<p>Let us know if you choose PR and we can all chime in on hotels and things to do</p>
<p>@riverbirch bring it on!</p>
<p>or Costa Rica for luxury stay, Atlantis Resort.</p>
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<p>I have a Puerto Rico suggestion–I haven’t been here, but my D’s best friend was married at this spot a few months ago. D was in the wedding.</p>
<p>Suggestion is for Vieques, an island just off the coast of Puerto Rico (it’s part of Puerto Rico). Beautiful beaches–there are small hotels and it’s apparently easy to find vacation rentals. D’s friend was married at the W Hotel–which D says is a beautiful resort. Here’s a link. ww.wvieques.com</p>
<p>I saw Vieques in the TV the other day, I think the show is international house hunting. It’s definitely beautiful.</p>
<p>Well…this year, our warm weather vacation will be to a destination wedding in the tiny village of Tulum. I’m told it’s really lovely…not where the resort hotels are…the teeny village. </p>
<p>I think next year, St. John will be the place we go…unless we go to Singapore and places near there!</p>
<p>Thumper–I’ve heard nothing but good things about Tulum. I know several folks who went last year and loved it. I posted asking if anyone had gone there and got no responses. I was thinking of taking my two Ds there in February. For the last 5 years, the three of us have been going to a spa or resort in the winter. Would you share info on Tulum–places to stay, things to do, etc?</p>
<p>Well…I don’t have much to share…yet! I’m not going until February. I’ll send you a PM about our plans.</p>
<p>ok…First off you should probably research Vieques and see if that interests you. So you will have to rent a car if you are in PR-drivers are crazyyyy even taxi drivers admit this. I paid a taxi driver more money if he agreed to slow down…he did-thankfully. If you go to Vieques you can stay at the Farardo Inn…cheap decent place to stay and never crowded when we have been there in Jan or Feb. If you ask they will let you leave your car there for free while you are on Vieques. Walk down the hill and take the ferry with whatever luggage you are going to need while on the island. You will need to have a 4 wheel vehicle booked for island driving in Vieques. We only stayed 2 nights (I think) and most places required longer stays so our choices were limited. We ended up in a clean place but it reminded me of my college dorm with the added addition of roosters that started crowing at 3:30 in the morning. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep so bring your sleeping pills and earplugs if you’re not used to roosters early in the morning…lol!!
We did Bioluminescent Bay which I would highly recommend and drove around and hit various beaches.
I had the cold from H E double toothpicks while we were there so my perspective on Vieques is a tad bit tainted. Add in no sleep from the stupid roosters that roam everywhere and I really need to go back again to get a true feel of the island.</p>
<p>Hi OP:</p>
<p>I have been to Hawaii only once, but it happened to be in the first two weeks of Dec. a few years ago. Hawaii is not Caribbean hot at that time of year. At least not when we went. Even though we were able to wear shorts, there were still breezes, cloudiness and the temps never made it past a cool 70-75 degrees. Not a hot tropical Caribbean 70-75 degrees. We loved our time in Hawaii, but were disappointed it wasn’t hotter or sunnier when we were there in the first two weeks of Dec. I would definitely go back to Hawaii again at a different time of year. Next time I would stop in Cali for a night or two. Coming from the east coast, the trip was loonng.</p>
<p>I’ve been to Puerto Rico twice, as part of cruises. We LOVED Puerto Rico. Definitely hotter, gorgeous beaches (although Hawaii’s beaches are gorgeous too). We went to “The Fort” (El Morros I think it’s called in Spanish), up & down the gorgeous cobblestone streets and the 2nd time we spent most of the day at El Yunque Rainforest. I would not hestitate to go back & actually stay at a hotel there right on the beach. The food was Puerto Rican, which has unique elements of it’s own. Delicious.</p>
<p>Have fun wherever you decide!</p>
<p>Oops. El Morro. No “S” Huge fort in San Juan. History, nightlife, restaurants, beaches, rainforest, museums, shopping…what’s not to love?! Enjoy! :)</p>
<p>El Morro is terrific! Make sure you go on a guided tour. The guides there are amazingly knowledgable. We walked back to our cruise ship from there…a nice stroll through Old San Juan. Highly recommend it.</p>
<p>St John’s would be cool, especially for snorkeling. St Thomas, St Maarten, Aruba, Antigua, I’d love to go to those. I’ve been to Puerto Rico many times and it’s kind of meh for me.</p>
<p>@Bromfield2 - we’ve ‘done’ Tulum twice. About five years ago, H and I went to the Riviera Maya and stayed about 10 minutes from the ruins. I think when people say Tulum, they’re usually referring to the surrounding area where the ruins are, which includes the southern portion of the Riviera Maya. We were so enamored of our all-inclusive that we only left one day to do a snorkeling tour. So we never saw the ruins or went into the small town, even though we were very close. But from many of the southern Riviera Maya resorts, Tulum proper (the town and ruins) is easily accessible.</p>
<p>This last spring, we did a cruise which took us to Cozumel, and one of our excursion options was the ruins. We figured since we didn’t do the ruins the trip before, we’d go this time. It was quite a hassle getting there. We had to take a tender(which is like a cattle call) from the ship to Playa del Carmen, which took more than 30 minutes. Then once we got to Playa del Carmen, it was at least a 10-15 minute walk to our tour bus; from there, it was almost an hour bus ride, and they stopped at the cheesiest souvenir place where we were allowed to walk around for about 20 minutes and use the restrooms. Then we finally got to Tulum. We were there in March, and it was hot. We were told we would be allowed to use the beach for a bit after the formal tour, but the beach was closed that day. It was a beautiful beach, though! The ruins were fascinating to tour and we learned a lot about the Mayan civilization. We really only got about two hours at the ruins before we had to turn around and reverse our travel (not stopping at the souvenir place again, thankfully), so much of the day was taken up in travel, with not a lot of time at the ruins. But we’re glad we did it. In hindsight, we should have done them when we stayed in the Riviera Maya - it would have been much less of a hassle. But they are definitely worth touring. </p>
<p>So…we decided on Puerto Rico. A day or two in San Juan, visit the rainforest, maybe do the Arecibo telescope and caves, day on the beach, bioluminescent bay.</p>
<p>What are we missing?
And any hotel recs?</p>
<p>We stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan. Nice place, bar on the roof and an ideal location in the old city. We also stayed at a b & b near the rainforest but unfortunately it has since closed. Trip advisor is your friend. </p>
<p>A good friend highly recommends this tour:</p>
<p><a href=“Flavors Food Tours - San Juan - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go”>Flavors Food Tours - San Juan - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go;
<p>@nj2011mom thanks for the tip! I’m allergic to shellfish and don’t eat pork, but that sounds like a tour I could enjoy!</p>
<p>My understanding is they will work w all food issues. I’m highly gluten-intolerant and was told they could accomodate me. (No beer, however)</p>
<p>We like Cozumel and in fact went there numerous times around early-mid December.
But it depends what you are looking to do and duration.
For us, Cozumel means 2 week spending on a beach, 100% time. There is nothing to visit in Cozumel and we have been there so many times that we do not even go to town anymore. Just snorkel, eat, drink, gain about 7 lbs on each visit, play ping pong, H. is acutally working right there from the beach, painting tons of pottery, swimming, walking on beautiful grounds and not much more. We do not get tired of these, but it would be too boring for mahy others.
And Cozumel is expensive, but not at the level of Hawaii vacation and we have a direct 3 hrs flight, so no time is missed on travel.</p>