Ponce rewards at least two full days. The colonial core around Plaza las Delicias is compact and walkable: the Parque de Bombas, the cathedral, the city hall, Teatro La Perla, and the Ponce Historic Zone are all within easy walking distance of each other. The Ponce Art Museum — one of the finest in the Caribbean — is a short walk southwest. For the hilltop sights, Castillo Serrallés and the Cruz del Vigía are a taxi ride or a long uphill walk.
Outside the city, Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center to the north is the island's most important pre-Columbian site. Hacienda Buena Vista, a restored nineteenth-century coffee hacienda, is a half-day excursion into the hills. The boat trip to Caja de Muertos — an uninhabited island reserve offshore — is the best snorkelling available near the south coast.