Lion Fountain in Plaza Las Delicias, the main square in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

© demerzel21/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Plaza Las Delicias

Ponce


Within this elegant square you’ll discover Ponce's heart as well as two of the city’s landmark buildings, Parque de Bombas and Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. The Fuente de los Leones, a photogenic fountain rescued from the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, is the square’s most captivating attraction. The smell of panaderías (bakeries) follows churchgoers across the square each morning, while children squeal around the majestic fountain under the midday heat, and lovers stroll under its lights at night.

Even as the commercial banks and the fast-food joints encroach around the edges, reminders of the city’s prideful history dominate the plaza’s attractions. Watch out for marble statues of local danza icon Juan Morel Campos and poet/politician Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rico’s first governor, in amid more artsy ones of lions (the city's symbol, which doesn't take too long to figure out).

The square has free wi-fi.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Ponce attractions

1. Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

0.02 MILES

The twin bell towers of this striking cathedral and local landmark cast an impression of noble piety over Ponce's Plaza Las Delicias. The cathedral…

2. Parque de Bombas

0.02 MILES

Ponceños (people from Ponce) claim that the eye-popping Parque de Bombas is Puerto Rico’s most frequently photographed building, which is not too hard to…

3. Fuente de los Leones

0.03 MILES

A lovely fountain in the middle of the Plaza Las Delicias – a survivor from the 1939 World Fair.

4. Casa Alcaldía

0.05 MILES

Facing the southern side of Plaza Las Delicias, Ponce’s city hall was built in the 1840s. The last public hanging on the island happened in its courtyard,…

5. Teatro La Perla

0.14 MILES

The 1000-seat, grandly columned Teatro La Perla was designed by Juan Bertoli Calderoni, father of Puerto Rico’s neoclassical style, and completed in the…

6. Casa Wiechers-Villaronga

0.14 MILES

Perhaps the most grand of Ponce’s historical homes, this mansion was designed by Paris-educated ponceño architect Alfredo Wiechers. The carefully…

7. Museo de la Masacre de Ponce

0.17 MILES

This small museum commemorates the Ponce Massacre, the fated pro-independence demonstration of the 1930s during which almost 20 protestors (and two police…

8. Museo de la Historia de Ponce

0.18 MILES

Ponce's history museum is extensive for a city of fewer than 200,0000 people – evidence of the city’s reverence for the past. Located in the Casa Salazar …

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