The San Juan Gate (in red) allows you to walk along the shore. The city walls stretch over you. If you take a right out of the gate and head north, you'll come to El Morro. If you take a left out of the gate, you'll head back to the cruise ships and lower city.

The gate of San Juan as taken from the promenade, looking roughly south.

We headed towards El Morro. It's a little over a half mile (says the map) to the tip of El Morro. The gate has a slope down to the shore, but the paved walkway is level. Warning: In the heat of the day, the sun can be brutal against all that stone and breezes are hard to come by until you reach the point. Vendors just inside the gate sell water and soda.

The path ends at the point. You cannot go around the eastern side of El Morro. A National Parks guard makes sure you don't.

Once we retraced our steps back through the gate, we headed up the road straight ahead (the one with shade trees) towards the Cathedral of San Juan. Two doors before the Cathedral on the right hand side of the street, we stopped for a light lunch in a tappas bar. We sat in a small courtyard, picking up the breezes from the open doors and the sky. Cold drinks and warm appetizers made it a great pit stop.

Castle San Felipe del Morro (El Morro) San Juan, Puerto Rico

Four Attacks: 1595-1797
El Morro Walking Tour: Main Plaza
El Morro Walking Tour: Bastion de Austria
El Morro Walking Tour: Bastion de Ochoa
El Morro Walking Tour: Battery del Carmen
El Morro Walking Tour: Artillery Ramp
El Morro Walking Tour: Battery de Santa Barbara
El Morro Walking Tour: Garita (Sentry Boxes)
El Morro Walking Tour: Lower Level
El Morro Walking Tour: Promenade (Outside Fort)
El Morro Walking Tour: Map of Upper Levels
El Morro Walking Tour: Map of Lower Levels