by Brian Major
Last updated: 10:25 AM ET, Fri April 19, 2019
Vieques offers a slow-paced, small-scale Caribbean experience that's fading fast. The sun-filled skies, brilliant blue waters and verdant hills of this small Puerto Rico island, located six miles off the mainland, create an ideal backdrop for simple travel pleasures.
Vacationers here hike through lush rainforests to secluded black-sand beaches and spend breezy afternoons lounging at casual seaside bars. A sunset horseback ride across the hilly countryside is an obligatory Vieques activity.
Just after nightfall, travelers can kayak across the world's brightest bioluminescent bay, then return to shore for an evening stroll along the malecn in the charming coastal town of Esperanza, where they'll find small but lively restaurants and nightclubs.
While some corners of Vieques still show evidence of Hurricane Maria in 2017, the damage has not halted the island's emergence as a treasured boutique travel destination. Conversely, Vieques is welcoming to guests and offers Caribbean travel lovers an under-the-radar option.
The island is accessible via regional carriers Cape Air and Seaborne Airlines (both of which offer connections with JetBlue) departing from San Juan's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport; tickets range from $60 to $90 per trip. A ferry departs to Vieques from the town of Ceiba (about 40 minutes from the airport).
Here are three reasons to travel to Vieques:
Soft Adventure
Many mainland U.S. residents are familiar with the island as the site of protests against the United States Navy's use of Vieques as a bombing range. The protests resulted in the Navy's 2003 departure, and today what was previously Navy land is a national wildlife refuge. Several Vieques beaches, including Red Beach, Blue Beach and Green Beach, bear former Navy names.
While Vieques' eastern tip suffered severe contamination from its past as a bomb site and is off limits to residents and visitors, the Navy's occupation ironically prevented the development of most of the island.
As a result, most of Vieques is a genuine an eco-tourism paradise of virgin rainforest, green hills and seaside cliffs, with pristine and deserted white- and black-sand beaches.
Offshore are extensive coral reefs with colonies of fish, turtles, rays and nurse sharks. Blue Beach, Esperanza Beach, Mosquito Bay and Playa Pata Prieta all contain top snorkeling sites. Operators including Black Beard Sports, Pure Adventure, Isla Nena Scuba, Abe's Snorkeling & Biobay, Melaya's Tours, Bieque Eco Trips and Fin Time Adventures, conduct snorkeling tours in Vieques' waters.
The Guinness Book of World Records describes Vieques' Mosquito Bay as the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world, and travelers can arrange for evening kayak rides on the bay for up-close views of its amazing natural light show.
The National Wildlife Refuge offers hiking trails and amenities for nature lovers, and one must-have experience is a horseback ride through the jungle onto a black sand beach with Esperanza Riding Company. The women-led riding company's friendly, expert guides take riders from lush hillsides, down cliff sides and along intimate beaches.
In fact, among Vieques' charms are the dozens of majestic horses found wandering its beaches, grazing along roadsides and milling about the grounds around hotels and guesthouses.
Not wild in the traditional sense, most have owners. The horses tend to return to the same grazing land, with families traveling in herds along familiar routes to the same spots. Thus owners usually know where to find their horses and don't restrict them to their own land.
Local Flavor
Vieques offers a surprisingly diverse dining scene with a handful of leading gourmet-level restaurants plus authentic, delicious local fare available from mobile trucks parked regularly at sites across the island.
Vieques food trucks specialize in fresh fish and traditional Puerto Rican dishes including mofongo, deep-fried green plantains with garlic served with pork, creole, or garlic chicken, crab meat and skirt steak. Other food truck vendors mix Afro-Caribbean fare with Asian, Latin-American, and European influences.
The Vieques restaurant scene is highlighted by Tin Box, located in the center of the island and featuring seafood, BBQ chicken and pork, fish tacos, steak and homemade fries, plus sushi and the restaurant's famous cornbread.
Bananas, across from the Esperanza Beach malecon, features two separate dining venues: La Vista Rooftop Terrace and the ground-floor Beach Bar & Grill, with fresh fare including grilled fish, fried calamari, burgers, jerk chicken sliders, churrasco steak and seafood paella.
Another malecon staple, Duffy's Esperanza, serves island-famous fish tacos. The cuisine at the El Blok Hotel Restaurant & Bar (more on the hotel later), curated by Carlos Perez, the executive chef, features contemporary Puerto Rican cuisine centered around its bayahonda mesquite-fired grill and Rotisol rotisserie.
Cool Accommodations
The island's sole luxury property, the W Hotel Vieques, closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and has not re-opened. While not specifically a luxury property, the El Blok Hotel & Restaurant has emerged as the island's premier boutique hotel.
The property's distinctively hip architecture is inspired by the coral reefs that surround Vieques, and the hotel's circular reinforced concrete and perforated panels provide "protection and seclusion from the outside world."
El Blok is well suited for young couples and singles who are "open to a different approach to the traditional hotel stay" hotel officials say. While the property offers no TVs, there is WiFi service, wraparound balconies, "peekaboo" glass shower panels, open-concept rooms with no hard angles and custom art and furnishings.
The property is located at the start of Esperanza's malecn and across the street from a tranquil white-sand beach frequented by visitors, friendly local families with their dogs, wild horses and food trucks serving delicious local fare.
Malecn House is a 13-room boutique hotel on the Esperanza boardwalk. The property serves continental breakfast by the plunge pool and provides guests with folding chairs and small coolers for days on the beach, literally located across the street. Other island properties can be found on the Discover Puerto Rico website.
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