Travel Guide Guánica

Calm and relatively sheltered from the floods of tourists in the north of the island, Guánica offers an ideal setting to spend a few peaceful days. Everything is there: superb beaches, dreamy islets, a little relief, an almost permanent sunshine, a dry subtropical forest unique in the world, a conviviality proper to the small cities and good addresses where to stay. Guánica is known as el pueblo de las doce calles, " the village with twelve streets". It is worth mentioning that it only takes a few minutes to walk around the city center. Founded in 1508, the name of the city comes from the term guanica of the Taino Indians, which means a place where there is water. It is here that Christopher Columbus is said to have landed during his second voyage to the Caribbean, in 1493. In 1898, during the war between Spain and the United States, it was also here that General Miles sent his troops to seize Puerto Rico.