Small Group Early Bird El Yunque Rainforest Tour

Recommended by 91% of travelers

Badge of Excellence

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

What's Included

Includes life jacket, helmet, photos, videos, water, and snacks
3 hours • Admission Ticket Included to El Yunque Rainforest
Air-conditioned vehicle
Transportation/1 guide for every 11 people, maximum 11 per vehicle
pick up and drop off from your accommodation
Excellent service from our guides who will make you feel like you've known...
Perfect schedules (to avoid crowds)

Lunch

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

Depending on the number of pick-up stops, we might start pick-up up to 30 minutes prior to your selected schedule!

Meeting point

Ralph's Food Warehouse
Carr. #3 Esq, C. Igualdad, Fajardo, 00738, Puerto Rico
Please contact us to confirm arrival time. This may vary depending on the number of pick-up stops on that date.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.7:00 am

Itinerary

San Juan

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

El Yunque National Forest

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Not wheelchair accessible
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Childrens minimum age 7+
This tour requires good physical condition. If you have any health condition please inform us at booking.
Maximum recommend weigh 275 pounds
Sometime some activities are not available because weather conditions
Maximum age recommended 65 on good health conditions

Wear comfortable clothing and closed toe shoes that you wouldn't mind getting dirty or wet. Water shoes, sneakers or hiking shoes are recommended.
. Participants must be physically capable of walking thru steep, rocky, muddy and uneven surfaces without assistance
Use of lifejacket and helmet is mandatory.
This tour operates based weather and river conditions.
On Saturdays the hike is longer and more challenging since we depart from a different point.
Back problems and pregnant women cannot participate on the tour.
San Juan Tours reserves the right of admission - If a person appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, not following instructions or causing disruptions the guide has the right to cancel their reservation at any moment, and no refunds will be issued due to this. Persons with the previously listed health restrictions cannot participate on the tour. No refunds will be authorized if a person neglects to read complete description and does not meet the safety requirements and limitations on the day of the tour. Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This tour requires a minimum amount of 3 participants. If the minimum is not met with all total bookings, the tour would be suspended. Customers will get the chance to reschedule or get refunded.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 11 travelers

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Veida_H

I highly recommend this excursion. Round trip transportation from our hotels front door was a plus. And most of all our guide Jeffery was Amazing! I do not know how to swim and jumping from several feet high into fresh water with a life vest was very challenging for me. Jeffery was patient and encouraging. He also took photos/videos to capture our experience.

Reviews

4.6

based on 35 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Just okay

Katie_M, Mar 2026

Not a great experience. Didn’t go to the national park main entrance . No visitors center. The tour guide is huge into safety- which is great but felt over the top for the experience. Not worth the money and felt disorganized.

Response from Host, Mar 2026

Thank you for your feedback. We’d like to clarify a few important points for accuracy. Our tour description clearly outlines the areas of El Yunque National Forest that we visit, and the Visitor Center / main entrance is not part of this specific adventure tour. Guests looking for a more relaxed, sightseeing-focused experience that includes the Visitor Center are better suited for our easy-going bus tour, which is designed specifically for that purpose. This experience is an active, guided adventure, focused on hiking, river areas, and natural features like waterfalls and rock formations—not the main paved visitor facilities. For that reason, safety protocols (including equipment and guidance) are a key part of the experience, especially given the terrain and water conditions. We’re sorry to hear the tour did not match your expectations, but everything provided was consistent with what is described prior to booking. We always encourage guests to review the tour details carefully so they can select the experience that best fits what they’re looking for. We appreciate your feedback and wish you the best in your future travels.

Rain forest

Alessandro_B, May 2025

Very well organised. Everything went smoothly. Our guide Orlando was great. A must do experience in Puerto Rico

Response from Host, May 2025

Thank you so much for your kind words! We're thrilled to hear that everything went smoothly and that you had a great experience with Orlando as your guide. He’ll be happy to know he made your visit special. We agree—it's definitely a must-do experience in Puerto Rico, and we're glad you were a part of it. Hope to see you again on your next adventure!

Everything you need to know

Sara_R, Jul 2024

This was a great experience overall. There was an abundance of photo opportunities, crystal clear waters, an opportunity to slide down a natural rock slide, jump from a rock, and also do a rope swing. This experience offered early arrivals to beat the crowds, and that was necessary because it became very crowded towards midday. There is a bathroom upon arrival. We were allowed to leave our belongings in a locked van. We were required to wear life jackets and helmets, which were provided. The whole experience occurs on an individual’s personal property where we walked 20 minutes down a very muddy, slippery trail to reach the river. We were given the time to change clothes afterwards, including a hose to rinse off with. We never felt unsafe, and our guide was friendly. The 4 stars is because we felt it wasn’t truly a tour. Our guide pointed out only 2 plants. We saw 0 animals. Rather than a tour, this was a trip to swim in the river.

Unprofessional

Juliana_R, Jun 2024

I recently took a tour with Carlos as our guide, and unfortunately, it was a complete disaster. Carlos was unprofessional, unorganized, and failed to provide the service promised. Specifically: - He didn't take any photos as advertised, which was a major letdown. - The tour was chaotic and disorganized, with one participant almost drowning. - Carlos seemed unprepared and uninterested in ensuring our safety and well-being. I would not recommend this tour or Carlos as a guide to anyone. The experience was a waste of time and money. Viator should reconsider partnering with such an unreliable and unprofessional guide.

Response from Host, Jun 2024

Hello traveler! Sorry to hear that your experience did not reach your expectations! Carlos has been working with us for several years providing a safe and entertaining experience. We do want to point out that it is important for all participants to cooperate with our guides for us to be able to provide a proper service, like wearing the safety equipment provided unlike yourself; you decided not to wear a helmet and put yourself at risk. After talking with Carlos, we confirmed that there weren't any accidents with a participant regarding having issued swimming. We aim and pride ourselves in providing our customers a safe service and an unforgettable experience to take back memories from their visit to our island. It that sense, we provide aid in the process of taking pictures and videos of our customers when they ask us to do so, we will definitely work on explaining this better as to not cause further misunderstandings. We hope that you give us a chance to provide you a better experience in a future occasion. Safe and steady travels!

Adventure Fun!

Sebastian_R, Apr 2024

What an amazing adventure! Tour guides were awesome! Friendly, helpful and informative. This no stroll in the park. If you’re looking for a true experience in the rain forest this is for you!

Response from Host, Apr 2024

We're thrilled to hear that you had an amazing adventure in the rainforest with us! Our tour guides take pride in providing friendly, helpful, and informative experiences for our guests, and we're delighted that they enhanced your journey. We aim to offer authentic and immersive experiences in the rainforest, and we're glad to hear that it lived up to your expectations. Thank you for choosing us, and we hope to welcome you back for more unforgettable adventures in the future! Safe and steady travels!

Unsafe and Frustrated: My disastrous El Yunque tour experience!

Tammy_J, Feb 2024

I recently participated in this El Yunque rainforest tour and I have to say, it was not at all what I had expected. I was under the impression that it would be a leisurely walking tour with some water and mud, but it turned out to be more suited for rock climbers and hikers. Our tour guide, Xander, was offensive and used stereotypes when addressing my niece, best friend and I. He suggested that we were not bold enough to handle the tour, which I found to be highly unprofessional and discouraging. Additionally, we were not given any options prior to the tour for how to get back prior to going out; we were simply told that we had to go back the way we came. I felt that my life was in danger going back the same route, and it was a very unsettling experience. We saw people return a different route that apparently lead to the actual El Yunque starting point for beginners. He told us unless we had five dollars for everyone to get back we were going to go back the same way because he was not going to pay. I guess my question then became then what did I pay 89.00 for? Again, I seriously felt my life in danger. To make matters worse, we never saw a water fountain or restroom during the entire tour. This is something that should have been clearly communicated to us beforehand. On top of that, the tour guide suggested that we not wear bug spray, which I found to be irresponsible and potentially dangerous. I would advise anyone considering this tour to ensure that they thoroughly research the entry point and confirm the level of difficulty before booking. It's also important to make sure that the tour company provides options for how to safely return to the starting point. In my opinion, this is not the safest group to travel with and I would not recommend this tour to others.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Hi Traveler! We are sorry to know that you did not enjoy this adventurous tour through the rainforest. We've been running this tour for almost 18 years now and we've always advertised this activity as one to be recommended to people who are looking up to a challenging but marvelous experience. We will definitely have a conversation with our employees to better portray a way of communication and directions of our customers as they are supposed to be respectful and encouraging so our customers can enjoy their experience to the most. When it comes to the trail used on this adventure, there is only one trail that leads you up to and down from the area where we do our water activities, so it is beyond our availability to offer a "safer" route to hike. Our product prices are set to cover the transportation expenses for our customer and guided service of our knowledgeable guides to give you a safe experience in our tour. I understand that fear can start running through our heads from this kind of situation, but it is assured to have a safe return to your destination as long as you follow the instructions our guides give you. In such way, throughout our span of operation, we have not had any injuries while performing our tours. It is always noted that the use of the facilities should be done before the start of the hike because there are no other ones available from that point on going into the wild and natural terrains of El Yunque Rainforest. We do provide with water and always suggest keeping hydrated as you go through your experience and in any case of not bringing a water bottle up to the hike, there is a secondary water source by the water activities area which can be relied on. When it comes to the bugs in the rainforest and the counter measurements to such, bug spray is not necessary in our activity area as we have a very balanced ecosystem and the natural predators of bugs, lizards and frogs, take care of them in a sense. The use of bug repellant/spray is actually also prohibited by FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS that protect our ecosystem around the rainforest as it is a very important aspect of our culture and lifestyle preservation. We always recommend our customers to read through all our item descriptions on our products as all of them go into high depth explanations to keep bad experiences from happening, but we are not able to ensure that everyone follows through, in such way that we always give a brief explanation of our tour before we actually start to make sure we cover any questions that may arise. We hope we have the opportunity to show you other experiences that are up to your liking and enjoyment in a future occasion. Steady and safe travels!

Amazing tour guide & transportation

Veida_H, Jan 2024

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Thank you so much for your glowing review! We're thrilled to hear you had a fantastic experience on our excursion. It's wonderful that our round trip transportation and guide, Jeffery, added to the enjoyment. We appreciate your kind words about Jeffery's patience and encouragement, especially during challenging moments. Capturing your experience with photos and videos is our pleasure. We look forward to welcoming you back on another adventure soon!

Excellent Excursion

Richard_W, Jan 2024

Our guide Japheth was outstanding! He made sure to keep us safe and his knowledge of the area made the excursion fun and exciting. I definitely recommend Japheth to all those looking for a great excursion.

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Thank you for your positive feedback! We're thrilled to hear that Japheth provided an outstanding experience, ensuring safety and adding excitement to your excursion. We appreciate your recommendation and look forward to serving you again in the future.