Discover San Juan – Capital City of Contrasts
The city of San Juan is the largest city, the capital and the chief port and commercial center of Puerto Rico. The port in San Juan exports mainly sugar cane, fruit, coffee and tobacco to the United States. San Juan has a current population of 437,745 people and is constantly growing.
Industries in San Juan include the manufacture of clothing, sugar refining, cement, metal goods, tobacco and brewing. The downtown banking district of the city is better known as Hato Rey and it is here where many banks and commercial centers are situated. The older part of the city with its narrow streets, old buildings, small cafés and antique houses with balconies overhanging the streets creates a majestic atmosphere and is definitely worth a visit.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a modern and progressive island that has a rich heritage which fascinates visitors from everywhere. The spirit of the Spanish colonial period is most evident in San Juan, a walled city, where numerous houses, public buildings, historical sites and monuments have undergone restoration in an effort to preserve a part of the island’s cultural heritage. In 1986, the United Nations designated the district a World Heritage Site.
The face of colonial Spain can still be seen in San Juan: narrow and steep cobblestone-paved streets, romantic courtyards, charming, overhanging balconies and chalk-white churches give ‘El Viejo San Juan’, the old city, a character much loved by artists and photographers from Puerto Rico and abroad. A visit to San Juan is an essential part of any trip to Puerto Rico. San Juan is a feast of feeling. It is a place that makes the heart and the mind frolic. San Juan will astonish you with its extraordinary sights and its vast store of New World history.