Old San Juan Historical Walking Tour

Uncover Puerto Rico’s rich heritage on a 2-hour walking tour of Old San Juan. Explore landmarks, learn about the city’s history, and discover its unique ties to the US.

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • La Casa Estrecha - We will enjoy the history behind Casa Estrecha and how it came to fruition
  • Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista - We will enter inside the Cathedral and see the tomb and relics inside
  • Cuartel de Ballaja - We will walk inside el Cuartel de Ballajá and enjoy the architecture and history
  • Iglesia de San Jose - We will enter this amazing church which was recently renovated and opened to the public
  • Old San Juan - Tour the historic 500 year old city with an expert guide.
What's Included
  • Local guide
What's Not Included
  • Private transportation
  • Food or drink
Additional Information

A convenient and straightforward way to learn about and explore Old San Juan is with a local, knowledgeable guide who will lead you on an easy 2-hour history stroll through the oldest section of the city. Following the tour, you will understand the history behind the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its unique ties to the US, as well as its rich Spanish, Taino Indian, and West African heritage.

Perfect for all ages, the tour will explore landmarks such as La Casa Estrecha and La Catedral de San Juan Bautista – Old San Juan’s venerated cathedral, which is Puerto Rico’s grandest religious building. Additionally, you will discover parts of the city’s impressive defensive system, including its walls, only remaining entrance door, and Fortaleza, the fort known as the “mistake” the Spanish made! Our tours also visit La Rogativa, La Capilla de Cristo, and many other “must-see” sites.

  • Important As historical churches we visit have a conservative dress code, please dress accordingly.
  • Not recommended for people with any kind of mobility impairment
Location
206 C. Recinto Sur
Calle Recinto Sur
Plazoleta Rafael Carrión, guide will be wearing a bright green shirt
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(218 Ratings)
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Pauladc3003se
Aug 24, 2024
Nahoymi was great ! - Nahoymi was a great tour guide. Her enthusiasm and knowledge of old San Juan was excellent. I highly recommend this tour. 2 hours was perfect and you cover a lot of sites. 10 out of 10 !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lockie
Aug 22, 2024
Five starts for this entertaining and educational walking tour with Alberto - Alberto was delightful! I come from a family of educators. I’m a college professor, and my mother taught kindergarten and second grade, and my aunt was a high school principal, cousin teaches biology in high school… so we really value tour guides who are informative as well as entertaining. You can tell that Alberto is an incredible school teacher! What fun the children must have in the classroom with him. His energy was delightful. He was even bouncy. Literally. He would bounce up on his toes when he spoke. There was such joy exuding from him. And the stories were fabulous. The tour route itself was great as well. He even did a masterful pivot when it started raining, and popped into a local place, I believe they were selling Paletas, and was able to talk to us about the interior architecture and design of one of the buildings. Bravo Alberto on the pivot! It provided us the opportunity to escape the rain while also delighting in the little details he offered us about the Interior of the building. I also enjoyed the fact that about halfway through the tour we stopped for about 15 minutes to explore on our own. My husband‘s company calls these “bio breaks” and during a tour they provide the opportunity to go to the bathroom or grab ice cream, and, in our this case, we did both! At the end of the tour, he provided us with customized recommendations based on what we were craving. Piña coladas or a nice lunch, etc. The tour was a delightful way to get to know the town with a true historian/educator. 5 stars all around! Pro tip: do bring a sun hat or have sunscreen. And some water to drink. Even though we had a nice refreshing rain, it is still a hot tour with very few shady spots on the route.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Katie_v
Aug 8, 2024
Enjoy getting to know old San Juan -! - Alberto is a gem. He made us laugh and brought big energy to our tour. He made great recommendations while teaching our group about the history of San Juan and showing us around the area. We had so much fun!
Review provided by Viator
O8062bljohnc
Aug 6, 2024
HIGH ENERGY AND FUN TOUR! - Alberto was our tour guide and he was great. His high energy and love for all things Puerto Rico made the tour I was on, amazing. The tour was close to two hours and at the end, I backtracked the tour and stopped in the Museo de las Américas. Then I stopped in Barrachina for a frozen non-alcohol Piña Colada. At the end, ask your guide for recommendations for food or museums or drinks. I packed water and Gatorade in case I needed it. And there are plenty of street vendors to grab something refreshing if needed. If you want to have a great time, you will have a great time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Charlise_w
Jul 8, 2024
Great tour with knowledgeable host - This tour was great! Our host, Pablo is a history major at the University of Puerto Rico and he is a wealth of knowledge. We learned so much about Puerto Rico’s history and walked along the cobble streets of old San Juan discovering little stories as we went along. It’s a great tour and well recommended.
Review provided by Viator
Justin_s
Jul 5, 2024
Great Experience - The most memorable moment was discovering the existence of the Taínos as natives Puerto Rico. I also enjoyed learning about Castillo San Felipe del Morro.
Review provided by Viator
Danielle_f
Jul 3, 2024
Best way to experience Old San Juan - Pablo was amazing! We saw all the highlights of Old San Juan, and he explained all the history exceptionally well.
Review provided by Viator
Daniellewm6653sl
Jul 3, 2024
All encompassing tour and historical oversight of Old San Juan - Pablo was our tour guide, and he was amazing!! He explained the history of Puerto Rico was so knowledgeable. We had an amazing time and got to see all the highlights of beautiful old San Juan! Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jbeguiristain
Jun 30, 2024
Best tour of old San Juan - Nahiomy was our tour guide and she really went above and beyond. She did a fantastic job taking us around old San Juan. She gave us great recommendations for dinner and texted me a recap of places we visited in case we wanted to return to any of those places while we were in San Juan. She was the best! Thank you so much!
Review provided by Viator
Mary_p
Jul 24, 2024
Didn't get what we paid for - We signed up to enter the 2 churches Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista and the Iglesia de San Jose. Also was supposed to enter Cuartel de Ballaja and look at the architetecture. Instead, we only WALKED by ALL sights that was totally different than what we paid for. Tour guide was nice but this is NOT what we paid for. If we wanted a waking tour with no entry, we would have paid for the $30 tour, not the $50 tour.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 6 guests
1 Adult
September 2024
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