Flamenco Beach

A long crescent of fine white sand on the north coast, backed by green hills, with calm turquoise water that shelves gently into a sheltered bay. Flamenco is consistently rated among the best beaches in the Caribbean, and on a weekday in shoulder season you can have long stretches of it to yourself. On summer weekends, ferries from Fajardo bring crowds.

Snorkelling is good at either end of the bay where the reef meets the headlands. There are kiosks for food and drink, basic showers, and a small campground behind the beach — one of the few places in the Caribbean where you can pitch a tent on the sand legally. Get there early; the publico vans from Dewey fill up by mid-morning.

things to do sight beach
A story
Two rusted US Navy M4 Sherman tanks sit on the sand at the eastern end of the beach, abandoned after the Navy used Flamenco as a bombing range until 1975. Local protests, sparked when a fisherman was killed by stray ordnance, eventually drove the military out — and the tanks were left as monuments to the campaign.