Fort El Morro: is at the top of the hill of Old San Juan. At the other end of Norza­garay Street is the San Cristo­bal Fort, walk between the two forts, along the road at the top.   If you have a choice, see them on two dif­fer­ent days.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro: Built between 1539 and 1589, with later expan­sions, rises 140 feet above the sea, look­ing over the entrance to San Juan Har­bour, the fort is a maze of tun­nels, dun­geons, bar­racks, and canon ramps.    It con­sists of 74 acres of grounds and fort.   Open 9 am to 5 pm.

Castillo San Cristo­bal: was built in the 1700’s, one of the largest defense sys­tems ever built in the Amer­i­cas.    Guided tours are avail­able Tues­day, Thurs­day and Fri­days at 10, 11 am and 2 and 3 pm. You can wan­der around the mazes and tun­nels on your own, 9 am to 6 pm.   tel. 729‑6754.

Near the El Morro fort are the fol­low­ing museums:

Domini­can Con­vent: built by Domini­can fri­ars in 1523.   Houses a small chapel museum. 98 Norza­garay St.   Open daily 8 am to 4:30 pm   tel. 721‑6866

Museo de Las Amer­i­cas, ‘Bal­laja’, sev­eral dif­fer­ent exhibits on the sec­ond floor, some chang­ing, Cul­tures of North, Cen­tral and South Amer­ica.   Large build­ing with court­yard. Closed Mon­day.   Art films down­stairs in the evenings. 10 to 4 week­days & 11 to 5 week­ends.   tel. 724‑5052, 723‑4481

Museo de Arte y His­to­ria de San Juan: Con­tem­po­rary Puerto Rican sculp­ture and clay, paint­ings and in impres­sive exhibit of hand carved ‘San­tos’.   150 Noraza­garay Street. Closed Sat­ur­day and Sun­day. 8 am to 4:30 pm.   tel. 724‑1875

Museo del Indio: Pho­to­graphic exhibits of indige­nous peo­ple, arti­facts, tools and stone carv­ings.   First floor of Insti­tute of Cul­ture Norza­garay Street. 9 am to 4:30 pm.   tel. 724‑0700 ext. 4223

African Her­itage Museum:   On the San Jose Plaza, San Sebas­t­ian Street.   tel. 724‑4294

Pablo Casals Museum: on the San Jose Plaza.   Orig­i­nal man­u­scripts of his work, his cello and piano.   Closed Sun­day and Mon­day. 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.   tel. 723‑9185 $1.

Walk­ing down the cob­ble stoned Cristo Street:

Casa Blanca Museum: built in 1521 by the fam­ily of Ponce de Leon, who lived in it for 250 years.   It is now a his­tor­i­cal museum with 2 sec­tions, one of the Taino Indi­ans and one of the his­tory of the house.   Closed Mon­days.   tel. 725‑1454, 724‑4102

Museum of Fel­ica Rin­con de Gau­tier:   For­mer home of first woman Mayor of San Juan.   Pho­tographs, elab­o­rate wigs, fans, keys to cities. 51 Caleta Street.   Closed Sat­ur­day and Sun­day. Open 9 am to 4 pm.    tel. 723‑1897

La For­t­aleza ( the gov­er­nors man­sion) is open to the pub­lic on a lim­ited basis, mostly the grounds.

Casa del Libro: Museum and Library with rare books and man­u­scripts, includ­ing two royal man­dates ( signed by Fer­di­nan and Isabela) con­cern­ing the pro­vi­sion­ing of Columbus’s sec­ond voy­age, in which Puerto Rico was dis­cov­ered.   Cristo Street. 11 am to 4:30 pm closed Sun­day and Mon­day.   tel. 723‑0354

Casa de la Familia Puer­toriqueña:    tel. 977‑2700

Casa Ramon Power y Giralt: Restored home in which the Puerto Rico Con­ser­va­tion Trust has a small exhibit about crit­i­cal envi­ron­men­tal con­cerns.   10 am– 4 pm, closed Sun­day and Mon­day.   tel. 722‑5834

Casa de los Con­tra­fuertes:   Chang­ing exhibits of Latin Amer­i­can Prints.   Closed Mon­day and Tues­day. 9 am to 4:30 pm   tel. 724‑5477

Casa de Los Zaguanes: ( two foy­ers) 8 am to 4 pm.   Closed Sat­ur­day and Sun­day    tel. 724‑5477

Casa Rosada:   Built in 1812, Gov­ern­ment tourist office with brochures, maps and a wel­come cock­tail.   Open daily 8 am to 5 pm   tel. 724‑1454 $2.

La Casita: ( lit­tle yel­low build­ing by the water­front) Gov­ern­ment tourism office, brochures, maps, free cock­tail.  Open late daily, hours vary.   tel. 722‑1709

GREATER SAN JUAN:

Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico: De Diego Ave.   San­turce, Puerto Rico’s’ most trea­sured works of art, includ­ing Fran­cisco Oller and Jose Campeche.   The­ater, restau­rant and sculp­ture gar­dens.   Closed Mon­day. Open 10 am to 5 pm, later on Wednes­day nights,   tel. 977‑6277 $5.  Nice restaurant.

Museo de Arte Con­tem­po­rano: on Ponce de Leon ave. at stop 18. San­turce. New museum with very good exhibits by Puerto Rican and Latin Amer­i­can con­tem­po­rary artists.    tel. 977−4030÷31

Museum of His­tory, Anthro­pol­ogy and Art at the Uni­ver­sity of PR, main cam­pus in Rio Piedras: His­tory, arche­ol­ogy and fine arts.   tel. 764‑3939

The Botan­i­cal Gar­dens are some­what near the Uni­ver­sity and have a sculp­ture gar­den, many paths and areas planted with exotic plants and flowers.

BEYOND INNER SAN JUAN:

Luis Muñoz Marin Foun­da­tion ( Tru­jillo Alto)   tel. 755‑7979
Casa Museo Dr. Jose Celso Bar­bosa (Baya­mon)   tel. 786‑8115
Casa Jesus T. Piñero ( Canovanas)   tel. 977‑2700
Caparra ruins his­tor­i­cal Museum and Park (Guayn­abo)    tel. 781‑4795

AROUND THE ISLAND, NEAR SAN JUAN:

Caguas:

Museo de Arte de Caguas:    tel. 744‑8833

Vega Baja:

Casa Alonso Museum of Art, His­tory & Cul­ture:    tel. 858‑7113

Gurabo:

Museo y Cen­tro de Estu­dios Human­is­ti­cos de La Uni­ver­si­dad del Turabo:   tel. 743‑7979

Bar­ran­quitas:

Casa Luis Muñoz Rivera:    tel. 857‑0230

REALLY OUT ON THE ISLAND:

Ponce:

Museo de Arte de Ponce:    tel. 848‑0505

Ponce His­tory Museum: is a lovely, restored, ‘art nou­veau’ style home with lots of stained glass and a bath­tub carved out of one piece of local mar­ble.    His­tory exhibits are all in Spanish.

Castillo Ser­ralles Museum:   tel. 259‑1770
Music Museum:    tel. 848‑7016
Museo de la Masacre: tel. 844‑9722  :  tel. 840‑4115

Utu­ado:

Cen­tro Cer­e­mo­nial Indígena de Caguana:    tel. 894‑7300

Coamo:

Coamo Museum: tel. 825‑1150

Guayama:

Casa Cau­tiño Museum:    tel. 864‑9083
Guayama Fine Arts Museum:    (Unique finely carved gourd exhibit).

Patil­las:

San Ger­man:

Porta Coeli Reli­gious Art Museum:    tel. 892‑5845

Mayaguez:

Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo:   tel. 832‑6330. Birds, mon­keys, lions, tigers, giraffes, rep­tiles and amphib­ians.  closes 3:30 pm and closed Mon­days and Tues­days.
Trop­i­cal Agri­cul­tural Research Sta­tion    tel. 831‑3435. week­days to 4 pm

Vieques Island:

Museo Fort Conde del Mira­sol:    tel. 741‑1717    Art & arti­facts exhibits,  great views of Isabel II.
Light­house Museum: ( open­ing soon?)
His­tor­i­cal and Con­ser­va­tion Trust:   Nature ori­ented.   Small fish tanks.   tel. 741‑8850.