7 Of The Best Food Experiences In Puerto Rico

This is an island with a rich (and naturally, delicious!) food scene that highlights the best of tropical flavours and local ingredients. Did you know Puerto Rico is famous for its rum, coffee and roast meats? Now you do. So, to sample the best food in Puerto Rico, try these tasty trails and food experiences.

You’ll discover coffee haciendas, ‘the Pork Highway’ and so much more.

7 Of The Best Food Experiences In Puerto Rico, How do these rankings work?

1. Guavate: “The Pork Highway”

You can’t come to PR and not experience the droolworthy smells and sounds of the iconic ‘Pork Highway’. Just off highway PR-52, about 40 minutes from San Juan heading south, you take exit 32 and follow the road up the mountains of Cayey.

It’s here that you’ll find a stretch of road with dozens of lechoneras, open-air restaurants serving up slow-roasted whole pork. Each person has their own favourite lechonera, but some of the most famous are Los Pinos, Lechonera El Rancho Original and El Nuevo Rancho, and Los Amigos.

2. Luquillo Kiosks

This is a strip of about 60 restaurants and shops, from open-air chinchorros to sit-down places serving traditional Puerto Rican food (especially fresh local seafood!), Peruvian, Colombian, or Argentinean cuisine, burgers, pizza, or cocktails.

Many of the kiosks have amazing views of the beach and there is often live Latin music on the weekends. It’s a casual but fun spot to sample some of the best food in Puerto Rico.

3. Ruta de la Longaniza

This tasty route takes you along along the PR-155 and PR-156 roads to discover the best longaniza in Orocovis, a small rural town.

What’s Longaniza, you ask? It’s a type of intensely flavourful, slightly spicy sausage, made from pork or chicken (sometimes a mix), served chopped up on a platter with a side of tostones, cooked into rice, or stuffed into a mofongo.

There are 16 restaurants along this gourmet route. Highlights include Bar Restaurante La Sombra, El Naranjo, Roka Dura, and Doña María.

4. Coffee Haciendas

Coffee plays a huge part of Puerto Rican culture, and people here are really passionate about it. There’s now plenty of coffee haciendas that are to the public, offering tours of the farm and taking visitors through the production process from seed to cup.

Some of the best plantations that you can visit include Hacienda San Pedro (Jayuya), Hacienda Muñoz (San Lorenzo), Hacienda Lealtad (Lares), Hacienda Pomarrosa (Ponce), Hacienda Tres Angeles (Adjuntas).

5. Beachside Eats in Piñones

This pretty coastal part of the town of Loíza has dozens of kiosks selling fritters, skewered meat, and fresh fruit shakes. Be sure to visit El Boricua, one of the most famous kiosks on the far side of Piñones.

Fritters are thrown into the fryer just as you order them. So, they take a little longer to be ready, but they’re really worth the wait. It’s the perfect foodie road trip.

6. Vaca Negra

Always wanted to make your own cheese? Or, you know, just eat lots of it? This is the perfect road trip for you. Vaca Negra is a specialty dairy that makes 100% aged cheeses and artisanal yogurts using locally sourced milk. Their tour will give you an overview of the island’s dairy industry, a generous sampling of some of their cheeses, and finally a workshop where you’ll actually get to make your own cheese.

It’s a unique experience with beautiful countryside scenery.

7. Rum Distilleries

Puerto Rican rum is world-famous, so you need to try it at the source. There are three distilleries on the island that you can visit. At Casa Bacardí in Cataño you’ll get a welcome cocktail and can choose from three tours: Historic, Rum Tasting, or Mixology.

Hacienda Santa Ana in Bayamón, where Ron del Barrilito is produced, is also worth a visit (but reserve in advance!), while for something different, visit PitoRico in Jayuya. It produces a type of moonshine called pitorro which comes in a range of flavours.