West Side Experience Puerto Rico Day Tour

We recently took this tour to explore the southwest side of Puerto Rico, and overall it was a convenient way to see several places in one day, especially with hotel pick-up and drop-off in San Juan. Stopping at Playa Buyé first was a great way to start the day—the beach was beautiful and set our expectations high for the day. Our second stop was Boquerón, which was really nice to walk around. I actually wish we had spent more time there because it felt like a place worth lingering. One stop that didn’t live up to expectations was the salt flats. I don’t quite understand why they are still included in the tour since they appear abandoned and aren’t as striking as they used to be 20 years ago. My suggestion would be to replace this stop with the Cabo Rojo Lighthouse (Faro), which I think would add much more value. Visiting the town of Cabo Rojo was one of the highlights. You could tell our guide enjoyed this stop the most, and it was nice to hear his historical knowledge here. Unfortunately, the other stops didn’t include much background or information, which left some gaps in the experience. The final stop was a restaurant in Joyuda. The view from the restaurant was beautiful, but I felt a little misled about this part of the tour. Instead of exploring Joyuda itself, the only option was to eat at the restaurant or skip the stop entirely and head back. After dining, we left directly without even driving around the area, which was disappointing. It would have been better if the description had made clear that Joyuda itself wasn’t a stop—just the restaurant. As for the guide, he was polite but not overly friendly. He talked a lot, but it seemed like he was more comfortable with larger groups. Since it was just our family of six that day, he kept mentioning the small group size, and when we tried to engage in conversation, he didn’t seem very interested. My biggest concern was the drive back. While we understand the reality of bumpy Puerto Rican roads, the speeding felt excessive and honestly unsafe. We found ourselves holding on and just waiting for the ride to be over, which put a damper on the end of the day. Overall, if you’re short on time, this tour is a convenient way to see the southwest in a single day. But if I were to do it again, I think I’d skip the tour and instead plan a couple of days in the area to explore at my own pace.

Roberto was an excellent tour guide. He answered questions, gave us some history and pointed things out along the way. He does love to talk. We went to the beach, the salinas (a bit disappointing), two towns and a restaurant (food was good). I would recommend this is you want to see the West side at a laid back pace.

We had the best traveling experience with Roberto! We took the “let’s go West” tour and it was incredible. Roberto was very knowledgeable, helpful and made the tour enjoyable. I highly recommend this tour and especially with Roberto as your tour guide!