Adventure Guide to Puerto Rico, Fourth Edition

Comment: This book is truly a must have before you plan a trip to Puerto Rico. It provides you with Puerto Rico's history and accurate information to help you plan a fun and enriching vacation! It also is an interesting read.

Comment: This review focuses on the section that drew me toward the book, the surf section (page 151). The author seems to have conducted some research about the names of some breaks but completely overestimated surf heights. For example La Marginal in Arecibo never, EVER reaches 25 feet. And if Los Tubos could reach 25 feet, then I'm 23 feet tall (8 foot maximum surf height seems more appropriate). In fact only a handful of breaks around the island legitimately reach 15ft plus. Make no mistake, surfing around the island can be a bit treacherous, specially for the inexperienced, but the book exaggerates maximum heights two fold sometimes maximum heights are even 3 times smaller than reported here. Just thought I'd mention this for the sake of accuracy. For more accurate descriptions on surf breaks in Puerto Rico, you might want to do some research online (many options).

Comment: This is a strong guide for active, nature-loving travellers but also includes information on Internet cafes, bicycle rentals, and the bus system in San Juan. We especially appreciated the list of unusual accommodations. Our favorite was Casa Cubuy on the south side of El Yunque. We had a lovely and memorable stay at this guest house thanks to a friendly host, interesting guests, and stunning views of the rain forest. Other accommodations we enjoyed included Hotel Belgica in Ponce and Villa Cofresi, an affordable resort in Rincon. The book also includes detailed information on the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan, live music spots, and the Arecibo Observatory. The volume shortchanges the striking Rio Camuy Cave Park and lists Old San Juan attractions in a confusing order, but it has interesting extras, such as the blurb about the curious Boiling Nuclear Superheater in Rincon and an explanation of a local pirate, Roberto Cofresi. The concise road maps helped us navigate smaller highways while the hiking maps for the Guanica Forest Reserve and El Yunque helped us guestimate the time needed for an adequate visit. We were especially glad we didn't miss the Bahia Fosforescente (Phosphorescent Bay). The tabs along the edge of the book (south coast, etc.), made for particularly quick reference.

Comment: We were fairly disappointed with this book. True, although the information was a bit old (and some incorrect), it was satisfactory. But we had used Adventure Guide to Puerto Rico by Harry S. Pariser and this was supposed to be a new edition. However, much of the information that made the other book so enjoyable was missing. We did discover that Harry S. Pariser has a new guidebook, Explore Puerto Rico. We got this guide in time for our trip and used it as well. It was much more compact and had new information in it. It has much better maps and has more information than the previous editions. We found it to be the best guide!

Comment: A down-to-earth guide. Information-packed, offering comprehensive and interesting facts about every aspect of the island.

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