Aibonito

Aibonito is a small mountain town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Cordillera Central, the central mountain range of the island. Aibonito is most famous for its relatively cold temperatures, its flower industry and yearly festival, its food and its beautiful nature.

Understand
Aibonito is located in the Sierra de Cayey, a subrange of the Cordillera Central. At 2,400 feet (731 m) in elevation, Aibonito's main town square is the highest in Puerto Rico. The San Cristobal Canyon, one of the largest and deepest canyons in the Caribbean, separates Aibonito from Barranquitas in the north. The area was originally settled by the Taino people, and the town's name comes from the Taino word "Jatibon" (from Jatibonicu, the name of the local tribe), meaning "black river" or "high river" (similar to Haiti's name origin). A local legend says the name comes from a Spanish settler who exclaimed "ay que bonito!" ("oh, how pretty!") at the natural scenery in the area.

Get in

 * San Juan: Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
 * Aguadilla: Rafael Hernández Airport
 * Ponce: Mercedita Airport

By car
Aibonito is connected to Cayey in the east through road PR-14, to Coamo in the west also through PR-14, and to Cidra in the east through PR-173. The Carretera Central and PR-1 also connect the municipality to Cayey in the east and Salinas in the south, although the road itself does not lead to the Pueblo (downtown).

Get around
As with most towns in Puerto Rico, Aibonito is very car-centric and driving is the easiest way to get around.

A word of caution: if driving you are sharing the road with trucks, and locals. The mountain roads have steep descents and ascents, hairpin turns, and steep cliff drops are not always protected by railing. The roads may look like one-lane highways but are made to handle two-lane traffic.

See

 * Some historic sites and tourist attractions in the downtown area are:



Do

 * Camping and hiking at San Cristobal Canyon. There other natural sites for outdoors activities such as: La Cuchilla and Finca Don Felix.

Buy
Aibonito is most famous in Puerto Rico for its floral industry. The constantly cool temperatures in the area allow for the growth of native and foreign flowers making Aibonito the flower capital of Puerto Rico. During the month of July the town hosts the yearly Festival of Flowers (Festival de las Flores de Aibonito) where visitors can learn about the floral industry and buy rare and exotic plants. A number of roads running through the municipality's flower crop areas is popularly known as Ruta de Las Flores ("The Flower Route"). There are numerous plant nurseries and gardens open to the public where visitors can buy all kinds of flowers:



Go next

 * Barranquitas
 * Cayey
 * Cidra
 * Coamo
 * Comerío
 * Salinas