Luquillo Beach is the one that appears on the postcards: a crescent of palms on the north-east coast, sheltered by a reef so the water stays flat, which makes it the family beach of choice and a relief after the Atlantic surf further west. Balneario Monserrate is the public end, with showers, lifeguards and parking, and one of the few genuinely accessible beaches in the Caribbean — Playa Azul has a ramp and amphibious chairs.
The other reason to stop is the kioskos: some sixty numbered stalls strung along Route 3 at the town entrance, frying alcapurrias, bacalaítos and empanadillas, selling beer and grilled fish, and running from breakfast to well past midnight at weekends. It is the most reliable eating on this coast and it costs almost nothing.
El Yunque rises directly behind the town, which makes Luquillo the natural base for the rainforest — closer than San Juan, and you can be at a trailhead in twenty minutes.