La Marquesa Forest Park REOPENED!!!
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Intro to La Marquesa Forest Park
Located just 20 minutes from San Juan, La Marquesa is a vast forested hide-away in the municipality of Guaynabo that features hiking trails, exotic wildlife, and breathtaking views, making it a great destination for those looking to do ecotourism.
Entrance Tickets & Arrival
To visit La Marquesa, it's best to purchase your tickets online, this will allow you to skip the ticket line at the entrance. Admission to the park is $13 for adults and $8 for children, seniors, and veterans. While the park is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 AM to 5 PM, we recommend visiting on a weekday or arriving early on weekends to avoid large crowds and long wait times, especially at high-traffic areas like the shuttle that takes visitors from the parking lot to the main entrance.
Attractions at La Marquesa Forest Park
Cable Cars
Once you arrive at the park and scan your ticket at the main entrance, the first thing you’re gonna want to do is head over to one of the park’s main attractions, the iconic cable cars. These brightly painted yellow cable cars, suspended several feet in the air, are not merely a way of transporting visitors to the main area of the park; they also offer incredible views of the surrounding forested area hidden within the densely populated metropolitan area of Puerto Rico. If you’re terrified of heights or have mobility impairments, you can also reach the main park area by taking a short trolley ride to the top of the mountain. However, if you can muster up the courage, I highly recommend hopping onto these cable cars to enjoy the views from a unique perspective.
Butterfly Garden
Once you reach the top and step off the cable car, you’ll be welcomed into a spacious reception area featuring a stunning butterfly garden and an impressive aviary. Your visit begins with a short informational video highlighting the park’s conservation efforts. From there, you'll get a firsthand look at these efforts by peering into the on-site lab, where scientists work to support the development and evolution of monarch butterflies. Here, you'll have the chance to observe the fascinating life cycle of the butterfly up close—from tiny eggs to caterpillars, cocoons, and finally, fully emerged butterflies which you’ll be able to see gently flying around in the beautiful garden.
Aviary
A passway at the end of the butterfly garden will lead you into the impressively large aviary that holds over 100 distinct types of exotic birds, including the rare African gray parrot, the colorful golden pheasant, pink flamingos, and vibrant macaws. For me, what makes this aviary stand out from any other bird-watching experience on the island is how incredibly close you can get to the birds, thanks to its cageless, open-air design. I spent nearly half an hour in this area, gazing up into the trees and carefully scanning the branches in search of as many birds as I could spot, while also enjoying close encounters with the friendly, and sometimes feisty birds, that came closest to us.
Trolley Ride
Once you spend several minutes marveling at the beauty of these colorful and majestic birds in the aviary, you’ll want to head outside towards the street, where you can either walk or take a fun trolley ride to the next couple of attractions within the Parque Forestal La Marquesa.
Playgrounds & Gazebos
On your way to the next attraction within La Marquesa you’ll encounter several fun playgrounds for kids to play while their parents rest and sit at the multiple gazebos around the park. In the areas near these playgrounds, you can also find bathrooms, food stalls, and vending machines to grab a quick snack before heading over to the observation tower.
Observation Tower
To get to the observation tower, you’ll need to walk up a steep hill until you get to the bottom of the tower. From there, take your time to climb up several flights of stairs until you reach the very top of the tower. From here, you’ll have absolutely breathtaking panoramic views of the metropolitan area of Puerto Rico, including the surrounding forested areas. This is the perfect stop to take a seat and feel the refreshing breeze of the forest while you gaze out into the horizon, looking for unique sightings and landmarks such as El Yunque, Old San Juan, the coastline, and even cruise ships sailing into the San Juan Bay.
After relaxing for a while at the top of the observation tower, you could either spend more time walking around the park or finish up your visit by waiting for a trolley that’ll take you to the entrance at one of the several trolley stops. And although the adventure at the park itself might be over, I can assure you that you’ll leave the park starving, so I suggest that you head over to El Rancho de Apa.
El Ranco de Apa
Located about 15 minutes away from La Marquesa, El Rancho de Apa is an award-winning pork restaurant where you can get traditional Puerto Rican food. Its unique layout makes you walk right next to the pits where their famous pork is roasted and where other traditional Puerto Rican food, such as morcilla, is prepped and cooked.
Here we tried their pork, rice with pigeon peas, steamed sweet potato, and pickled breadfruit, which was all absolutely delicious. So, if you’re hungry after visiting La Marquesa and want to eat some traditional Puerto Rican food, I highly recommend passing by El Rancho de Apa.
And if you want a list of more than 40 traditional Puerto Rican foods you must eat when visiting the island, and precisely where to get them, make sure to watch both of my dedicated food videos on my YouTube channel.
Top 30+ Foods You MUST Eat In Puerto Rico
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