Things to do in Vieques Puerto Rico
Vieques is a destination I’m really interested in visiting. I found out about the island from our first trip to the island of Puerto Rico way back in 2014. Here are things to do in Vieques Puerto Rico. We also cover reasons why you should visit this island and provide one and two day itineraries for Vieques Puerto Rico.
Thank you to the Women in Travel Summit and Discover Puerto Rico for hosting me on this trip.
This post is part of our Puerto Rico and US VI series on the blog. Here are some more posts:
Below is a more detailed post on how you can plan a day trip, a weekend, or two days in Vieques.
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While you can theoretically do a day trip to Vieques from the mainland, it is going to either be a really long day, or an expensive trip if you opt to fly. Here are some places you can visit if you only have a full day in Vieques Puerto Rico.
Two days in Vieques is the ideal amount of time to visit, in my opinion. The island is small enough to discover almost everything you can do on the island:
Here is a condensed list of things to do in Vieques. Two days is generally enough to do most things on the island if you don’t intend to stay the whole day on a beach. You can beach-hop and see the differences between them yourself!
Included in the National Register of Historic Places, this fort on top of a hill overlooking the island is a hidden gem. The walls of brick still stand, with some antique canons lined up on top, ready to fire for any intruder.
The grounds of the fort are free to visit. There are so many beautiful photo spots in the area so spend as much time as you want. If you want more history, there is a museum on the fort, which accepts donations, but is free of charge to enter.
Caracas Beach, also known as Red Beach, is home to some semi-feral horses and a crescent-shaped beach. There are some caves shaped by the waves which makes for good photo spots on the right side of the beach. On top of the caves are cliffs, which you can use as a jump-off point if you are so inclined and are daring enough.
There are no facilities available directly on the beach. The closest bathrooms are within the state park, but you will have to drive there. There are some shaded areas where you can put your stuff and have a picnic, but no place to buy water or food either. The shade may have some horses you can get up close to. They usually stay there hoping for scraps of food or water from visitors.
If you are looking for sea turtles, head to the left side of the beach. There is some sea grass in there where they could hang out. Otherwise, that spot is the place to see fish. It is shallow on the leftmost side of the beach, and the water is clear, so you may not need to snorkel to see the fish and turtles.
This is considered the place to be when visiting Vieques. Most of the hip and boutique accommodations are in Esperanza. The restaurants are located within walking distance of the town too. Everything is so compact, and there’s even a small beach close to the road in front of the restaurants and hotels.
Walk around the Malecon, the boardwalk by the water, which has a small beach you can utilize while staying in town. The small beach has swing tires and other places to get great photos in. The facilities are the restaurants or your accommodation on the town nearby. There are no beach chairs or umbrellas available: you’ll have to bring your own.
You will need to arrange transportation to get to Esperanza from the airport or the ferry port. It is on the other side of the island and there are no buses or public transport (except taxis or pre-booked private transportation).
Isabel II is the main town in Vieques and is named after Queen Isabela of Spain. It has small grocery stores, gift shops, and accommodations. The town also has its own farmers market and a fair share of museums, albeit small. This town is the jumping-off point when taking the ferry to or from San Juan.
There is a small beach very close to the pier, so if you are looking for a last minute beach spot before going back to the Fajardo, that’s the place to go.
The ceiba tree is the national tree of Puerto Rico, and one of the top things to do in Vieques is to go to Ceiba Tree Park. You can take a photo with the tree, and it’s also a spot where the semi-feral horses seem to frequent. Aside from the tree, there’s nothing else much to do in the park, since there’s no facilities and is just an open area.
Puerto Rico has 3 bioluminescent bays in total. One is located in Vieques, while the remaining two are on the main island of Puerto Rico. There is one near Fajardo, called Laguna Grande, which we visited and kayaked before, as well as La Parguera on the southwest coast.
However, the most brilliant of the bioluminescent bays is located in the island of Vieques. Located on the east side of the island, the best way to experience the bioluminescence is by booking during a New Moon. Several tour operators offer tours to the site, and you can opt between doing a regular kayak tour, or a clear bottom kayak.
Since the bioluminescence can only be seen in the evening, it is not advisable to go out kayaking on your own. When booking a tour, you’ll have guides who know where to go and how to navigate the waters so you won’t get lost in the lagoon.
Looking for a huge stretch of sand with facilities nearby and a place to park your car? Also looking for a spot where you can see a lot of semi-wild horses in one go? Head on over to Sun Bay Beach. This long stretch of sand is pretty cool, with plenty of parking spaces and a small restaurant/cafe to eat in. There’s toilets available within walking distance of the beach and the parking lot.
There are so many horses hanging around this area so you don’t have to look too far to find them if you go straight here. This area is known by the horses for the fresh water that accumulates on the field near the beach, so they are drawn to it by the masses.
If you think that the Blue Beach in Vieques has blue sand or something, guess again! The beach got its name from the US Navy, who used the island for military exercises. There are some parts of Vieques where the public is not allowed in, like La Chiva Key, because of some unexploded bombs in the area, from when the Navy had control of it. Blue Beach is commonly known for the turquoise waters around it, with a different tone of blue water on the horizon.
The Black Sand Beach is so called because of the black sand of the beach. Be warned though, the sand is not as black as you would expect when visiting a black sand beach formed from volcanic activity. It seems that the black sand in the beach has been mostly washed away, so you will need to keep walking to the right side of the beach to find the black sand, instead of closer to the trailhead.
Black Sand Beach is not wheelchair-friendly. To get to the beach, you’ll need to hike 15 minutes on a trail from the parking area, 30 minutes round trip. The hike is fairly easy, but bring water shoes (do not wear flip-flops!) on the hike.
Seaglass Beach got its name because it used to have a ton of sea glass mixed in the sand. Now that the word is out and most people visit trying to find sea glass, the sea glass is getting harder to find.
Seaglass isn’t really great. You can think of it as litter: It’s glass that got smoothed by the waves and the sand after being washed away. Glass does not deteriorate as quickly, so it’s a sign of pollution. However, people collect seaglass and incorporate the material into their craft projects on other things.
If you have the budget for it but not enough time, you could theoretically take a day trip to Vieques from San Juan. Everything must be pre-planned and booked in advance though.
On a day trip to Vieques, you will need to:
It is going to be a long day, so expect to start the day early, especially if you’re planning to take the ferry. It takes at least 2 hours to get from Old San Juan to Ceiba, and another 2 hours back.
Drive an hour from Old San Juan and head east to Ceiba Airport. There are nonstop flights from Ceiba, on the main island of Puerto Rico to Vieques. Total flight time between the islands is between 8 to 10 minutes, but boarding and waiting for a plane may take a bit longer.
There are two airlines that fly to Vieques from Ceiba Airport: Cape Air and Vieques Air Link. We flew the latter (Vieques Air Link) on our tour of the island but both airlines were flying small island hopper airplanes. These airplanes are propeller planes that have the capacity to seat 8 with a small cargo hold in the back.
The airlines flying to Vieques Island are strict when it comes to baggage: they weigh everything before you board the plane. This means you will be weighed as well as all your luggage, including personal items. The reason why they weigh everything is for the weight and balance of the airplane.
Your personal items have to be placed in the cargo hold behind the plane. There isn’t any space to store purses of any size. This includes any luggage you may have. You can bring a small wallet and a phone with you on the plane. Take lots of videos and photos. You’ll be up in the air and back down before you know it. Trust me, the experience of flying on this plane is pretty incredible.
Why do I need to be weighed before my flight to Vieques?
Since the airplane is generally tiny, your seats will depend on the weight balance. They will put your party together on the same row as much as possible, but if you are traveling solo, you won’t have a choice where to sit. You could be seated without a window, or in the back row, or the front row behind the pilot.
There is no air-conditioning in these tiny airplanes. Dress accordingly.
For aviation geeks, the plane used on this inter-island hops is called an Islander.
Yes, but you have to pre-book the return trip from Ceiba to San Juan in advance. While there are plenty of Ubers in San Juan, there’s very little available outside of the city. Alternatively, you can book private transportation that can handle the trip to the airport and back from San Juan.
Yes, it costs $2 one way for 40 mins for a passenger ferry. If you are taking large amounts of cargo, it takes 1 hr 10 mins for the passenger and cargo ferry to make the crossing.
There is a new ferry terminal called Mosquito Pier but it’s not open to the public yet. Currently, the pier is on the town of Isabel II and doesn’t look like a pier. It’s super small and off the main road. You can just walk to the town as soon as you get on the ferry.
Yes, but not overly so. But like any other island in the Caribbean, expect to pay a price for your vacation. The food itself will cost at least $40 for lunch (with a non alcoholic drink and tip).
Hotel prices are an average of $200 per night. The airplane shuttles between Vieques and the main island of Puerto Rico cost an average of $320 round-trip.
We think Turks and Caicos and other Caribbean Islands are more expensive than going to Vieques overall. However, there are ways to make the trip a bit more affordable in Vieques such as taking the ferry to the island ($2 one way) and renting a car instead of flying.
Most things to do in Vieques can be done within in two days. The island is small and has its charms. While you are in Vieques, your next destination should be in Culebra. Culebra is another island in Puerto Rico and used to be a military facility, so you will see remnants of it when you visit. It has long been a bucket list destination of mine to visit Culebra!
Alternatively, stay longer in San Juan to explore the other cities and towns on the island. There’s more to the island than Old San Juan or Condado, and is easy to spend more than week exploring the mainland.
Hopefully, this post helped you plan your trip to Vieques! As always, if you made it this far, thank you. If you feel we have left behind other cool stuff to visit on the island and want to highlight them, feel free to leave us a comment below with your suggestion.
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