Great review LoneStar. My boyfriend and I spent 6 nights in Puerto Rico, 3 of them at the Westin Rio Mar, 3 of them at the Courtyard Miramar in San Juan. (March 27- April 2, 2006) First, the Westin was beautifully maintained. We got a first floor room which was ok, and we didn't have a great view of the beach or anything, but our balcony overlooked a garden which was nice. The "heavenly" bed was not all that comfortable (hate to say it but the Courtyard had more confortable beds). The room was large and clean with tile floors and nice decor. I was not charged a resort fee. The lobby area was nice with a fountain, the lounge downstairs had a piano player in the evening that was wonderful, mixed drinks were about $8, with beer around $4. There were always fresh tropical flowers in the lobby which were beautiful, and there was a great view of the pools and beach. At night, candles were lit to give the place nice ambiance. Check in was quick. We paid $10/day to self park with an Avis car, but we didn't think to tell the concierge it was from Avis, and maybe the $5 parking is only if you rent from the Avis that is onsite. The concierges were very helpful, with a lot of pre printed directions to popular sites, although they made us chuckle a bit... "go down 7 traffic lights and turn left. At the next light go right." No street names, so a good road map is a must! My boyfriend came down with strep throat while we were there, and the pharmacies there do not accept phoned in or faxed prescriptions because the law is different than in the US. The Westin has a doctor on call that can write prescriptions for $50, and the hotel will have it filled, pick it up, and deliver it to your room at no charge, which I thought was above and beyond service. The pools were clean, there was plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas in that area along with towel stands, activities for the kids, and a tiki bar. There were also plenty of loungers available on the beach. One tip, if you are walking the beach during the evening, bring bug spray! There are no-seeums on the beach and they will give you mosquito-like bites that itch - final count, 54 bites :) There is a bonfire in the evening near the beach with ingredients and equipment to make s'mores. Other PR stuff- not hotel related- action packed week! Definitely rent a car if you stay at the Westin. Luquillo, the rain forest, and the ferry to Culebra and Vieques are all within driving distance and having a car gives you the freedom to get around and not be held hostage to the resort, as beautiful as it is. I can not speak about any of the restaurants at the resort as we dined off site while we were there. There is a grocery store not far from the resort, so we "cheated" and went and got breakfast foods, water, rum, etc. We ate at Kiosk 2 in Luquillo the first night and the food was good with a nice atmosphere in that particular kiosk, some of it looked a little run down and we were aprehensive at first, but we didn't have any problems at all. We also dined at Antonito's by the corner of the street to turn into the Westin and had a good meal. We also stopped at some of the road side stand for "pinchos", kebobs of chicken or pork usually, with bbq sauce and a piece of bread, $2 each, YUM. The rainforest was beautiful, it's about a 13 mile drive through and we stopped along the way to hike along the trail that lead to a waterfall where you could swim. It rains there about 4 times a day, so bring something to protect your camera, although under the canopy of trees, you don't get really wet. We went horseback riding at Hacienda Caraballi- beautiful Paso Fino horses and a 2 hour ride through the foothills of the rainforest, along a river, and through an area with gorgeous horse farms and houses. They also rent 4-wheelers. The bioluminescient bay out of Fajardo was INCREDIBLE! We did not kayak (had a problem getting in touch with the guy we made reservations through), but did take Cpt. Suarez's little boat. The tour through the mangroves at night was the coolest thing! Huge iguanas in the trees, egrets sleeping, etc. The actual bay is phenominal. A must to go swimming in. I admit, I was a little hesitant at first, it's pretty dark and the water is 20 ft. deep. After one of the children on the tour jumped right it, I figured I couldn't be shown up by her, so followed right after! :) The ferry out of Fajardo to Culebra is the way to go. It's about a 45 minute ride. Unfortunately, there were problems with the boat after we left the dock, so we had to turn around and they ended up cancelling the ride out and refunding our $2.50 ea. Later in the week, we caught the Hi Speed Island Ferry out of San Juan, which was 1 hour 45 minutes long, and considerably more expensive ($68 RT per person). The boat had a shop to get drinks and sandwiches, which the other ferry did not have, and they showed a movie. My suggestion is to take some dramamine before you go, even if you usually don't get sea sick, there were some huge swells on the ocean, and probably 1/3 of the passengers got sea sick. Culebra is a beautiful island, you can get around to the beaches by taking the cabs that pick up at the doc, $2 per person was a great deal, and they pick you up and get you back to the ferry on time too. We went to Flamenco Beach and it was beautiful and clean. They have changing areas and rest rooms (bring your own TP) and some stands that sell water, ice, empanadas, pinchos, and batidas (I think? frozen fruit drinks made with fruit, ice, milk and sugar). All of the prices were reasonable. Casa Bacardi was pretty "touristy" but interesting, and you get 2 free rum drinks- great daiquiris for sure! Rum there is about $.05- $.10 more there than at the duty free at the airport, but they have some varieties that are only available in Puerto Rico and one that is exclusive to the gift shop. There was no charge to go on the tour. I was surprised that the gift shop was not over prices. $12- $18 for nice t-shirts and hats, more for polo's. Old San Juan was interesting, lots of brightly colored buildings and I loved the blue paved streets. Picoteo's is a Spanish tapas bar that we dined at one evening, and it was very good. It was by El Convento hotel. We decided next time we'd rather stay over by the Westin and make San Juan a day trip. Definitely less traffic. We did not need the rental car in San Juan, and we took the bus down town to the boat docks and to Old San Juan.