Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a tropical island in the Greater Antilles, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea; Spanish and English are both spoken. Its heart is Old San Juan, with blue-grey cobbled streets, pastel houses and quiet squares. Above the sea stand the fortresses of El Morro and San Cristóbal, stone bastions of the 16th–18th centuries that, with the city walls, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

East of San Juan, El Yunque National Forest has rainforest trails to waterfalls and, after dark, the song of tiny coquí frogs. Long beaches line the north and east coasts, and at Dorado and Río Grande golf courses sit by the ocean. The north-west coast around Isabela and Rincón is surf country. The small islands of Vieques and Culebra bring calm coves, Flamenco Beach on Culebra and a bioluminescent bay on Vieques that glows blue at night.

The food is hearty: mofongo, mashed fried plantain with garlic; lechón, slow-roasted pork; arroz con gandules, rice with pigeon peas; and tostones, twice-fried plantain slices. Coffee grows in the mountainous interior, and rum is made here. It is warm all year; the dry, popular season runs roughly December to April, and summer is hotter and more humid. Puerto Rico suits beach holidays with a touch of colonial culture and rainforest – couples, families and golfers.