Caribe Hilton Hotel San Juan

The Caribe Hilton is a reasonable choice for a San Juan based vacation. The location was good in our opinion, but that view depends on what you want. The central Condado area, where most of the hotels are across the bridge from the Hilton, actually has much more selection of restaurants and bars around them. The Hilton does not have much in its direct locale. The Caribe is close enough to Old San Juan though to walk or run with a paved or beach path the whole way there. It is about 2 miles. We opted for doing that most days as the charm of Old San Juan was more important to us than being where the Louis Vitton and other stores were (gack!). The hotel itself was somewhat worn and needs a refresh with the carpets and painting, etc. The pool and protected lagoon were very nice and worthy of a Hilton resort destination. While snorkeling in San Juan is not the best on the island, the protected lagoon on the Hilton property certainly makes the most of an on-site snorkeling option. To be honest, I saw more fish in that lagoon than over at Esperanza Beach on the nearby Vieques island, which was supposed to be good but not so much.
Overall this a reasonable choice if you want an okay room, good pool setup, great lagoon, and relatively easy access to Old San Juan. If you want to have many stores and restaurants around you, I would recommend the Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino for its central location to that district. If you choose the Marriott over the Hilton, just don't expect to walk too easily to Old San Juan...and good luck parking in Old San Juan!