Parador Guanica 1929 is definitely not for the resort crowd. However, for those who want quiet, safe lodgings as a jumping off spot for exploring the southwest part of Puerto Rico, this hotel is fine. The rooms are smallish, but in line with other old, historic hotels. The beds are comfortable, the grounds clean and the staff pleasant. We arrived exhausted and missing our luggage after an overnight flight. The manager (Alana) was very helpful. She had our room cleaned and opened for us very early. All of the staff were quite friendly.
Using the hotel as a base, we traveled around the area exploring the Guanica dry forest, the Toro Negro cloud forest, and various towns in and around the area. The hotel is on route 3116, which connects to 116 just west of Guanica, and at Ensenada farther west. It's easier to find from the Guanica side, but not tough either way. (Hotels.com's directions were way, way wrong!)
The previous reviewers are right, there's not much in the way of restaurants in the area. In general, I was disappointed with food in Puerto Rico. Except for roadside stands (where we had the best food) prices were high, and I didn't find the food all that great. The breakfasts at the hotel were OK, but uninspired. Eggs, ham, a dab of mashed potatoes with sofrito, toast, and a tiny wedge of watermelon. I had fantasized about mounds of tropical fruits, and never found anything resembling my dreams. Somehow, white bread toast and Kraft jelly doesn't cut it. They don't start serving breakfast until fairly late in the morning, too. This meant that we didn't get on the road to our next adventure until nearly 10:00 most days. It gets hot quickly in this part of the island.
There are generators on the property, as there are on many isolated business properties in the area. There was a power outage one morning. They fired up the generator, and we had power again within a minute. Other than the one or two hours that the generator ran during the outage, the electricity was on and the generators silent.
We visited with the owner of the hotel one morning towards the end of our stay. He also owns two properties on the east end of the island. He offered to transfer our last pre-paid day to one of the other hotels so we could go to El Yunque (the national park on the east end of the island). Although this option is not evident on Hotels.com, they are quite willing to transfer. The menu at the other hotel was exactly the same.
Bottom line, you get a quiet, safe place to stay while you explore the area. We felt like we were the only guests there - we only saw a handful of other people the entire time we stayed at Parador Guanica 1929. I would go back and stay again to continue to explore the area. I might try to opt out of the breakfast, though.
- Parador Guanica 1929 Hotel
- Parador Guanica 1929 Puerto Rico
