Puerto Rico, Vega Alta, Cerro Gordo, Waves on the beach

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North Coast

Veering from a manicured coast of plush golf resorts and posh surf spots, this region rears up into the less-visited vine-tangled crags of karst country, where landscapes seem positively prehistoric with yawning cave systems, mogotes (vegetated, steep-sided hillocks) and undulating spreads of forest.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Worlds largest single-dish radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, Puerto Rico. (Photo by: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    Observatorio de Arecibo

    North Coast

    Puerto Ricans reverently refer to it as ‘El Radar’; to everyone else it is simply the largest radio telescope in the world. Resembling a spaceship…

  • Birth of the New World Statue

    Birth of the New World Statue

    North Coast

    Undeniably Puerto Rico's biggest, most bizarre attraction, the 362ft likeness of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) navigating toward the Americas is…

  • Playa Mar Chiquita

    Playa Mar Chiquita

    North Coast

    An anomaly among Puerto Rican beaches, Playa Mar Chiquita isn’t alongside a main thoroughfare, has no long strand and isn’t good for swimming or surfing…

  • Playa Survival

    Playa Survival

    North Coast

    Even the surfers rarely make it to remote Playa Survival, best reached by a 45-minute walk west from Playa Shacks. The narrow strip of sand found…

  • PUERTO RICO , Cordillera - view over Lago Caonillas from near Casa Grande

    Lagos Dos Bocas & Caonillas

    North Coast

    These two lakes – each more than 2 miles long – fill a deeply cleft valley at a point where karst country gives way to the jagged spine of the central…

  • Bosque Estatal de Río Abajo

    Bosque Estatal de Río Abajo

    North Coast

    This 5000-acre forest just off Hwy 621, halfway between Arecibo and Utuado, sits amid some of the island's most rugged terrain. In the bosom of karst…

  • Puerto Rico, Vega Alta, Cerro Gordo, Waves on the beach

    Playa de Cerro Gordo

    North Coast

    Lying at the end of Hwy 690, this charming palm-dotted expanse of sand has had several million dollars pumped into the expansion of its tourist facilities…

  • Parque Ceremonial Indígena Caguana

    Parque Ceremonial Indígena Caguana

    North Coast

    Like the archaeological site at Tibes near Ponce, this Taíno ceremonial site, sometimes dubbed the 'Puerto Rican Stonehenge,' has no monumental ruins; the…

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Go Beyond

North Coast and beyond

Beyond North Coast
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