Is Puerto Rico Expensive? A 1-Week Budget Breakdown

If you’re dreaming of swimming in warm water, going on waterfall hikes, and exploring colorful, picturesque towns, then it doesn’t get much better than a Puerto Rico vacation.

My total for eight nights in Puerto Rico, which included one private apartment, one boutique hotel, and one private room in a budget hostel: $737 

Food

I think eating out pretty much met my expectations, price-wise. My husband and I didn’t do much research of places ahead of time, and mainly chose spots based on a quick Google search or just stumbling upon it. 

We wound up at some places that were surprisingly less than what I’d expect, like Burbujas Del Mar in Aguadilla that had omelets for $6. Other times, items were just a bit below what I’d expect to see in Los Angeles. 

Some average food costs:

• Empanadas: $2 to $4 each

• Tostones rellenos with meat or seafood: $10 to $14

• Mofongo (Mashed plantain served with some type of meat or fish on top): $15

• Mojito: $6 to $8

• Beer: $4 to $6

We bought a few groceries for three of our breakfasts in San Juan and a lunch to bring on our hike to El Yunque Rainforest. 

It came out to $33.87 for a carton of eggs, cheese, sliced turkey, bagels, and cream cheese. This definitely saved us at least $75 or so on meals!

To save money, we definitely could’ve cut down on some of the drinks. But seeing a cocktail on the menu for under $12 was honestly too exciting for me to pass up. (California has jaded me, I know.)

For the second half of our trip, we didn’t have access to a kitchen, so we couldn’t have cooked more. But if you end up staying in an apartment or a hostel with a kitchen, then this could also be an option for you to cut down on costs. 

While we overall tried to eat at affordable spots, we weren’t super strict with always choosing the lowest-cost option. But I think it would be possible to overall save more while eating out if we’d done more research ahead of time on each city’s budget-friendly spots. 

In general, look for food trucks, local bakeries, or kiosks, for affordable food.

Transportation

This is perhaps the most upsetting portion of this budget breakdown. We made several mistakes throughout the process of getting around Puerto Rico.

For starters, when it comes to airport transportation, I’d strongly advise against getting one of the airport taxis. 

When our first Uber driver canceled on us, we decided to just go with the taxi since we were tired and didn’t feel like waiting … it became pretty clear quickly that this was a mistake.

It was ridiculous from start to finish. The driver pretended to be lost the entire 15-minute drive so we’d rack up the meter (like, he would literally stop in the middle of the road or start going super slowly), and then he grossly overcharged us for the toll. 

After really obviously scamming us he then had the nerve to give us his business card, in case we needed another ride later on! It’s safe to say we did not call him. 

So with that all said, Ubering is easy within San Juan, and the cost is fairly reasonable in my opinion. You’ll probably spend a fair amount of time just in Old San Juan, since its where a lot of the best things to do are, and this area is super walkable.

We ended up renting the car two days after arriving, so we only ended up taking three Uber rides, and they were all around $10 or so. 

It would have been a little more from the airport (we were seeing estimates for around $25 before we went for the dreaded airport taxi), but airport rides are always pricier.

Keep in mind that public transportation is pretty nonexistent beyond the San Juan area, so you’ll definitely need to rent a car if you’re planning on exploring more of the island.

Car rental

Okay, this is upsetting to admit, but I paid: $450 total for seven days ($287.06 + an insurance fee) 

We rented through Enterprise, which is one of the options you see at the San Juan airport. Upon further research, it seems like there are some other local companies we could’ve gone with instead — Charlie Car Rental is one name I keep seeing pop up, and will look into more for next time.

The insurance fee was an upsetting surprise, since we unfortunately didn’t do much research ahead of time when it came to renting a car. 

It would be significantly cheaper if you have your own car insurance, which you can sometimes get through your credit card. 

In this case, I didn’t realize that car rental insurance is a benefit through one of my credit cards (the Chase Sapphire Preferred) so, that’s upsetting. 

To add insult to injury, I also didn’t know that by having Triple AAA, I probably could’ve gotten a rental discount from there too. 

If you’ve rented cars before, maybe none of this is new to you — but if you’re like me and had limited rental car experience, don’t repeat my mistakes!

Tolls

I paid: $32.70 ($13 for the tolls + $19.80 in service fees)

There are seven toll rolls in Puerto Rico, and they cost between thirty-five cents and five dollars each. 

The only options to pay are with AutoExpress or cash. 

With the rental car, we were able to electronically pay through AutoExpreso, which was definitely convenient. 

However, this did have its downside, because we were charged two separate times by the rental car company, and both times included an annoying service charge. 

The breakdown looked like this: 

Charge #1: 

Toll Charges: $7.40 (USD)

Service Charge: $14.85 (USD)

Charge #2:

Toll Charges: $5.50 (USD)

Service Charge: $4.95 (USD)

I’m not sure why the service charges were so different or how they work exactly. Obviously, being charged two separate times made it extra annoying, and I just think it’s crazy that we paid more in service fees than the actual tolls. 

When we return to Puerto Rico, I’ll definitely try to remember to bring cash for the tolls. 

Gas

It was generally around 80 cents per liter, meaning we spent about $32 to fill up the car. We chose to refill our own gas and return the car filled up, rather than prepaying so we could return the car empty. This was the right call, as it saved us probably $15 or so. 

Parking

This was a pleasant surprise for me, since here in California, parking is a whole ordeal every time you leave the house. 

We parked for free almost everywhere, with the exception of a couple times in Old San Juan, where parking is in fact difficult, and once in Ponce. Each time, we paid only $2 to $4 or so for a few hours of parking. 

I don’t have the exact number, but my guess is that we spent around $12 on parking for a week-long trip.

Total transportation costs: ~$526.7 (plus a couple of affordable Ubers that we got in our first couple days before renting the car)

Looking for tips for driving in Puerto Rico? Check out this guide.

Sightseeing, tours and activities

If we’d had a larger budget, we definitely could have spent much more in this category. There are so many fun things to do that we passed up on, either because of money or just limited time. 

What we spent

Whether you’re short on time or funds, Puerto Rico is really doable on a budget. 

Here’s what we spent on activities and sightseeing during our week in Puerto Rico:

• A two-day ticket to San Felipe and San Cristobal, two historic forts in San Juan: $10

• Visiting the beaches throughout the island: free! All beaches in Puerto Rico are public.

• Hiking in El Yunque National Forest: free (You can go on a tour, but it’s really easy to go yourself as long as you have a car, so I don’t think a tour is necessary.)

• Checking out the street art in Santurce, San Juan: free

• Museo de Arte de Ponce: $6 per ticket (it’s currently a reduced price while they renovate a large part of the museum)

• Museo de las Américas in San Juan: $6

• Visited El Faro Punta Higüera, a lighthouse in Rincón: free

Total: $22 per person