Recommendations for San Juan, Puerto Rico at night

[My2russians]

Does anyone have recommendations on excursions or things to do in San Juan at night? Just booked Divina for March 2020. We will arrive at 4pm and leave at 1am. Looking for something fun for my husband, 16 year old daughter and myself but the port time is so strange. I’ve read reviews of the bioluminescent kayaks night tours but sounds like they are not what they used to be. I really appreciate any recommendations! Thanks 😊

[EMc&DrS]

Bioluminescent kayaking!  There are several companies that offer this experience.  We did it last April while on a cruise with Holland America.  Google BioBay Fajardo.  You get in two-person kayaks at the ocean shore just before sunset and then kayak into the mangroves as it turns dark to this large lagoon that is filled with these tiny organisms that glow in the water when they come in contact with the friction of your paddles or your hands dragging in the water. (Any pictures you see of the water glowing is fake.  You can't capture the glowing in pics or videos).  It's like seeing glowing glitter in the water, and the darker it gets, the more they sparkle.  Very unique experience as this is one of only two or three places in the world where these organisms exist year round.  After 20 or 30 minutes of making them glow, you all kayak back through the mangroves in the dark--which might sound terrible, but it, too, was a fun part of the experience.  Passengers in the back of each kayak are wearing a red light so that you can see the entire chain of kayaks as you work together to get back to the ocean in a single file line of kayaks.  The only downside to the trip is that you have to drive a good ways to get to the area, so make sure if you book with an outside vendor, they guarantee that they will have you back in time for departure.  Since you are there until 1 AM, that should not be a problem.

[My2russians]

Great! Thank you for the recommendation!

[EMc&DrS]

Oops--See next post

 

Edited November 16, 2019 by EMc&DrS

[EMc&DrS]

13 hours ago, My2russians said:

Great! Thank you for the recommendation!

 

Don't know why I didn't think to include some pics:

Getting ready to go

 

 

 

Making our way in through the mangroves

 

 

 

Arriving in the lagoon just before sunset and "showtime"

Edited November 16, 2019 by EMc&DrS

[Stockjock]

We were there a couple of weeks ago.  Due to the short time and late arrival, we just walked around Old San Juan, found a outdoor restaurant with live music, and had cocktails and appetizers.

[Norwich Cruiser]

We had a couple of nights in SAN Juan pre cruise and found excellent bars with some quite superb salsa merengue plenty and bomba dancing.

There really are loads of venues all over but from memory we visited Shing-a -ling in Old San Juan and Aguardiente.

[Rou-Dyliq]

If it weren't for the teenager I'd second the recommendation for Shing a ling.  There is a chocolate museum with a restaurant attached that was interesting and had great dessert and coffee offerings - Casa Cortes Chocobar.  They are open until 8pm every day.  There used to be a guided walking tour called Night Tales in Old San Juan that was really good - you might google that and see if it's still around.  There are many food tour companies and they may be able to design a custom tour for you.  The one I used was Spoon Food tours and they were amazing.  You could contact them and see if there is something they can offer you.  

[WonderMan3]

I was interested in the bioluminescent tour too but after reading reviews it sounds like a long drive to get there and lots of complaints about mosquitoes. Seeing as this is Zika Virus territory I decided that excursion was not for me.