Best time to visit Puerto Rico without the crowds

Best match

San Juan Bautista Festival June 24 — beach midnight backwards-walking tradition.

#1 for without crowds

Best match

Shoulder-season sweet spot — rainforest fills out, rates drop, crowds thin before US summer.

#2 for without crowds

Worth considering

Hurricane risk still elevated but Festival Nacional Indigena and coffee season start to stir interior life.

#3 for without crowds

Avoid

Peak hurricane statistical risk — also peak Atlantic-coast surfing and lowest hotel rates.

#4 for without crowds

Best match

Spring break ends and rates ease — but Saborea Puerto Rico food festival keeps hotels busy.

#5 for without crowds

Best match

Festival of Puerto Rican Music early-month and hurricane season closes — quiet pre-peak window.

#6 for without crowds

Strong option

Loiza Carnival end-of-month — bomba drums and vejigantes in the most Afro-Puerto Rican town.

#7 for without crowds

Strong option

San Sebastian Street Festival third weekend — Old San Juan turns into the Caribbean's wildest street party.

#8 for without crowds

Strong option

Carnaval de Ponce on the south coast — a week of masked vejigantes from the second-largest city.

#9 for without crowds

Strong option

Spring break floods San Juan beachfronts while Heineken JazzFest pulls jazz heads to Tito Puente Amphitheater.

#10 for without crowds

Worth considering

Surfing season starts on the west coast at Rincon — early swells, hurricane watch begins.

#11 for without crowds

Strong option

Longest Christmas season in the world — parrandas, lechon, the run-up to SanSe.

#12 for without crowds