Area Information
Welcome to the Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort
1150 Caribe Avenue
Ponce, Puerto Rico
00716-2015
Telephone: 1-787-259-7676
Fax: 1-787-259-7674
New travel regulations from/to the Caribbean/U.S.
Alternatively call 1 877-GO-HILTON toll-free from US/Canada or your local Hilton Reservations and Customer Care Office.
Area Profile
Oceanfront hotel, 90 minutes drive time from San Juan International Airport, featuring resort facilities and landscaped tropical gardens facing the Caribbean Sea. Many tourist attractions located nearby.
Driving and Transportation
Driving north to south (from San Juan to Ponce) along Highway #52, turn right at the 104B exit to "Ponce Playa". Stay on Route #12, moving to the left lane heading south and turn left onto Caribe Ave., the hotel entrance is two blocks ahead.
Driving west to east (from Mayaguez to Ponce) keep on State Road #2. After paying the toll, take the right-hand turn to “Ponce Playa”, stay on Route #12 moving to the left lane heading south and turn left onto Caribe Ave., the hotel entrance is at the end of the street.
Hotel Parking
Daily Parking Charge: $8.00 per Night
Valet Parking Charge: $15.00 per Night
Local Attractions
Just four miles away from the hotel is the historic downtown area of Ponce with an array of cultural and historic sites to complement a relaxing visit, including museums, theaters, castles, cathedrals, a coffee plantation, and much more. Below are just a few examples of what you can do in Ponce and the rest of the island to make the most of your stay.
Tibes Indian Ceremonial Center
Tibes is the more important archaeological deposit in all Caribbean. It represents the room of continuous indigenous life by more than thousand years before the arrival of Columbus to the Island. Bordered by the Portugues River and excavated in 1975, this is the oldest pre-Hispanic cemetery in the Antilles. It contains some 186 skeletons, dating from A.D. 300, as well as pre-Taino plazas from A.D. 700. The site also includes a re-created Taino village, seven rectangular ball courts, and two dance grounds. The arrangement of stone points on the dance grounds, in line with the solstices and equinoxes, suggests a pre-Columbian Stonehenge. Here you'll also find a museum, an exhibition hall that presents a documentary about Tibes, a cafeteria, and a souvenir shop. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm; closed on Monday. (Except holidays).
Hacienda Buena Vista
Built in 1833, this hacienda preserves an old way of life, with its whirring waterwheels and artifacts of 19th-century farm production. Once it was one of the most successful plantations on Puerto Rico, producing coffee, corn, and citrus. It was a working coffee plantation until the 1950s, and 86 of the original 500 acres (200 hectares) are still part of the estate. The rooms of the hacienda have been furnished with authentic pieces from the 1850s.
“Teatro La Perla”
This Theater, built in the neoclassical style in 1864, remains one of the most visible symbols of the economic prosperity of Ponce during the mid-19th century. Designed by Juan Bertoli, an Italian-born resident of Puerto Rico who studied in Europe, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1918, and rebuilt in 1940 according to the original plans; it reopened to the public in 1941. It is noted for acoustics so clear that microphones are unnecessary. The theater is the largest and most historic in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Everything from plays to concerts to beauty pageants takes place here.
Old Firehouse Museum
Constructed in 1882 as the centerpiece of a 12-day agricultural fair intended to promote the civic charms of Ponce, El Parque de Bombas was designated a year later as the island's first permanent headquarters for a volunteer firefighting brigade. It has an unusual appearance -- it's painted black and red. A tourist-information kiosk is situated inside the building. Open everyday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Museum of the History of Ponce (Casa Salazar)
Opened in the Casa Salazar in 1992, this museum traces the history of the city from the time of the Taino tribes to the present. Interactive displays help visitors orient themselves and locate other attractions. The museum has a conservation laboratory, library, souvenir and gift shop, cafeteria, and conference facilities. Casa Salazar ranks close to the top of Ponce's architectural treasures. Built in 1911, it combines neoclassical and Moorish details, while displaying much that is typical of the Ponce decorative style: stained-glass windows, mosaics, pressed-tin ceilings, fixed jalousies, wood or iron columns, porch balconies, interior patios, and the use of doors as windows.
Ponce Art Museum
Donated to the people of Puerto Rico by Luis A. Ferre, a former governor, this museum has the finest collection of European and Latin American art in the Caribbean. The building itself was designed by Edward Durell Stone (who also designed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.) and has been called the "Parthenon of the Caribbean." Its collection represents the principal schools of American and European art of the past 5 centuries. Among the nearly 400 works on display are exceptional pre-Raphaelite and Italian baroque paintings. Visitors will also see artworks by other European masters, as well as Puerto Rican and Latin American paintings, graphics, and sculptures. On display are some of the best works of the two "old masters" of Puerto Rico, Francisco Oller and Jose Campeche. The museum also contains a representative collection of the works of the old masters of Europe, including Gainsborough, Velazquez, Rubens, and Van Dyck. The museum is best known for its pre-Raphaelite and baroque paintings and sculpture -- not only from Spain, but from Italy and France as well. Both the Whitney Museum in New York and the Louvre in Paris have borrowed from its collection. Temporary exhibitions are also mounted here. Reopening by end of October 2010 after a 2 year complete renovation.
Serrallés Castle Museum
Two miles (3.2km) north of the center of town is the largest and most imposing building in Ponce, constructed high on El Vigia Hill during the 1930s by the Serrallés family, owners of a local rum distillery. One of the architectural gems of Puerto Rico, it is the best evidence of the wealth produced by the turn-of-the-20th-century sugar boom. Guides will escort you through the Spanish Revival house with Moorish and Andalusian details. Highlights include panoramic courtyards; a baronial dining room, a small cafe and souvenir shop, and a series of photographs showing the tons of earth that were broughtin for the construction of the terraced gardens.
Destilerria Serralles
The Serralles family is the last Puerto Rican family on the island that (legally) continues the rum distillation tradition, manufacturing and distributing more than 60 percent of the rum sold in Puerto Rico. It's doubtful you'll encounter Puerto Rico's moonshine "Canita" or "Pitorro" as a visiting tourist, but Serralles Distillery rums can be purchased under the brand names Don Q, Ron Llave, Palo Viejo and Granado. The company produces the famous DonQ brand, reputed as the best Puerto Rican rum, and many variations of flavored rum, including “mojito”, coconut, lemon or passion fruit, are being introduced to the Domestic US and international markets, aside from the DonQ Cristal, and the Gran Añejo, some of which were awarded highest honors in recent international drinks and spirits competitions.
Don Juan Serralles, whose Spanish father settled in Puerto Rico, began the family's fortunes in 1865 opening the Hacienda Mercedita sugar plantation (near the current Mercedita Airport), where sugar cane molasses imported from the Dominican Republic is still transformed into rum to this day. Don Felix Juan Serralles, Jr., Don Juan’s great-grandson, presides over the company in present times.
Coffin Island
This pristine island is a wonderful spot to do some snorkeling or private sun bathing. Known is Spanish as “Caja de Muertos” due to its shape viewed for afar, the island is not much more than mangrove swamps, white sand beaches and an abandoned 19th century lighthouse. The tiny island is only about one mile long and less than three miles wide, and there are no permanent inhabitants. Round-trip ferries leaves from La Guancha at 8:30 am on Saturday’s and Sunday’s, and snorkeling or scuba diving trips can be arranged locally for half or full day arrangements.
La Guancha Boardwalk
Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second city, is often called “The Pearl of the South,” and indeed has an aristocratic air. Don’t miss its wonderful downtown historic area, its museums, and its rum factory. High on your list of top entertainment stops should be La Guancha, located a few miles out of town on the Caribbean Sea. Playa de Ponce is the city’s seaport and beach, and at night its long boardwalk, La Guancha, is the center of activity for everyone from teenagers to senior citizens. With ample parking space at the site, the boardwalk is across from the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club and encompasses an impressively large area. The grand attraction, besides the cool breeze from the sea and the fun of mingling with crowds of young lovers, families and friends, is the food. Countless kiosks serve up frituras (fritters) stuffed with nearly every ingredient available from the land and from the sea.
Gilligan Island
Gilligan's Island is one of the most popular beaches on the Island. A unique experience, you can only reach it by Ferry as it is located a few hundred meters off-shore (about a 5 minute boat trip). The beach itself is very well preserved, very clean, and offers diverse areas for children and adults. The beach is part of the Guanica Dry Forest Reserve, and on the rear part of the facilities you can find a beautiful complex of mangrove channels. The most important of them is a double tunnel-like channel that takes you to the outside part of the beach. You must have swimming skills because of the high underwater currents on one of these channels, so make sure you do not take the channels alone. Take the boats from the dock in the San Jacinto Restaurant.
Guanica Dry Forest
A United Nations designated International Biosphere Reserve. This forest showcases a historic lighthouse, a lookout tower, 700 types of plants and trees, it has the richest population of birds on the Island (136 different species), a lignum vitae tree that is over 1,000 years old, 14 hiking trails, several beaches and offshore cays where you can kayak and snorkel. The Guanica Forest Reserve is a coastal mangrove forest and has been an UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve because of several endangered species found only in Puerto Rico. No camping allowed.
La Parguera Bioluminescent Bay
Imagine the blackness of the sea on a moonless night. Now watch it sparkle with the darting lights of a million fireflies. Nature lovers will not want to miss the phenomenal experience of visiting a tropical phosphorescent bay! The phosphorescence is actually bioluminescence generated by microscopic organisms in the water. It is believed to be part of a natural defense system triggered by the movement of predators. Many scientists believe the tiny organisms light up so their predators can see more desirable prey – and thus leave them alone. The phenomenon occurs sporadically in warm seas around the world, but Puerto Rico is one of the only places on the planet where you can depend on it every evening at two different protected bays. The best known is at La Parguera, between Mayaguez and Ponce in the southwest of the island. A cottage industry in the village is based on showing the bay to visitors.
Coamo Hot Springs
Coamo is a small town nestled in a valley about 10 miles east of Ponce (about 30 minutes by car). It was named San Blas Illescas de Coamo by its first settlers. San Blas was the Catholic saint who remains the town's patron. Illescas is the Spanish town the original founders came from (nowadays in Toledo province, Castile-La Mancha, Spain). Archeological digs near the region have produced some of the best examples of the island's pre-Columbian cultural artifacts, and some say these baths were Juan Ponce de Leon’s “fountain of youth”. The water in the hot springs is a constant 44 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Farenheit), and very rich in minerals. The effect of soaking for a while in these waters is certainly therapeutic. Without hyperbolizing the healing powers of the waters, it is no mystery why the Spaniards, like the natives before them, became fans of the hot springs, as one feels so rejuvenated after taking a dip in the springs!
Local Airports
Luis Munoz Marin International
Distance from hotel: 120 km.
Drive time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Directions: Take exit to Teodoro Moscoso Bridge; stay on Hwy. 17. After 4th traffic light go underneath Hwy. 18, and go south. Stay in the left lane to exit to Caguas Hwy. 52, leading directly to Ponce; exit to route 12 and turn left at First light.
Getting to and from the Airport
Taxi Service or Rental Car
Taxi , typical minimum charge is USD 110.00
Mercedita Airport in Ponce
Distance from hotel: 7 km.
Drive time: 10 min.
Directions: Take exit to highway 52 south, exit at route 12, turn left at First traffic light; hotel entrance is two blocks ahead.
Getting to and from the Airport
Rental Car or Taxi
Local Businesses and Corporations
Bristol Myers Squibb, 4 mi. W
USSC, 4 mi. W
Checkpoint, 4 mi. W
Cutler Hammer, 21 mi. S
Corange, 7 mi. E
Hanes Menswear, 3 mi. W
Hamilton Sundstrand, 25 mi. NE
Roche, 7 mi. E
Area Recreation
New Costa Caribe Golf Course
Sight Seeing Tours
Contact us at 1-787-259-7676 for more specific information on these area facilities and activities.
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