have grown like the weeds. Las Piedras is still fairly rustic with pockets of communities and open fields for the rest, my brother lives in Las Piedras (in barrio Pasto Seco) close to Juncos where Gary lives. The area where my brother lives has a bit of flat lands behind the foot skirts of El Yunque. It has farms but mostly Dairy Farms. My brother has 10 acres out of a 100 acre farm owned by his wife family. They use the land to rent it to the Dairy farmer for grazing. Lots of sugarcane, fruit trees and Bamboo with a river that I used to swim in and fish in when I was a kid and my grandmother used to wash clothes in the river before she had running water. I have lots of fun childhood memories from that area. Have not met Gary yet, will meet him one day, he is busy with work.

Away from the metro area what you have is pockets of communities connected by roads and the sparsely populated hills with farms and woods as a filler. The more you move away from metro and the coast the more beautiful the island gets and the greener. It all depends on the type of living you like, I like country rustic nature a short drive by car to ripple less dead flat beaches.

As to hiking, only hike where there is no car traffic, roads in many places are only 1 1/2 cars wide so hiking in those areas can cost you your life. Go in the woods or farms or along some beaches and marches to see some nature and a safe hike. Pro like Bicycling is all over the island, it is dangerous in those narrow curvy roads but they do it all the time, if hit, the driver may or may not stop for help. Careful.

Caguas has grown so much it is mainly concrete now days, we used to go shopping there and I was born in Caguas.

Juncos is still a little rustic but also have grown a lot more communities and shopping centers, Gary can speak the most about it.

I used to take "Carro Publico" (public car) between Caguas, Juncos, Las Piedras, Humacao, Naguabo, Ceiba (my place), and Fajardo. I think they still exist. So I am familiar and love all those towns and Carolina, San Juan, Santurce, Hato Rey, and even Barrio Obrero (one of the worst crime areas in PR, I used to attend public high school there).

We live next to Yauco, beautiful town surrounded by mountains. The lago Lucheti is a beautiful are with a nice restaurant overlooking the lake called Brisas del Lago. Lots of nice winding roads to explore. The town have a shopping center close to the highway so you don't have to go too far for groceries and other stuffs. The town center is been renovated, there is the coffee festival every year that bring people from all over.

ReyP wrote:

Juncos is still a little rustic but also have grown a lot more communities and shopping centers, Gary can speak the most about it.

Actually we don't go to Juncos town a lot, only if there's something we have to do in the town hall or the post office. Like I wrote, Las Piedras and San Lorenzo are closer and easier to get to.
The old center of Juncos is nice, though. Like so many of these small towns there's a nice square in the center, the main church is there and some mom&pop shops, a pub or two. Narrow streets with old houses around there.
Here's two photos of Juncos Square:

Photos remind me of a mini Plaza Las Delicias in Ponce

Tearingly beautiful!