Condado Vanderbilt
Only eleven minutes from the airport is this unassuming hotel, Condado Vanderbilt in San Juan, Puerto Rico. From the outside I was not expecting what we were going to walk into, but as soon as we stepped in I was taken aback by the beautiful lobby with plush velvet chairs and a iron wrought curved double staircase. Talk about a grand entrance.
THE PROPERTY
I didn’t realize when we planned to stay here that this is essentially a city hotel. I guess I should have put that together since it’s in the captial after all. The hotel is in a neighborhood that contrast it’s glamorous lobby but I did like having the option of being able to walk to local shops and restaurants. Obviously being in San Juan, it’s a good hub for exploration if you want to leave the hotel and site see what PR has to offer. Our trip was really a stopover to head to the BVI so we opted just to relax at the hotel. One trick we like to do when traveling far with kids is to break up a trip if we can and since there was no direct flights to BVI, we spent some time on a closer island to make the travel feel less daunting. Condado Vanderbilt is a smaller hotel compared to the mega hotels in San Juan, but it makes up for that with it’s charm. (Also I typically prefer smaller hotels anyway). On the property you will find various restaurants, a small pool with cabanas and plenty of surrounding chairs, a gorgeous view of the ocean, a small adult pool and jacuzzi nestled over a small strip of private beach. The little patch of beach that is private is not for swimming or relaxing as it is full of rocks and the water can come up high making it dangerous to swim in, but it makes for a stunning and relaxing view.
THE ROOM
I seriously gasped when we entered our room. It was grand with the most amazing view. We had a corner room on the 11th floor. You walk into a hallway and into the “dining room” with a round table seated for 4 and a little kitchenette. Then a small living room greets you that has a pull out couch (where the girls slept). To the right you find the bedroom with a king size bed and large bathroom with closet, shower and bath and separate water closet. The nice part to the water closet is that it can be accessed by the entry hallway as well so if you are sharing a room, the people staying on the pullout couch do not have to walk through the bedroom to use the bathroom. The view from the room was insane and we had two balconies. One balcony overlooked the grandiose body of water that stretch on as far as you could see and the other was a part ocean part city view. Both equally stunning views and great spots to relax. We even had the girl do some relax time and drawing out there.
THE FOOD
On the property are multiple restaurants for you to choose. Our first night we had dinner at Tacos & Tequila which overlooks the ocean and it was a nice little treat because the night we ate there they had live music that our girls loved dancing to. The food is Mexican inspired which I thought was a little odd considering we were in PR and it would have been nice to order Puerto Rican food but I digress. We ordered the table side guacamole and my daughter was so into it, she loved watching them make it in front of us and honestly, it tasted so fresh. I’m glad we got it. All the dishes we ordered were very good as well and the service was great. We arrived early on the first day and while we waited for our room we had lunch at Ola Oceanfront and enjoyed our light lunch. We also enjoyed their menu at the pool cabana the next day.
THE BEACH + POOL
The property is a 3 minute walk to the beach. You do technically have to leave the property to access the beach but its a simple walk over on a clear path and once you arrive they have their own section where you can have someone set up chairs and an umbrella for you at no extra cost. The beach is a public beach but it’s nice that they have their own section. You can view a strip of hotels along the beach as far as you can see that also do the same. The sea of umbrellas decorating the beach is mesmerizing. There are local vendors where you can purchase fresh coconuts from (our favorite!) and also specialty drinks. Because they are local vendors the pricing is much more affordable which is nice.
We obviously didn’t use the adults only pool but it was nestled in the corner of the property and I thought it was nicely separated if you wanted more quiet away from kids. It is however right in the pathway to get to the beach so it gets a lot of foot traffic. The other pool for general population is more in the center of the hotel. It’s not very big and we were not there at a very busy season so I could imagine the pool getting crowded in busier times. It is lovely though with plenty of seating all around. We had a cabana one day and it was nice to be able to have our own space. The cabana rental comes with a stocked fridge with drinks and water and a fruit platter. There is also a waiter who can come and take your order with the food coming from the Ola Oceanfront restaurant. We actually ended up having dinner in the cabana on our second day after a day of swimming and beach and it was nice to not have to change the girls for dinner and just be ready to relax after a long day.
Overall, this is a cute smaller hotel in a convenient location. As far as it being kid friendly, I would give it a 6/10 just for the simple fact that it really doesn’t have much catering to children. We did feel welcomed with our kids and never felt weird bringing them around the property but there is not much for a kid to do in the hotel besides swim and beach (luckily our kids love both of those). But it is s lovely stay with gorgeous views, delicious food, and beautiful decor. This is a hotel I would stay with my significant other or a girls trip.