Luquillo Beach (Balneario de Luquillo)

The resort beaches along Condado or Isla Verde are beautiful, but if you tire of the same old scenery, take a 30-minute drive east along Route 3 to Luquillo Beach. Families flock to this shore for its reef-protected calm waves, and you'll also see a lot of day trippers fresh from a jaunt in the nearby El Yunque National Rainforest.

Recent vacationers agree that Luquillo isn't crowded, but there are differing reports on its cleanliness. Following an April 2010 trip to the beach, one TripAdvisor user wrote: "It was the most disgusting site ever. You literally could not walk to the beach without stepping on some piece of garbage." But another TripAdvisor user that visited around the same time is full of praise: "The beach was gorgeous, the water clean, the view spectacular and real easy to get to."

There's a small fee to park at Luquillo, plus a $1 fee to use the bathrooms (which includes access to the changing rooms and showers).