May 2023
For a delayed holiday in the sun, we wanted to try someplace new and, truth be told, Costa Rica was our original choice. Once we started getting into the travel details, however, Costa Rica ended up being a little more challenging to get to with our airline of choice (Delta) on the days we were traveling, so we opted for Puerto Rico instead – also a new destination for us and a direct return flight from Minneapolis. For the second part of our stay, we booked the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort based on a New York Times article from several years ago. (Read more about the St. Regis in this post.) For the first part of our Puerto Rico visit, we were inspired by a colleague who had recently combined a Mexico City stay with a follow-up visit to a Yucatan beach; following her lead, we spent the first four days of our holiday in Puerto Rico’s capital city of San Juan. And after doing some research on neighborhoods, we chose Old San Juan and the city’s most historic hotel: El Convento.
The heart of the old city
Almost immediately upon our arrival, we could sense that El Convento serves as Old San Juan’s living room. A Thursday afternoon wedding was taking place in the courtyard, a tour group was gathered outside the main doors listening to the story of the hotel’s history, and visitors – maybe hotel guests/maybe not – lingered at the many seating areas on the hotel’s outdoor passageways.
Upon check-in, the reception staffer told us the hotel was fully booked for the length of our stay, although we later learned that many rooms were closed for renovation. Even with that reduced occupancy, the hotel bustled with activity throughout our stay, and although we would have preferred some peace and quiet on one of the nights when dancing from a wedding went well past midnight, it was fun to be someplace that felt like a favorite of Puerto Ricans, not just a choice for tourists.
El Convento isn’t only the social center of Old San Juan; it also happens to be at the geographic center, midway down Calle del Cristo right next to the San Juan Bautista cathedral. This turned out to be really convenient when we needed a brief stop for the restroom, water, or sunscreen on our many city explorations. From anywhere in Old San Juan, we could get back to the hotel in just about ten minutes. For a busy – and, in late May, very hot – city, we appreciated being able to take frequent refreshment breaks.
A nun’s quarters
The hotel’s common spaces were, by far, our favorite places to spend time: the verandas and balconies, the plunge pool, the covered patio, the massive courtyard. Our room on the second floor was a fine example of the building’s Spanish Colonial architecture with its tall ceilings, plaster walls, red tile floors and shuttered balcony doors. It also featured period antique furniture that one of the staff members said was authentic and could only be repaired by a craftsperson in the Dominican Republic (we weren’t entirely sold on this story, but we liked the idea of it).
El Convento is a member of both the “small luxury hotels of the world” and “historic hotels of America” groups. And while the hotel is certainly historic, we wouldn’t call it luxurious. In fact, our room was a little tired. We don’t need lavish but do appreciate rooms that have been well cared for and kept up. In our room, many of the finishes, furnishings, and fixtures needed attention: upholstery with stains, a broken shutter on the patio door, glass that needed a good dose of Windex, missing beams in the ceiling (they were modern replacements), and paint bubbles on the wall (likely the result of high humidity). The bathroom, while very small, was actually the most well-functioning part of the room; it appeared to have gotten a more recent refresh.
We’re sure that keeping up a building originally erected in the 16th century is a constant challenge, and we don’t mind small reminders of the constant churn of people moving in and out of hotel rooms, but our room was definitely due for an update. And we’re hoping it is on the list for upcoming renovations, as it could be stunning.
Service and amenity standards
One of the best things about a hotel is often its staff, and we’ve gotten exceptional service at hotels around the world. Everyone at El Convento was friendly and helpful, and when we checked in, we were given an introduction to the hotel’s services and amenities. Like the renovation, however, this commitment felt like a work in progress. Requests for things like replacement water glasses seemed to fall into a void; the nightly manager’s cocktail reception – introduced in a welcome letter – wasn’t really nightly; and the front-desk staff didn’t seem well versed in helping with things like dinner reservations. We don’t need or expect concierge-level services and can easily fend for ourselves, but when a destination promises a certain standard, we do think it should work hard to deliver on those promises.
Even with these criticisms, we’re glad we stayed at El Convento. It is the “grand dame” of the old city and an important landmark. When we come back to San Juan, we’ll surely return to the old city, maybe next time trying El Convento’s sister hotel, the newly opened Hotel Palacio Provincial, which is right around the corner from El Convento in a building that once served as the Department of State. From our visit to Palacio Provincial for dinner, it looks like a hotel that mixes historic architecture with more modern design, and as of May 2023, everything is sparkling and fresh.
Puerto Rico bonus entry: Because of a cancelled flight on the way back to Minneapolis, we stayed an extra night in Puerto Rico at the Condado Vanderbilt.
Stay details:
- El Convento Hotel, center of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 4-night stay, May 25 – 29, 2023
- Queen Vista room
What we did, where we ate:
Eating and Drinking
- Drinks at Alegria Patio Bar (in the hotel)
- Dinner at El Patio de Sam
- Coffe at Don Ruiz in Cuartel de Ballaja
- Nachos at Aureola
- Drinks at Santisimo (in the hotel)
- Dinner at Singular
- Coffee at Cafe Cuatro Estaciones in Plaza de Armas
- Dinner at Marmalade
- Lunch (take-out) from El Meson
- Dinner at Consular in Palacio Provincial (El Convento’s sister hotel)
Outings and Adventures
- Walking tour of Old San Juan (several of them during our 4 days)
- Iglesia de San Jose church
- Liga de Arte de San Juan
- Castillo San Felipe Del Morro
- Museo de las Americas (exhibitions of Aby Ruiz and Eric Tabales)
- Capilla del Cristo Chapel
- San Juan de Bautista Cathedral
- Castillo San Cristobal
- Plaza Colon
- San Juan Gate
- Casa Blanca Museum (house tour and gardens)
- El Morro Walkway
- Ferry to Cataño
- Museum of San Juan (Epiphany and “pants on felt” exhibits)
hotelling.org 
Glorious! A mini vacation for me just reading your sensational (literally – a treat for the senses!) prose. Hoping to follow your footsteps here as we did in Mexico City!!
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