If you ever visit Puerto Rico and do not make a stop at El Yunque, you are definitely missing out! This Forest is without a doubt one of the highlights in Puerto Rico and is located northeast of the island near Luquillo. In fact, it’s considered a main attraction for the United States too. El Yunque is the only national tropical rain forest in the United States and has many visitors throughout the year. For those of you that are interested, the forest is open daily from 7:30 to 6:00 pm and it is FREE (so long as you don’t stop at the visitor center, otherwise it’s about $3)! This spot makes for a perfect family day trip when visiting the island. Click on this link for more information.

The Forest consists of many hiking trails and depending on how adventurous you’re feeling, you have a few options. The trails seem to be simple to moderate, but we were only there for one day and can’t really speak for every trail in the forest. You should know however, that we heard something interesting from our brilliant tour guide (you know who you are). Apparently, there have been many cases where people are lost in the forest and at times never found. Hence, the early closing time. This is just a little something to be mindful about.

We took a day trip to El Yunque and made a total of three stops along the way. Sidenote: There is a map on this post mostly because I am more of a visual person and so, thought some of you may appreciate it. Our first stop was La Coca Falls. There is plenty of parking available and makes for a great picture opportunity. This is a beautiful setting and is an easy stop since it’s just past the visitor center. It must have been a good day because we were told it normally gets really crowded. I started climbing upward, through the rocks and closer to the waterfall for the pictures of course. After all, everyone was doing it. Got a video, couple selfies and we were off to the next stop.

Our second stop was the Yokahu Obervation Tower. The top of the tower offers spectacular views of the forest. You have to make the small sacrifice of going up the stairs to reach the top, but the view is definitely worth it. We were lucky enough to be there on a clear day and could see the Luquillo coast, Fajardo, Culebra Island and Vieques Island from the tower. Such a peaceful place and yet, can be stressful when crowds begin to get in the way of your selfies. Nevertheless, you can’t help but feel inspired when you see something as serene as this. After some great photos, we were back on the main road.

There is really only one main road in the forest, so going on a hike or two while you are there maximizes your time to take in the beautiful plant life you are surrounded with. We decided to make our last stop at La Mina Trail and do a 35-45 minute hike down to La Mina Falls. The nice thing about this hike is that you are rewarded at the end with a lovely waterfall and can go for a swim if you’re up for it. The hike down is partially paved and trails along the river stream that leads to the waterfall. If you listen carefully, you can hear many unique sounds throughout the forest: different bird species chirping, lizards crawling, water flowing, faint raindrops, and the coquí (“ko-kee”). The coquí is a tiny tree frog with a loud, high pitch sound that can be heard from far away. This is considered the Puerto Rican mascot. I didn’t get a picture of coquíes in the forest, but we hear them at the house everyday from the patio. Click play on the audio clip below to hear the unique sound of the coquí.

Once we reached the bottom, we were quite relieved that it wasn’t overcrowded. We were prepared with swimsuits, set camp on a rock (as most do) and enjoyed the transparent and ridiculously cold water. It was literally taking my breath away, but it was worth every second. The way back up was much harder than the way down (especially after a swim). The trail is not even a full mile, but there are steps and areas with steep terrain, which you overlook on the way down because you are so impressed with all the other stuff.

After we left the forest, we ended our day at Luquillo beach and enjoyed some delicious food at the Luquillo kiosks. It doesn’t look like much, but this strip of food stands is a MUST stop for an authentic taste of Puerto Rico. Hiking, Waterfalls, Beach and Food Stands…what more can you ask for?

Check out the video below and don’t forget to visit our Puerto Rico gallery to see more pictures.