Get to know Old San Juan's history, architecture and sights on this walking tour of the city! With an expert local guide, you will discover in depth the neighborhood and culture, while learning about it's powerful colonial influence. Your local guide will take you along Paseo de la Princesa (Princess Promenade) to the Fortaleza, which is currently the official residence of the Governor of Puerto Rico. You will walk thru the city's brimming with colors and cobble stone streets, and have magnificent picture opportunities. Some sights and landmarks you will see are: San Juan Gate (built in 1520 to guard the city from the harbor), Ballaja Barracks (built by the Spanish militia for housing in 1864), San Jose Church and Plaza, El Convento Hotel and Plaza del Quinto Centenario. Your guide will be happy to answer any questions you have about additional sightseeing, dining or shopping plans once the tour has concluded.
As part of the multiple stops we will do during this walking tour, we will visit the San Juan Bautista Cathedral (subject to opening hours). Ask about Juan Ponce de León's tomb!
We will visit this historical and world wide known fortress, that was built in 1539 and played such an important role to the city and soldiers. In the event you have mobility issues or prefer, can choose to visit the San Cristobal fort instead. Entrance fee included only to one fort.
The guide was a lot of fun and energetic. The history and sites were really cool. The only recommendation I have is to give people more breaks for rest, drinks, bathroom. I would also omit the Fort tour and add a snack stop. Three hours is a long time for people to go without a break in this heat. Love love love the tour. I would take it again. 🙂
Our guide was very knowledgeable and very informative. He was even able to keep us together while Sanse was going on around us!
Frank our guide was awesome. Very knowledgeable and fluent in English and Spanish. Managed to speak English to us clearly and quickly and Spanish to this other group that was traveling with us. Our 10 year old twins boy and a girl thought, "it was very very good!!"
This was a fantastic tour of Old San Juan. Frankie was passionate about the history and culture of Puerto Rico. He was thoughtful about the path we took to explore the city. Starting early was the right time to avoid the big crowds and the heat.
We started taking walking tours of cities about a year ago. I had lived in Puerto Rico 30 years ago, but wanted to see old San Juan with fresh eyes. Our guide, Francisco, was born and raised in Puerto Rico and has been guiding tourist for nine years. He was funny and engaging. He was extremely knowledgeable about the history of Old San Juan as well as all of Puerto Rico. He was willing to answer questions about recent experiences and current events in Puerto Rico. The tour itself is amazing. San Juan has been in existence for nearly 500 years with one of the best preserved fortresses that is well-maintained by the US national park services. The old city itself is a testament to the efforts to preserve history and is rich with history.
our tour guides name was Francisco.. he was amazing! He has a great personality and was able to laugh and joke and inform us of everything around. We do want to thank him for putting up with us and taking so many pictures along the way!
Wow! If you’re on the fence, just do it! My brother and I took our mom on the tour and had a great time. Our tour guide Francisco was friendly, super engaging, hilarious and knowledgeable. We laughed the whole time as we explored beautiful Old San Juan - and he bought the entire group cold waters which was so sweet. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, maybe a hat for the sun, and bring a water bottle. Totally family friendly.
Our tour guide Frankie, was terrific. His obvious love of San Juan along with his historical knowledge was impressive. It was a humid day and he stopped and bought us water and offered us popsicles. We learned so much and enjoyed our tour immensely. Thank you, Frankie!
Wonderful educational walking tour! We enjoyed seeing the beautiful city. So many colors and amazing views on this tour. The tour guide was friendly and entertaining.
Very nice tour..the tour guide was amazing very knowledgeable. A lot of history tips overall I highly recommend this tour if your interested in knowing more about the history behind San Juan.
Jaime was an absolute delight and wealth of knowledge during our Old San Juan walking your. Highly recommended.
Francisco was our tour guide. He is awesome!!! He was so funny and knowledgeable about Old San Juan. There are a lot of inclines and you are walking on cobble stones for some part of the tour, so wear comfortable shoes. But overall, the walk was enjoyable and the tour is great!
The walking tour with our tour guide Frankie was amazing. My 10 year old enjoyed the tour as well and we got to learn so much about the history of Puerto Rico. Frankie was very patiently answering all the questions we had. The tour started on time and was well organized. He also recommended couple of good restaurants for lunch after the tour which turned out to be great !
The tour I booked said entry to Entry/Admission - Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista. We maybe walked by this and when I asked the tour guide about this he acted like he was unaware.
Our guide (James) is knowledgeable, shared details I did not find in my research, great communication skills, and patient! (We got lost, confused, and walked around trying to find the meeting spot. It was a comedy of errors! James waited for us, we were already on PR time… ) The tour accommodated a wide of ages, physical fitness, and interest. It was a lot of fun and we recommend this tour!
The guide shared his knowledge of architecture, history, and political history. He was very nice and added a couple special touches, like stopping for a frozen treat called a Limber. He answered our questions well. We did the walking tour our first morning in Old San Juan and what we learned helped us the remainder of the days we were there. It gave us a framework for where to return and explore on our own. I am very glad we took the tour. If you are driving into Old San Juan be mindful of rush hour traffic and parking. We started about 20 minutes late due to the guide and the other 3 participants having difficulty with traffic and parking, but the guide made up for it by going a bit longer. Appreciated that he sent us a text to let us know he would be late. There was a bit of confusion about what side of the building we were meeting, but we easily cleared it through texting.
Great walk & tour guide was informative & friendly. Enjoyed all the history information about Old San Juan & enjoyed the people all around.
Excellent tour and so glad we took it rather than just stumbling around Old San Juan sight seeing with no context. Definitely wear good walking shoes, not flimsy sandals or flip flops and book the early morning tour as it got very warm towards the end. Absolutely recommend!!
Excellent tour. Our guide was very well spoken and knowledgeable of the area. Would definitely recommend taking this tour.
A must do! Our guide, Francisco, was kind, knowledgeable, and funny. We saw a lot of important historical points of the city and had plenty of time to take in the scenery. I highly recommend this tour.
This was a fantastic tour. My number one tip is to do this as soon as you get to San Juan. We put it off until our last day so we could do some other things, so we missed some places we could have visited because we didn’t know they existed!. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and welcomed questions. Be prepared to walk! Not for the faint of heart! This is an absolute must if you love history and if you just want to see what Puerto Rico is all about. If I go back to PR, I would do this again!
This tour was outstanding and what made it even greater was our Super Dedicated Tour guy: Francisco. He was very knowledgeable and passionate to teach us about the history of Puerto Rico. Excellent Experience and a wonderful opportunity for the whole Family to bond.
Great tour, very knowledgable and super friendly guide. We saw everything and had a blast. Got great advice and recommendations for after tour. Stopped by sno cone stand for free sample...great touch.
Francisco was friendly and very knowledgeable. Showed us the government district, the cultural district and the old fort. I’d recommend him to anyone.
This was super fun. Our guide was very knowledgeable and charming. I took the tour with two friends and we all agreed it was a high point of the trip. Be sure to wear good walking shoes or sturdier sandals, you cover a lot of ground.
My review is for the tour company and not the tour itself. We booked for 9am. Got there and waited. At 9:05am we got a text saying it wouldnt start until 10am. We had a flight to get right after and couldnt wait. Company said they tried to call us night before to let us know. I did have a missed call during dinner, which i returned afterwards. There was no answer and the voicemail did not identify a buisness. It sounded like a womans personal phone. They also did not leave message regarding time change.
Our tour guide was definitely knowledgeable about the area and it’s history. I felt as if we were a bit rushed, and we didn’t know the tour was going to end where and when it did. We would have stayed inside the fort longer on our own had we known our tour was over then and there.
Francisco was informative, entertaining and energetic! History lives side by side with the present in beautiful Old San Juan. Pictures do not do it justice. We loved it
We had a wonderful tour with Francisco. He was very knowledgeable and entertaining. I would highly recommend this tour.
Great tour with amazing tour guide. Our tour guide took us on a walking tour through old San Juan and told us historical information in a fun way.
Awful communication. Webpage, confirmation, and tickets all say tour starts at 10. See the photo of ticket. Tour company said it starts at 9 and left without us, so didn’t get to take tour we paid for in advance. All attempts to rebook through email or telephone were ignored. Have requested a refund and will be disputing charges. TripAdvisor provided no option to help with this, so once you pay your money you are on your own. Extremely dissatisfied by the whole experience, very unprofessional.
I had the opportunity to work with BeSpoke while planning excursions for a group of 3 this weekend. We booked both Ziplining and the Deluxe Walking Tour. As soon as return from both, I will update with a full overview :-) Booking was seamless - complete with confirmation emails, texts and a phone call. They even took an alternate number to ensure that everyone in the group was on the same page. The staff was friendly and accommodating. We had a hiccup with our start time BUT they were willing to make it work for us. I am looking forward to working with them again!
Excellent way to start a trip. Franky, our tour guide, was knowledgable, engaging, and funny. Not sure if this is standard, but our tour was eight people which was great. Tour was the perfect length and we left with personalized recommendations of what to do next. Highly recommend!
We can’t really give a review because the tour guide showed up 30 minutes late. It was pouring down rain so we rescheduled for the next day. The following day the tour guide didn’t show up and we left after waiting over 30 minutes. Totally disappointed
My husband and I had a great time on this tour. We're really into history, so this was a great tour for us. The guide was kind and was great at answering questions. She was also very helpful in giving us suggestions on where to go once the tour was over. I'd definitely recommend this tour!
Norma was fantastic. Very informative and pleasant. So glad we chose this tour. Helped me to gain more appreciation and understanding for Puerto Rico.
Great tour with friendly & knowledgeable guide! Older kids were interested. We learned a lot about Puerto Rico & had fun.
We had such a fun time walking around and learning about the history of Puerto Rico from our dynamic tour guide Norma. She walked at a reasonable pace that allowed space to take pictures and explore a little which was also great! I'd recommend this experience to anyone.
We really enjoyed our tour. Norma was very knowledgeable in history as well as current issues. She did a great job!
We really enjoyed our tour! It was a great way to see the fort and the wall, as well as Old San Juan. Our guide was knowledgeable and included stories about the people of the earlier time periods. My husband and I agreed that this was a great introduction to Puerto Rico and it’s rich history!
Norm was a great guide...patient when my daughter wanted to check out the spices. Very informative and interesting.
Excelente tour with plenty of time at El Morro which has beautiful views of the sea and La Perla. Even though streets were blocked off and there were protesters we still got to see La Fortaleza from a distance.
We had a great time on our Old San Juan Walking Tour. Our guide Elegna was excellent. Smart, funny and extremely accommodating to us. I was very happy using Bespoke for this tour as well as their El Yunque National Forest tour. I would highly recommend them and plan on using them again when we return to Puerto Rico.
<p>Great tour with Norma!!!! She was very knowledgeable and a pleasure to spend the day with. Norma also gave us some great suggestions on places to shop and eat in San Juan. My husband and I noticed how accommodating she was to the other people in the group that had special requests. Thanks for the great history lesson</p>
The tour guide will tell you interesting facts about the city so it is well worth it. Without a guide, you can’t appreciate the history of the place. The Guide was outstanding. We all tipped her well afterwards. If you are on the fence, just do it!
We toured with Elegna who made the two and a half hours seem like two and a half minutes! She was prepared, knowledgeable and fun to be with as we learned about the buildings and history of the area we toured. Highly recommend Bespoke for their tours and if you can get Elegna for your walking tour, she will make it more than worth it!
<p>Didnt see all that much of Old San Juan. Walked pretty slowly and Jamie went into much more depth than I was interested in.</p>
<p>Elegna does an excellent job. She is very professional and knowledgeable. Her explanations were very interesting. In addition, she has a great personality.</p>
<p>This was the highlight of our vacation. Jaime is more than just a tour guide, his generous hospitality and love of Old San Juan made our visit unforgettable. His stories and intimate knowledge of this amazing historical city transported us in time and brought it all to life. <br/> I would recommend it for anyone who is mobile enough to walk. 3 hours was long enough and the weather was quite warm, so when it was over we were tired. We ended the tour with a amazing lunch at the Hotel El Convento. Jaime was delightful and very knowledgeable, this tour was definitely worth doing. Thank you Jaime for a wonderful time. It was great meeting you and seeing your city through your eyes.</p>
<p>I found this tour to be very disappointing. Leo is a friendly gentlemen, but nearly everything that could go wrong, did. I received a call the night before our tour that it had been pushed back to 10:45am originally 10am, which was no big deal. The woman who called me couldn't give me any information about how to find Leo when we arrived at the meeting spot. Any descriptor would have been helpful i.e, wearing a red hat, etc. Instead, we wandered around asking anyone in the vicinity if their name was Leo.</p> <p>Once the tour started, we were frustrated that they tried to group Spanish and English speaking people together. Leo was fluent in both languages, but it seemed like he was providing much more detail in Spanish than in English. Also, when we would ask questions, he appeared to make up answers which were easily checked as wrong with a quick Google search on our phones. Finally, we spent about 80 of the tour walking around the wall that surrounds the city. I would have much preferred that we spent on our time on the more interesting things to do.</p> <p>I've been on 15-20 walking tours all over the world, and this was the only one I felt compelled to review negatively. If you're able to find a different tour, I would recommend it. There's just so much of this beautiful city to experience!</p>
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