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When you arrive in San Juan, you’ll need to rent a car. This applies to all but the shortest itineraries. You can get around San Juan by taking an Uber or using electric scooters. As a rule of thumb, you’ll need a car for the days outside of San Juan with few exceptions. This, unfortunately, does not come cheap. 

Puerto Rico is a large enough place that you’ll need to organize what you are doing, and when you are doing it to maximize your time. Driving from one side of the island to the other can take 2.5 to 3 hours with normal traffic. Sometimes in Google Maps, it feels like everything that appears to be near you is around an hour away because of either traffic or indirect roads. And so you’ll find that there are many possible destinations from where you are located that, while not equidistant, have much the same drive time. 

Google Maps is usually reliable for navigation but not always. Beware when driving around Carolina, as Google Maps will always suggest taking a route and even redirect you to go over the most expensive toll bridge on the island ($3.75), even when it’s not faster. This is not a conspiracy theory, it’s real! It will do anything it can to get you to go through that toll booth.

Potholes are bad here. You can encounter potholes big enough to blast the soul out of your body, even on the freeway. As a bonus, everyone drives with their brights on at night to blind you, ensuring you hit every possible pothole. The driving is a little crazy here, but makes a certain sense after a while. It’s not as bad as Mexico, but more hectic than the States. I like to say that the person who has the right of way is the one who wants it the most. The best defense is a good offense here, so be assertive and keep your head on a swivel. Good luck.