Located in the Condado district of San Juan, the San Juan Marriott Resort is a perfect choice for all the family. We recently enjoyed a long overdue weekend break at the San Juan Marriott with my relatives who were visiting from the UK.
Check in for all guests is at 4pm and after a few minutes we were entering the elevator to our 7th floor Cabana room with my relatives in the tower section overlooking the pool. Both rooms were very spacious and comfortable (though we hardly spent any time in the room except for sleeping). The views from our 7th floor Cabana room of the pool and beach were fantastic, complete with balcony and chairs.
Once my 3 year old son had seen the pool, we had no time to unpack and quickly donned our swim wear and headed for the pool. The San Juan Marriott has 2 pools; the zero entry children’s pool with a maximum depth of 2.5 feet with central fountains and the main pool complete with swim up bar & grill and water slide.
We skipped the children’s pool and checked out the main pool as the water temperature was a little warmer (though still on the cooler side when you first entered). Needless to say we had a hard time trying to leave the pool once the sun had set as we were all having a great time. 
The pool area has ample sun lounges and the hotel provides free towels as well as a small selection of games and pool toys. The pools are open until 11pm with the hot tub closing at around 6pm.
After a couple of hours in the pool it was time to freshen up and head out for dinner. The San Juan Marriott has several restaurants: Tuscany (Italian), La Vista Latin Grill, Isla Grill at the pool and a Beach Bar. We have dined at the Tuscany Restaurant several times in the past (highly recommended) and wanted see what options there were close to the hotel.
Based on a recommendation we walked (about 5 minute walk) over to Tijuana’s Bar & Grill for a Mexican evening. Tijuana’s is not the largest of restaurants, but the food is big in flavor with a great atmosphere and live music. Prices are very reasonable too and well worth checking out; just be prepared to wait if the restaurant is full.
After a nights rest it was time to check out the ‘All You Can Eat’ breakfast. Normally this is available in the La Vista Latin Grill, but due to renovations, breakfast was in the Tuscany Restaurant. Priced at a reasonable $11.95 you can help yourself to;
Various breads and spreads
Cereals, fruit and yogurts
Pancakes, waffles and syrups
Pastries, danish’s and muffins
Selections from the hot buffet; chefs special, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and more. For an additional cost you can ask for omelet’s etc.
One thing to note, coffee and juice were extra.
Having stoked up on a good hearty breakfast (we enjoyed it so much we returned the following morning), it was time to check out the beach.
The San Juan Marriott Resort is located on a good stretch of Condado beach with the hotel providing plenty of sun lounges for folks to soak up the hot Caribbean rays. 
The sea was fairly rough and the hotel did have a red flag flying, though there were still plenty of people in the water enjoying the waves. The Marriott staff did warn guests about the conditions and to especially stay away from the rocky outcrop to the left of the hotels section of beach. After a few hours of sand castle building, beach soccer and some shallow wave action, my 3 year old was exhausted and he headed back to the room for a siesta with his mom; the rest of us headed to the pool for the afternoon.
The beach and pool staff are constantly checking to see if there is anything you need (drinks, snacks, food), so once you are settled on your lounger, there really is no need to move… For the kids they also provide organized activities; so you can relax even more.
Once again we headed out for dinner, this time checking out Yerba Buena for a Puerto Rican / Caribbean evening. Yerba Buena is located next door to Tijuana’s, so again it was a short 5 minute walk. Food was very good with a live music (again recommended).
After another ‘all you can eat’ breakfast it was time to say bye to the beach, pool and the San Juan Marriott. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, though it went by too quickly, and we are looking forward to another visit soon.
Things we did not try: La Vista Latin Grill, the Casino, the gym, the sauna, children’s activities with the Marriott Staff and probably a few other things, but maybe we will get to try them during our next stay.
Disclosure: We had two rooms at the San Juan Marriott. Our room was free as part of a winning a competition that the San Juan Marriott Resort held last Christmas, the second room was paid for. Even though one room was free, we don’t feel that this influenced the writing of this article in any way, and we just wanted to be up front about it.
