Isla Verde is the high-rise beach strip east of Condado, technically in the municipality of Carolina but functionally part of San Juan. It runs along the longest and widest beach in the city — about two and a half kilometres of clean white sand — and is fronted by the bigger resort hotels and casinos (the El San Juan, the Ritz-Carlton, the Marriott).
For most travellers, Isla Verde is where you stay if the beach is the main event. The airport is fifteen minutes away, Old San Juan is twenty-five. The neighbourhood itself is less walkable than Condado — restaurants and bars are spread out on either side of the four-lane Avenida Isla Verde — but the beach is consistently the best in the metro area.