A Day Trip to Cayo Icacos from San Juan, Puerto Rico
I didn’t take this photo but it looks like this I swear!
If only I had my drone at the time….
If you’re taking a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, I HIGHLY recommend a day trip to the beautiful beaches of Cayo Icacos. Huge shoutout to an old Hinge date who grew up in Puerto Rico for telling me about this place! You may have ghosted me, but at least I got this recommendation out of it.
Where is Cayo Icacos?
Cayo Icacos is a small uninhabited island located off of the East Coast of Puerto Rico and honestly is one of my favorite beaches in the Caribbean. So blue. So untouched.
And the best part? It’s such an easy day trip from San Juan.
Sorry in advance for my terrible photos — they’re mostly screenshots I used from my videos that got me my first almost viral video on TikTok. I promise, it’s better in person!
How to Get To Cayo Icacos from San Juan
Quick plug for my Puerto Rico Google Map Guide!
Cayo Icacos is located about a 30 minute boat ride from the docks in Fajardo. The dock you go to depends on the boat company you hire, but regardless, it will take you about an hour to get from San Juan to the Fajardo.
We had to buy a bunch of snacks & sunscreen from CVS the night before
but we made it to our boat!
We hired a private car to pick us up from our Airbnb at 7am because we wanted to beat the crowds because we’re old.
One of the biggest comments I get on my TikTok is “who did you hire to drive you?” and sadly, we don’t remember, but I always recommend asking your hotel or Airbnb host to recommend a driver to you. Or, since Uber is easy in San Juan, if you find a driver you like, grab their Whatsapp and try to schedule rides with them and pay them directly (everyone wins!).
I think we just googled a car service the night before to set it up.
Mingo’s private boat!
Once you have a driver locked down, you need to get to the docks at Fajardo, as I mentioed earlier.
There are a few tour companies that do daily trips to Cayo Icacos, but we wanted something more private, so we hired the amazing Mingo, who brought us directly there and picked us up when we were done.
You can reach out to Mingo directly via Whatsapp (+1 (787) 383-6509) to book with him! We paid $90 each for a round trip ride. He’s amazing, tell him I sent you!
What to do at Cayo Icacos
There legit is nothing on the island — you need to bring everything you need with you. And you need to take everything with you when you leave. I’m honestly unsure where people poop.
That being said, you can make that beach day yours! We mostly rotted and drank and snacked and read books in between swimming in the sea, but we saw others partying, playing games, etc.
We went on a Monday so it was pretty empty when we arrived around 9am, but the tour group catamarans started rolling in around 11am, and it started to get pretty busy around noon. If you want a more chill vibe, I definitely recommend going as early as possible.
However, if you’re looking for a party, everyone on the Salty Dog Catamaran looked like they were having a blast! Reviews seemed great as well.
This was one of my fave day trips in Puerto Rico! If you’re visiting, be sure to check out my Puerto Rico page and my Google Map Guide. Have fun!!
