March 24, 2008

CARIBBEAN | PUERTO RICO | SAN JUAN

Project Puerto Rico: Part II

By Mark Jolly

If El Conquistador was cool enough for James Bond, you should see the clifftop Caribbean resort after its multimillion-dollar makeover.

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Recently we told you about LXR’s mission to cast a spotlight on its trio of new properties beyond Old San Juan. In addition to Condado, the company is hoping to shift the party yet further east to the Isla Verde district, home to the capital’s best beaches and the historic El San Juan Hotel (pictured) — whose centerpiece is the brand new Encanto Beach Club (think designer daybeds, private cabanas and poolside DJs). But for pure seaside R&R, El Conquistador, at the eastern tip of the island near Fajardo (careful with that “j”), is LXR’s chief calling card. After a two-year revamp, the 750-room resort is the first in a wave of big-box luxe lodgings to hit Puerto Rico — paving the way for W Vieques (the first W Retreat & Spa in the Caribbean, opening in December) and a mammoth golf resort courtesy of Donald Trump.

But don’t let that put you off. In its earlier incarnation as a Wyndham, El Conquistador’s old circular casino was used as the backdrop to a scene in Goldfinger. Hanging over a steep bluff where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean, the tropical hideaway now boasts a Golden Door Spa, an acclaimed golf course, and Las Casitas Village — a villa-style resort-within-a-resort. The property has also just unveiled what it calls the first water park to sit along the Caribbean. OK, don’t let that put you off, either. If truth be told, globorati found no shortage of adults lining up to get their vertical drop slide on. And for calmer pursuits, you’ve always got the beach — or rather, El Conquistador’s private island, which thanks to a pair of new high-speed catamarans, is now an eight-minute ride away and the resort’s singular most seductive sanctum. Or at least when the 100-acre palm-fringed oasis isn’t being hired for private parties with Sheryl Crow and the Beach Boys.