El Yunque Guide

No trip to Puerto Rico is complete without a visit to the El Yunque National Forest. Just a 45 minute drive from Old San Juan, it’s the only tropical rain forest in the national forest system.

BACKGROUND

It is one of the smallest national forests at around 29,000 acres (45 square miles/117 square kilometers) but it has 18.8 miles of roads, 24 miles of recreational trails and a huge amount of biological diversity. The flora is super green and lush and among the fauna, there are 13/16 species of the small Eleutherodactylus frogs - the coqui tree frog is only found in Puerto Rico and is much-loved by locals.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Hours: The park is open all year from 8am-6pm and ranger stations are open 9-5. Make sure you are out of the park when the gates close at 6pm as your car WILL get locked in for the night.

Make sure to check the El Yunque Website https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/elyunque/alerts-notices https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/elyunque/alerts-notices/?cid=fseprd579158 https://m.facebook.com/elyunquenf/ to see which sights/trails are open.

Fees: Visiting the park is free of charge.

Visitors center: The original welcome center is El Portal at Km 4.0, PR 191 but this has been closed since Hurricane Maria.

In 2018 the Portabilito HUB was started at #54 Calle Principal in Palmer (10 outside the forest) as a community partnership concept. It houses El Yunque visitor information, educational information on the forest and hurricane recovery efforts, events, seminars and other programming.

Inside the Forest there's also the Palo Colorado Information Center on Road 191 at km. 11.7-11.8. This is open from 9am – 4:30pm and has Ranger led talks at 11AM & 2 PM Friday, Saturday & Sunday. As of February 2020 the picnic areas are closed but parking is available.

Currently open (February 2020): The forest is open - picnic shelters, Bano de Oro trail, La Mina trail, Big Tree, Tradewinds, and portions of Caimitillo Trail are still closed.

Camping: Due to the hurricanes, there is no camping in El Yunque as of May 2019. Originally you could if you got a permit 2 weeks in advance and brought all your own supplies.

Driving: If you are choosing to drive vs a tour, follow Rt 3 to Rio Grande. Look for the El Yunque Rain Forest sign for RT 191. Turn there and go up the hill, or go to the intersection with Rt 955. Turn right at the light and follow Rt 955 to Rt 191 and then turn left onto Road 191 to get into the Forest.

If you are not reserving a car then you should book a tour as Ubers are not allowed in and can be very tricky to call from the forest.

When to go: The weather is doesn't change much throughout the year so any time of the year works to visit. For timing, it's best to get there early to avoid lines.

When I visited in March 2019 for spring break, we got there at 12:30pm there were very long lines and people were being turned away until around 2-3pm. As we were part of a tour, we were allowed straight into the forest.

What to bring: Bring good shoes, even if you're not hiking walking up Coca Falls and around rocky terrain warrants good footwear. Also make sure to bring water and any snacks, plus some form of cover/rain gear for the occasional wind/rain.

THE VISIT

We spent an afternoon seeing different sights for about 2 hours. We started off by going to La Coca Falls at km 8.3 of Rt 191. This is a beautiful huge waterfall.

You can climb up to get a closer look or you can even go under the bridge to the other side - doable but quite tricky, not for the hard of walking.

Next keep driving up to Km 9.1 to the Yokahu Observation Tower.

Make sure to walk up because you get great views of the forest and the climb is not difficult.

The tower closes at 4:30pm and there's a small gift shop and bathroom.

For some aquatic exploration and climbing, check out Puente Roto - this Rt 988 bridge on the Mameyes river is a great place to play in the water and climb on the rocks on the river.

For more information/resting, head up to the Sierra Palms Recreation Area at Km 11.5-11.6 where there's a food stand, restrooms and a picnic area.

Continue to the Palo Colorado Visitor Center at Km 11.7-12 to catch the Friday/Saturday/ Sunday 11am/2pm ranger tours.

For hiking, there are trail heads for La Coca Trail at Km 8.8 (1.5-4 hours and quite difficult) and Juan Diego at km 10.

Closed (February 2020): La Mina is the most popular at km 12.2 and Big Tree trail at Km 10.4.

ALSO IN THE AREA

You can extend your stay by spending more time doing different trails in the forest and visit Palmer and surrounding towns.

A short drive up to the coast is the town of Luquillo with beaches and a long strip of restaurants to grab a meal. Also nearby to the northeast is Fajardo where you can do a kayak tour in the bioluminescent bay - very beautiful and definitely worth a visit to this unique natural phenomenon!