A Black-owned guide to Puerto Rico

Known for its spectacular beaches, lush rainforests, and bustling capital city of San Juan, Puerto Rico is a melting pot of Indigenous, African, and European lineages. The first Africans to set foot in Puerto Rico arrived as enslaved persons in the early 1500s, and more than five centuries later, Black culture is seen, heard, and felt across the island.

Many Puerto Ricans of African descent continue to embrace their heritage and preserve their multifaceted roots through a growing network of Black businesses and cultural establishments. Ahead, some of the island’s Black-owned standouts, from dance schools and art galleries to restaurants serving up incredible fusion fare.

Husband-and-wife team Arelys Bendetty Velez and Gabriel Velez launched their family-owned-and-operated tour company in the beachside town of Rincón in 2021. The focus? The less-frequented west coast of the island. Experiences include a leisurely walking tour of the Rincón waterfront, complete with local artist studios and street food; a day on Aguadilla’s picturesque Crashboat Beach; and a trip to the more-than-60-foot-tall Gozalandia waterfalls in green-hilled San Sebastian. (WELAS can coordinate airport transfers and drivers for the nearly three-hour drive to Rincón from San Juan, too.)

Few art forms showcase the African influence in Puerto Rican culture as powerfully as bomba, a rhythmic dance to lilting drum beats that visitors will see performed at both festivals and spontaneous street dance parties throughout the island. Named after the composer and musician who was spread bomba’s prominence from Puerto Rico to other parts of the world, the Don Rafael Cepeda School of Bomba and Plena is now run by his family, offering workshops and classes for bomba beginners and experts alike in San Juan.

If you’re in Loíza (a predominantly Black neighborhood just east of central San Juan), you can also opt to take a bomba class right on the beach by heading to instructor Sheila Osorio’s school, Taller N’Zambi.

This breezy indoor-outdoor eatery, which opened its doors in 2022 just minutes from the shore on San Juan’s Calle Loiza, serves up plant-based dishes that blend influences from Puerto Rican and Nigerian cuisines. That fusion results in jollof rice with sweet plantains and empanadas stuffed with spiced potato and carrots. Pro tip: Don't skip the cold-pressed fruit juices made onsite.

Situated on a corner in Old San Juan just across the street from Plaza Colón, this colorful 30-year-old shop has an impressive collection of handmade art pieces reflecting artistry from Haiti and other areas of the Caribbean. You’ll find carved masks, wood sculptures, and beautiful glass bowls to take home. On the first floor, you can browse smaller items, including souvenir-friendly keychains, magnets, and other knick knacks, but be sure to head up to the second floor, where you’ll find a selection of vibrant works by Haitian painters.

Head to this food truck in Bayamon (a suburb of San Juan, located about 30-minute’s drive from the capital) for generous portions of local staples like mofongo, tripleta (similar to a Cubano, but with three types of meat), and arroz con gandules (a hearty dish with rice and pigeon peas). Many dishes feature a Dominican influence that reflect owner Wagner Rodriguez’s roots: think yaroa (smothered fries, popular at street food carts in Santiago) served with mofongo or mangu (Dominican-style stewed plantains) prepared with sofrito.

The celebrated artist Raul Ayala Carrasquillo operates this brightly painted shop, which is named for his father, Castor, who began the artistic legacy that continues in the family to this day. Here, on winding highway 187 in Loíza, visitors will find a combination boutique, gallery, and museum dedicated to Castor's works. Raul’s speciality is the vejigante mask: a horned and intricately painted mask crafted from a coconut husk. (You'll see tons of these masks as part if vejigante costumes at the Festival of Santiago Apostol in Loíza each July.)

Just across the street, you'll the studio of the artist Samuel Lind, where you can browse vivid paintings and sculptures—often alongside Lind himself.

After falling in love with Puerto Rico while on vacation in 2021, Ch’nese and Chris Pittman moved to the island from Atlanta, corralled their 25 years of experience in the hospitality world, and launched their own tour company, Fiesta Tour Puerto Rico, three months later. Their offerings range from an Afro-Latino community tour through the Piñones neighborhood, a hiking and water tour in the El Yunque rainforest, and a bar crawl through Old San Juan. The one thing all the excursions have in common? They’re customizable, and they strive to highlight local, Black-owned businesses and predominately Black sites.