European colonizers built ornate plazas in harbor cities while political revolutionaries schemed rebellion in mountain villages. From San Juan's fortresses, scoured by siege, to the crumbling South Coast sugar refineries once powering the island's economy, San Juan's tumult of history is present everywhere. Puerto Rico's present appears laid-back but its past brims with cannon fire and colonization, repression and revolt. Puerto Rican traditions have been shaped by generations of cultural synthesis, celebration and setback, and it emerges today as vivid and indomitable. You'll glimpse it as sunlight sparkles across coffee plantations, or in museums celebrating everything from failed revolution to classical European painting. Then, suddenly, you'll smell it in the smoke arising from lechoneras (eateries specializing in suckling pig), or hear it in the intoxicating patters of salsa beats. You'll need to search for it beyond the condo towers and congested roads, and sometimes it seems Puerto Rico does not wish to show outsiders its cultural magnitude. The island's culture is of the visceral kind. If the sands that rim the island tempt you to stay, you can opt for sizeable resorts or independent guesthouses for watching those seaside sunsets from your room. In other places like Vieques or Cabo Rojo you might have some of the world's best stretches of sand entirely to yourself. On some beaches you'll have plenty of company. Its coral reefs host a riot of fantastical fish and the shores shimmer like crushed pearls. Puerto Rico inspires Caribbean daydreams for good reason: it can satisfy both the lethargic beach bum and the budding big-wave surfer – all in a long weekend. Scented by slow-roasted pork and sea breezes, and colored by swashbuckling history, this sun-washed medley of Spanish and American influences is a fusion of Caribbean delights and experiences.