It’s not a luxury rental, but that’s not what I wanted anyway. My family of four (inc two kids aged 4 and 6) spent a wonderful week here.
Location: excellent! Just 5 min from the highway but feels secluded with a shockingly quiet and private beach (that is also simply gorgeous). About 10 min from Luquillo, where the best shops and restaurants of the area are, but there are a handful of closer ones. 15 min from el Yunque (be aware - make reservations, and La Mina is still closed). And 40 min from old San Juan.
The complex: very secure, quiet, with clean grounds and pool, and lovely beach. A lot of the residents only stay there part time, and/or rent the units out to vacationing families. The beach had soft sand, no rocks, very little seaweed, and virtually no trash. Not great for shell hunting, and at times the wind/waves were a bit intense, so real swimming in the ocean there wasn’t in the cards, but we all had fun jumping in the waves. And walks up and down the coast were simply lovely. The playground equipment is pretty rough (rusty and broken) but our kids loved playing on it anyway.
The condo: you have just about everything you need, from kitchenwares to beach equipment. It was very clean. My favorite thing was that the fridge had an ice maker and the tap water here tastes great. I brought our refillable water bottles and we never needed to buy a single plastic bottle of water the whole trip. Was also so nice to have laundry on site. And I literally did not see a single insect inside the apartment even though it’s ground level. Being at ground level was actually great because it’s such an easy walk out to the beach and pool through the patio doors. Sure, the place could afford a little sprucing up and some minor fixes (for example, the main bathroom fan is super loud, and the master bed could use a mattress topper), but at this price point I don’t expect perfection. Who wants to be inside when they’re in PR anyway, right?
The host: Jose gave us plenty of detailed information to prepare for the trip and always happy to answer questions. He checked in with us the evening we arrived to make sure we had settled in fine, and would always respond to messages during our stay within a few hours.