For the luxury portion of our Puerto Rico vacation, we checked into paradise, officially known as the El Conquistador Resort, a Waldorf-Astoria property. It has that Latin America laid back culture, but quite posh at the same time.
Our room was simple, with sunken bathtub and huge walk-in closet. The real in-room feature is the balcony!
The resort property is massive, with a little bit of everything. Just getting there involved driving through the enormous golf course (slight pun intended). There are several pools on each level, complete with poolside cafes, and many different restaurants. The engineering geeks (us) were very excited for the funicular, an inclined plane cable car, to carry passengers safely up & down the steep incline from the Lobby to a lower room level and the marina.
There is an enormous water park, complete with pirate rope suspension bridge, and massive water slides. And there is a private island, of course.
Palomino island is the private island for resort guests. The private ferry departs every 30 minutes and guest merely present identification cards to board for the ~7 minute ride. On the island there is another restaurant, rum cocktail bar, and plenty of activities. Guests can ride horses around the property, hike the circumference or summit the hill, play (almost) “Harry Potter” sized chess, boccie ball, soccer, snorkel, swim, kayak, and just relax. An even smaller island, just meters away, is the now-famous Palominito island where a Jack Sparrow scene was filmed for Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Resort, and specifically Palomino Island, is a popular wedding destination. With multiple wedding areas around the island, there were multiple brides running around on Saturday preparing for their ceremony.
The local Scuba tour & dive shop is located on the resort property marina. Reservations are required and 2 of my scheduled dives were cancelled when we did not meet the minimum guest requirements. I was ready to hijack the dive boat, when they wisely took a small group of us out for a 2 tank dive. We stayed close to the resort, at 2 locations just past Palomino Island. We swam with Sea Turtles, Eagle Rays, and colorful fish. My dive buddy captured these great videos of our dives, you can see my bubbles (I was swimming below him). It was worth the wait to dive these waters.
Some sources only consider this resort a 4 star property, in my opinion it is on par with my two favorite resort properties Zilara Resort in Cancun, Mexico, and the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad, California. Similar resorts in Maui are at least double the price, and do not come with a private island! And during our recent stay, it was sold out. Affluent Puerto Rican locals come here for weekend getaways, weddings, honeymoons, and people like us looking for less expensive luxury vacations. I met people from New York to Louisiana and all along the East Coast that are regular visitors to the island. Now I know why.
Oh I want to play in the water park. Who doesn’t want to explore a private island? Glad that you did finally get to go out diving.
Puerto Rico is on my wishlist but would love to visit. This resort looks incredible 🙂
this looks a lovely place to stay I love the view over the ocean I would definitely like to stay here if I am ever in that area of the world.
A funicular, a rum bar and a private island – this place looks awesome! What a fab place to spend the luxury part of your trip.
Wow this place looks amazing! Got to love a room with a deck and an epic view! Loving that little tram too!
Firstly oh wow that looks like pure luxury. I have never been to Puerto Rico but your pictures definitely make me want to pack my bags and head there right now. I think that is cool that they have their own private island too.
Owh it looks like a dream! I’d love to stay there for a while and just relax! Can you actually go to the island where they filmed the scene of Pirates of the Carribean? Drink up me brother’s yo ho!
Yes, you can go on the island where the Pirates movie was filmed. There are some great snorkel and scuba dive sites nearby, too!
I love going to places that have been in movies. I’m a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan so this place really interests me. The sunken bath tub sounds super relaxing, after relaxing all day in the resort!
That resort looks amazing! I would love to stay at a place with its own private island. Your photos are making me want to go back to Puerto Rico!