Imagine spending you day playing in a majestic waterfall, snacking on the side of natural lagoon, and spending endless hours having fun with your loved ones. Well now stop imagining! Because that daydream can easily become a reality if you visit Puerto Rico's Cascada Gozalandia, a beautiful waterfall located in San Sebastián Puerto Rico. In this post we are going to cover everything you need to know, from how to get there to the best way to spend your time there! So let's not waste time let's get right to it!
Location: This beautiful waterfall is located in San Sebastián Puerto Rico. That is toward the northwest region of the island.
(image taken from Google)
This location is a bit of a drive if you are coming from the other side of the island. For example it is about a 2 hour and 45 minute drive here from San Juan. If you were in an area that was a bit closer, such as Cabo Rojo, the drive would only be about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
The drive there is mostly highway, and the drive is worth it! This waterfall is so stunning and such a relaxing way to spend the day.
Logistics:
Parking location & cost: Once you make it to the destination there is a large parking lot for you to park in. Parking usually costs between $5-$10 dollars and there are usually attendants there directing you where to park. Once you pay for parking that is the only fee you need to pay, you can enjoy the waterfall for free. If you want to enjoy food at the restaurant you would have to pay for that separately.
*Note: if there are no attendees assisting with the parking, you can go into the restaurant to pay for parking.
Getting to the falls: Once the car is parked and taken care of, it is a short walk down to the main waterfall. I would say the walk is about 5 minutes long. It begins down a paved path, and loops around a bit. Eventually, you make it to a set of stairs.
There are quite a few steps, they are steep, and they are slippery. I highly recommend wearing water shoes on this adventure. They will also be beneficial when you are exploring the lagoon and climbing the waterfall.
Hours: The falls are open from 9:00 AM- 6:00PM 7 days a week.
Best time to go: On a weekday, early, as close to open as you can
Naturally weekends are the most crowded as you will have people that are tourists and also the locals who are off on the weekends. In addition, lunch time seems to be a very popular time as well. I recommend going on a weekday, early in the morning when it opens at 9. Then leaving around lunch time between 12-1 PM. If you do that, you should be able to have the beauty of this place to yourself for some time.
Things You Should Know:
Some things I learned along the way that I will share with you now, so your trip can be the best!
Bring Water Shoes!
- I know I mentioned this before but I am telling you, this is a life saver! The stairs are slippery, the waterfall is slippery, it is a rocky walk out there. Save your toes, and your bottom and wear the water shoes! No one will be looking at your feet anyway!
- Speaking of those stairs...once you tackle them and get all the way towards the bottom they have this lovely spot to take photos from with a great shot of the waterfall in the back!
Go early
- This is a beautiful spot, and if you want it all to yourself, or the chance to appreciate it and snap some photos without 85 people in the background, you need to go early. If you don't care about that kind of stuff feel free to go later in the day, just know that most people wait until lunch time because the water is warmer then and the sun is nice and high.
Go to the left!
- When you enter the main waterfall & lagoon area, you will see a sort of rocky beach in front of it. Almost everyone sets up camp there. There are plenty of rocks to sit on, and there is quite a bit of room. However, once it starts to fill up, it is easy for your bags to start blending in with other people's and for things to get lost. If you go right to the edge of the lagoon and look to your left, you will see a little outcropping of rock. You can set up camp there, there is plenty of space to leave your belongings. Plus not a lot of people go over there so it is way less crowded.
Did I mention this also presents you with a great photo op of the waterfall!?
Climbing Zones
- While you are here enjoying your day, if you are more of the exploration type, there are some areas were you can climb and explore. If you look at the image underneath here, the area to the right of the waterfall has a rope. I tried to mark it in the photo so you can see the location of where it would be.
You may use that rope to climb up the rock wall, and to the right of the rope there is a little ledge where you can hang out on and jump off of.
In addition you can use that same rope to get you up close and personal to the waterfall and you can climb up to the outcropping of rock halfway up the waterfall. Please be careful, it is slippery and higher than you think!
If you want to climb but don't do heights like me, you can climb along the bottom section of the waterfall as well. Once you climb up enough you can actually go underneath that little outcropping of rock, and it is like you are in your own little cave. It is pretty neat!
Jumping Zones
- If you are someone who is into more extreme fun, there are jumping zones in addition to those climbing ones as well! The first area you can jump from is the area I discussed in the first climbing spot. Use that little rope and climb up to the right hand side. You can jump into the lagoon from that small ledge there.
If this isn't adventurous enough for you, you can also jump from that outcropping of rock in the middle of the waterfall. Use the same rope to climb up but go towards the left. Carefully climb up all of the ledges until you reach the outcropping. From there, you can jump into the lagoon. Make sure you jump out far enough, so you don't scrape your back or land on the rocks beneath.
While we were here, we learned from other swimmers that apparently there is another swimming area; unfortunately we did not experience that but we were told it is toward the top of this waterfall, and there is a path that takes you to it. So if you go here and you visit that other part let me know how it is!
Well that's it for today folks! I hope you enjoyed learning about this amazing place! It is definitely a must see place when visiting the beautiful island of Puerto Rico! If you're interested in seeing our complete list of must see things in Puerto Rico check out the post: Top Things to do when visiting Puerto Rico.
Until next time,
Steph
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