The Ultimate Vieques Travel Guide
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The archipelago of Puerto Rico is composed of many beautiful and unique cays and islets, but one of the most special islands that forms part of this archipelago is the island of Vieques. Located just 7 miles to the east of the main island of Puerto Rico, Vieques is a great option for those who wish to have the quintessential secluded Caribbean island experience. It is home to world renowned beaches, some of the friendliest people you will meet, and the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. And in this travel guide I'll give you everything you need to know to plan your visit to this breathtaking island and at the end I'll share with you a detailed cost breakdown of a visit to Vieques.
There are two main options of getting to Vieques. The quickest, yet more expensive way is by booking a plane ticket or a plane charter from the San Juan International Airport, the Isla Grande Airport or the Ceiba Airport. The slowest, most budget friendly and common way of getting to Vieques is by taking a 30 minute ferry ride from the Ceiba Ferry Terminal. The terminal is about an hour and 15 minute drive from San Juan and is located inside the grounds of the former Roosevelt Roads Navy Station.
FERRY TO VIEQUES
To book your tickets for the ferry you'll need to visit the website puertoricoferry.com, where you'll see the option of Ceiba to Vieques. Here, you'll choose the date and time you wish to depart, whether your trip is one way or round trip, and what date and time you wish to return. In this step, make sure to pick times that are specifically for passengers or for passengers and cargo. One thing to note is that the cargo ferries can be slower than the passengers only ferries, so if you're in a hurry to get to Vieques and back, choose the Passenger Only option. After this, you'll see a variety of ticket options based on age and whether you're a Puerto Rico resident or not. After choosing the ticket options that apply to you, you'll be able to specify which carry-on items you'll be bringing with you to Vieques like luggage, beach chairs, and coolers. If you're planning to bring these items back, make sure to pick the round trip option. Finally, insert your payment method, review and pay.
There are several situations that you need to be aware of when booking these tickets through the portal. The first is that to have a better experience during this process you'll need to do it on a desktop computer since some parts of the website might not load properly if you try to book the tickets on your phone. Second, ferry tickets are usually made available one or two weeks prior to each month. For example, if you're looking to book tickets for September, you might need to wait till the third or even fourth week of August to be able to book those tickets, so you won't be able to book too far in advance. Third, only about 20% of all tickets available for a specific journey are made available online, so if you find that the date and time you wish to book is sold out online, you might still have some luck finding tickets at the Ferry Terminal in Ceiba. And fourth, disabled individuals and residents of Vieques have priority over all other passengers, so make sure to get to the terminal at least one hour before your departure to make sure you're in the front of the line of the visitors and you get to embark on your journey.
If you're arriving at the Ceiba Ferry Terminal in your own car or a rental, you'll be able to park it in one of the designated parking areas located a short walk from the terminal gate. This parking is 24 hours and will charge you $7 per day plus tax. From there you'll be able to take a quick shuttle bus to the entrance of the terminal. If you were thinking about taking your rental car to Vieques using a cargo ship, it's important to note that rental car companies won't allow you to do this, so you'll need to either rent another car in Vieques or find another form of transportation such as golf carts, which are very popular, or using taxis.
Once you arrive at the Ceiba Ferry Terminal, the process is pretty straight forward. Just show your QR code boarding pass, which you should have received via email, and the staff will point you to the spacious and breezy waiting area. About 20 minutes before the departure, the staff will start ushering passengers inside the ferry. You'll go into the ferry through the bottom floor which is completely indoors but you can go up to the second floor which has an indoor and outdoor area, or go to the third floor which is completely outdoor and where you'll be able to see the main island of Puerto Rico fading away as you sail closer and closer to Vieques. Pro-tip: If you're like me and you get easily sea sick, you might want to buy dramamine, an over the counter drug that is used to treat and prevent motion sickness.
TOP SECTION
OF FERRY
TO VIEQUES
When you dock in Vieques, you will have arrived at Isabel Segunda, Vieques’ most populated barrio located on the northern side of the island-municipality. This area resembles the city centers that you will find in every municipality of Puerto Rico with its center plaza and walkable streets surrounding it, full of local restaurants, bars, historical structures, and some accommodations. Another popular area in Vieques is called Esperanza and it is located on the south side of the island. Esperanza is characterized by its main street and walkway called el Malecón that runs right next to the ocean and is lined by many restaurants that cater mostly to visitors of the island.
ESPERANZA, VIEQUES
Our first stop during our trip to Vieques was Rincon del Café, a cozy outdoor breakfast spot near Isabel Segunda, to grab a quick bite to eat before starting our adventure. After our delicious breakfast we drove to the famous Ceiba Tree Park located on the west side of the island. The Ceiba tree, also known as the tree of life, is characterized by its colossal size, its mystical aura, and its strong cultural significance to the indigenous people of Puerto Rico and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. Although this specific Ceiba is an imposing 50 feet high and about 300 years old, its presence and surroundings exudes peacefulness and entices visitors to take a seat, on one of the many benches surrounding it, to meditate and connect to nature, setting the stage to what will be an amazing adventure.
CEIBA TREE PARK
After taking in the captivating sight of the Ceiba tree, we decided to head over to the Mosquito Pier or Rompeolas. This mile long pier was under construction during the early 1940s and was originally planned to stretch from Vieques to the municipality of Ceiba where it would connect to the Roosevelt Road Naval Station. Today, this pier serves as a great place for anyone to enjoy running, snorkeling, fishing and sightseeing. During our visit, we were able to drive all the way to the very end of the pier where we parked our car and walked the remaining strip of pier that has a spectacular view of the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques.
Next, we got back into our car and drove all the way down to the south side of the island to Sun Bay Beach. Although this beach is conveniently located close to the community of Esperanza and is popular among locals and visitors, its approximately two mile long length has enough space for visitors to spread out, making it feel secluded even on busy days, especially if you drive all the way down to the left side of the beach on the sandy trail. Sun Bay Beach is the perfect place for those who wish to lounge around and enjoy the calm Caribbean sea.
SUN BAY BEACH
But, as all puertorricans know, the beach has a tendency to make you feel tired and hungry, so we hopped back into our car and drove over to Esperanza where we stopped by one of the local food trucks at El Malecón to eat some delicious traditional puertorrican food such as pinchos, tostones and empanadillas. If you’re interested in learning more about traditional puertorrican food, you should check out my video of the Top 10 Foods You Must Eat In Puerto Rico.
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As the sun started to set we headed back to our Airbnb to get ready for what would be a very special event in Vieques called el Encendido Navideño. Encendidos Navideños are traditional events where the holiday lights that decorate a municipality’s center plaza are turned on for the first time, officially marking the beginning of the holiday celebrations. In my opinion, Encendidos Navideños are the perfect example of everything that encompasses the puertorrican culture. At these events you will see all sorts of traditional food, music and dances. But, the Encendido Navideño at Vieques is particularly unique from all others in the main island of Puerto Rico because its culture is influenced by the nearby US and British Virgin Islands. And thus, here you will hear music, see dances and traditional clothing that reflect the culture of the neighboring virgin islands.
ENCENDIDO NAVIDEÑO
To start off our second day at la Isla Nena, we headed over to Isabel Segunda for some absolutely delicious breakfast at Rising Roost. Their beautiful location features breezy indoor and outdoor seating areas and a friendly staff that will help you decide on what to choose from their mouth watering breakfast options such as their absolutely delicious french toasts, eggs, puerto rican coffee and sautéed potatoes. With a full stomach we headed over to the Vieques Wildlife Refuge to visit the first beach of the day, La Chiva Beach. The route to La Chiva Beach is pretty straightforward, just follow the large and visible signs on the side of the road that point you to the different areas and beaches inside the Vieques Wildlife Refuge. Here, you’ll drive down both paved and gravel roads and inevitably drive past groups of wild horses that roam around all of Vieques, until eventually you’ll see trails to your right that lead you to the beach. Once you’re at La Chiva, you might want to walk either to your left or right to find the perfect spot for lounging and relaxing. Although La Chiva is one of Vieques’ most popular beaches, during our visit there were barely any people, making it feel like a secluded private island with crystal clear and calm waters.
LA CHIVA BEACH
The next beach we visited was the nearby smaller yet charming Caracas Beach. Although there were many more people at Caracas, we felt that it had a friendly vibe and was perfect for enjoying the calm waters of the Caribbean and socializing under the gazebos while enjoying food cooked on the BBQs that are part of the facilities.
CARACAS BEACH
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And last, but not least on our list of beaches to visit on this day was Playa Negra. Located just west of Esperanza, Playa Negra is a breathtaking hidden beach that stands out from all the others because of its beautiful charcoal black sand. To get to Playa Negra you’ll need to park your car right next to the road and walk down an easy eight minute long hiking trail that starts next to the large Playa Negra concrete sign. If by any reason you don’t see that much black sand once you get out of the trail, try moving to the right side of the beach where you’ll see much more of this unique natural phenomenon. If you’re like me, you’ll want to exfoliate your skin with this volcanic black sand or maybe bring a magnet to experiment with its magnetic properties. Playa Negra is truly a sight to see and a work of natural art because of its contrasting shades of black sand, turquoise water, and honey colored cliffs surrounding the coastline.
PLAYA NEGRA
Although every single spot we visited on this day was absolutely breathtaking and awe inspiring, nothing would compare to what is arguably the stand out attraction of Vieques, the Bioluminescent Bay. There are only five Bioluminescent Bays around the world that we know of, and a whopping three of those bays are located in Puerto Rico, but the Bioluminescent Mosquito Bay in Vieques is by far considered to be the brightest bio bay in all of the world. Located within the Vieques Wildlife Refuge, its protected surroundings have allowed the dinoflagellates that produce the bioluminescence to thrive under almost perfect conditions. If you want to experience the bio bay, you’ll need to book one of the many kayak tours available, most of which start off near Esperanza. From there you’ll get on a bus that will take you to Mosquito Bay where you’ll hop on a kayak and follow your guide into the water, where every pedal stroke that you take will light up the water brighter and brighter the further in the bay you go. Unfortunately, the gear we used to film was not light sensitive enough to capture this beautiful natural phenomenon, but we can assure you that when you are there, you’ll feel as if glistening bright stars are not only decorating the night sky, but also surrounding and lighting up the bottom of your kayak.
BIOLUMINESCENT
BAY
Before heading out for breakfast on our last day at Vieques we decided to explore el Muelle de la Caña in Esperanza, an old sugar cane pier that dates back to when the sugar cane industry thrived in the island. This is a great place to jump into the water, go snorkeling and look around at el Cayo Real and el Cayo de Tierra, a cay that is accessible by walking a thin strip of sand and that features a hyper saline lagoon, birdwatching and hiking trails.
MUELLE
DE LA CAÑA
We then headed to Isabel Segunda once again to eat a hearty breakfast at the Panadería la Viequense that serves scrumptious traditional sandwiches that are perfect to give you energy for a long day of adventure visiting some of the island's most important historical landmarks. A short two minute drive from the Panaderia la Viequense, located on the top of a hill that overlooks Vieques, the main island of Puerto Rico and the sister island of Culebra is the beautiful Fortín Conde de Mirasol. Although unfinished, this was one of the last forts built by the Spanish in the Americas which was under construction from 1845 through 1855. In present times, this Colonial style building houses an art gallery, archeological artifacts, but most importantly, it houses a large collection of photographs, artifacts and documents from the most impactful and dark periods of Vieques’s history, the occupation by the United States Navy.
FORTÍN CONDE DE MIRASOL
For over 60 years, the Navy used Vieques as a live munitions testing site by constantly bombarding land it had expropriated on the east and west side of the island, forcing Viequenses to flee to the center and killing much of the agricultural industry that prospered on the island. Heavily toxic bombs would constantly rain on Vieques more than 80 times a day, causing irreversible damage to the natural landscape, to the economy and to the culture of Vieques. Although protests had arisen before, the final straw for many Viequenses came in 1999 when David Sanes, a civilian Viequense, was killed by a bomb that supposedly misfired. From this moment, protests gained momentum and many important figures from Puerto Rico, around the world, and most importantly, the people of Vieques, came together to raise their voice against the atrocities occurring on the island. As a result of this pressure, the Navy finally withdrew from Vieques in 2003. Although there are effort to restore and clean up the island from toxic matter and looming bombs still active to this day, Vieques still suffers from lasting effects such as a much higher cancer rate than the main island of Puerto Rico, a devastated agricultural economy, and now the threat of gentrification by wealthy foreigners moving to Puerto Rico and Vieques looking for tax incentives. To visit Vieques as a tourist and spend most of your time enjoying the beaches without learning about its tumultuous history would be completely irresponsible and disrespectful to the people of Vieques that still live and work hard on the island despite the mountains of challenges that they face every single day. For this reason I suggest you try to visit El Fortin Conde de Mirasol and treat every single Viequense you meet with respect and kindness.
And now, after visiting the Fortín, we headed over to the south side of Vieques to visit the otherworldly archaeological site of el Hombre de Puerto Ferro. Here, you will witness many large boulders that look seemingly out of place from the rest of the landscape and where archeologists unearthed skeletal remains and artifacts that carbon dated back to 500 through 2300 BC, presumably to the pre-Arawak stone age culture in the Antilles. Visiting this site can feel both eerie and peaceful as you get a sense of mysticism and mystery emanating from the colossal boulders and their surroundings.
HOMBRE DE PUERTO FERRO
And although it was almost time to head back to the main island of Puerto Rico, we couldn’t leave Vieques without trying one of their traditional foods, the delicious arepas. Arepas are flat and round flower patties that can be baked, fried, boiled or steamed and made with different types of fillings and flavors such as coconut. Another traditional food you might want to try during your visit to Vieques is the Bilí, a seasonal rum infusion popular during the summer months made with a tropical fruit called quenepa and other ingredients such as sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
As the clock neared 6PM it was time for us to head to Isabel Segunda for the last time and board the ferry back to the main island of Puerto Rico. Although we did not want to leave this beautiful and unique island municipality, we took with us many beautiful memories and stories that will stay with us forever. We sat in the open deck and as the sun set, we looked out at the fading silhouette of la Isla Nena with an overwhelming feeling that this was not be our last time visiting this wonderful place and hoping that more people have a chance to learn about its history, see its beautiful landscape, meet its wonderful people.
VIEQUES COST BREAKDOWN
And finally, I want to reward everyone who’s read until the end with the cost breakdown of our visit to Vieques so that you can plan your trip accordingly.
ACCOMODATIONS
TRADE WINDS GUEST HOUSE
Our two main expenses were accommodation and transportation. For accommodations in Vieques we booked an Airbnb at a guest house in Esperanza which set us back $266 from Friday till Sunday.
TRANSPORATION
As for transportation, we opted to rent a car from Maritza Car Rentals which conveniently picks you up and drops you off at the ferry terminal when you arrive and depart. This specific car cost us around $214 from Friday to Sunday and filling up the gas tank on our last day cost us around $15 more.
BIO BAY TOUR IN VIEQUES
Our other big expense was the Vieques Bioluminescent Bay tour in Vieques which would’ve cost us $60 but since we paid in cash it cost us $50 for two people.
FOOD IN VIEQUES
And when it comes to food, it really depends on the types of places you are planning to eat at. During our visit we tried to balance it between casual food joints, food spots that cater to visitors and one restaurant. In total we spent around $200 on food and dining during our whole trip.
PARKING & TRANSPORTATION TO VIEQUES
And finally, we spent around $23 for the parking at Ceiba and $8 each for our round trip tickets to Vieques and the two bags that we each carried.
COST OF VISITING VIEQUES
This brings the total of our three day trip to Vieques to $784 for two people. Although this might seem like a huge sum of money for visitors that are already spending a lot of money visiting Puerto Rico, remember that you can also plan a day trip to Vieques that will be a lot less expensive yet still be extremely rewarding.
And that’s it! I hope you found this travel guide helpful. Make sure to check out my YouTube channel, Brik’s Travel Guides, to see the full video of this and other Puerto Rico travel guides.
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