Beach Guide
7 Best Beaches in Puerto Rico You Can Only Reach By Boat
The most beautiful stretches of sand near Fajardo don't have a road to them — here's how to see them.
See The List ↓
The most beautiful stretches of sand near Fajardo don't have a road to them — here's how to see them.
See The List ↓Puerto Rico's most talked-about beaches aren't the ones with parking lots. As a boat charter company based at Marina Puerto del Rey in Fajardo, we get to see these beaches almost every day — here's our honest ranking of the best ones, and how to actually get to each.
Consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world by outlets like Tripadvisor and World's 50 Best Beaches, Flamenco is a wide, horseshoe-shaped bay with powder-white sand and some of the clearest water in the Caribbean.
How to get there: public ferry from Ceiba (about 1.5 hours), a short flight from San Juan, or a private boat charter from Fajardo.
A small, uninhabited island roughly 15–20 minutes from Fajardo, Icacos is famous for its shallow, glass-clear sandbar — the kind of water you can stand in a quarter-mile from shore. No buildings, no crowds, just sand and sea.
How to get there: boat only — there's no ferry or public dock. A private charter from Fajardo is the standard way to visit.
Just past Icacos, Palomino has calm, shallow water that's especially easy for kids and older guests. It's one of the most popular anchor spots for half-day charters out of Fajardo.
How to get there: boat only, roughly the same distance from Fajardo as Icacos.
A tiny, uninhabited island just off Culebra, known for its natural tide pools — locally called "the Jacuzzis" — and a historic lighthouse. It's one of the quieter, more off-the-beaten-path stops in the area.
How to get there: no scheduled ferry — reached by private or chartered boat, usually paired with a Culebra trip.
Vieques has some of Puerto Rico's least-crowded beaches, plus wild horses that wander freely along the sand — an only-in-Puerto-Rico kind of sight. It's also home to Mosquito Bay, one of the brightest bioluminescent bays in the world.
How to get there: public ferry from Ceiba (about 30 minutes), a short flight from San Juan, or a private boat charter.
This one's less about a single location and more about the experience: watching the sun go down over the water, anchored off a beach with no one else around. A sunset charter is one of the most requested trips we run for exactly this reason.
How to get there: a sunset boat charter from Fajardo, timed for golden hour.
