Castillo San Cristóbal

An amazing history, turquoise waters and salty sea air, epic views… what more is there to say?
This was the most fun I’ve had exploring an old fort in a long time — more so than many chateaux in France.
It’s hard to imagine so much war and strife in this beautiful area, but Castillo San Cristobal has seen it all, including World War II.
It looks like other reviews have many of the key things covered like the small $ 5 price tag that includes entry to El Morro down the road, etc. All I can add is make sure to explore every square foot. You’ll find so many cool things like tunnels and dungeons where mutinous prisoners were held before execution, and a unique view of the city of sea at every turn.

This is a great fort/​castle to explore and take photos from. The tunnels and passageways are interesting to walk through. The views and photos from the top are really pretty for seeing Old San Juan.
Unfortunately our cruise line docked so late in the day we only had 15 minutes to run around and explore.

Beautiful sight to see! Entry is $ 5 per person which is not bad at all. Bring your walking shoes! (I don’t recommend sandals) and enjoy the wind, breeze and learn a little bit about history!

Personally prefer Del Morro castle. But Cristobal is nice, I like touring the grounds. Lots of great places to take panoramic view pics. It’s $ 5 for adults, kids are free. HOWEVER, is good for 7 days, and you can use it for Del Morro Must visit place for cruisers, FYI there is a FREE shuttle between the castles.

This is a MUST see in Old Town San Juan. The $ 5 entrance fee gets you into both this castle/​fort and El Morro, which is about a 10 minute walk away. Remember to keep your receipt though, they are strict about checking the receipts (you won’t be getting separate tickets for entry).
Every 15 minutes after the hour there is a ranger-​guided tour that is SO worth it. You can do a self guided tour and walk around, read signs, but the tour that was given was SO informative and in the hot, humid weather, definitely easier and more fun to partake in than to be reading signs all afternoon. The guide will bring you around to give you the history behind the fort and show you the purpose of the fort strategically for Spain — best hour we spent in Old Town! Then afterwards, with your ample leftover energy, walk around and read the signs and visit all the little rooms and take in all the views at your own pace. Definitely deserves to be on the list of World Heritage Sites, well worth the visit! Well preserved and it’s amazing to hear why they built the fort the way they did.
The views from the forts are obviously beautiful since they’re strategically built on high ground overlooking the Atlantic ocean. Great place to walk around, nice little walk up to El Morro, well worth the time! The entire experience (El Morro and San Cristobal) will likely take you about 3 – 4 hours if you’ve got the energy for it all!

The best way to appreciate a city would be to visit its historical site, and here we came, to the castle of old San Juan. Standing on top of the castle to view the whole city provided me an old familiar feeling just like when I was back at home and standing on top of the mountain. The observatory was kind of small yet indeed had a fantastic view; however you would not be able to climb to the second floor of the observatory.
Five dollars pp for entrance. The view and historical connection was priceless.

The entrance fee was $ 5 per person, not bad. An added bonus is that your admission to El Morro is included. You must keep your receipt and visit within seven days, which shouldn’t be difficult to do since both monuments aren’t that far from each other.
Both locations offer amazing views of San Juan with lots of informative displays. I only wish there had been a guide to walk us around and explain stuff to us. (If they do offer guides we were not informed of them.) Overall, nice experience and something to see in PR.

Only $ 5.00 per person to get in. You can walk through at your own pace. This place is definitely worth visiting while you are in Puerto Rico.
***This place has some of the best views in the world. This is not an exaggeration.***

Great views of the city/​ocean, with tons of interesting history!

If you enjoy history and the history experience I recommend this stop in old San Juan
Be prepared for long walks and large crowds
Bring plenty of water

Like it’s sibling, it is a beatiful old fort with great views of the city and ocean, but from a different persecptive. There are also areas that have been restored to what it would have looked like in its prime with the white walls, which is beaufitul to see. There is also a dundgon where you can see that someone drew amazing boats on the wall – keep in mind that they did this in total darkness and it’s better than anything I could do even given an outline.

Some of the most gorgeous views of the city. The history and design is wonderful. Right downtown in Old San Juan. Was a quick walk from the cruise terminal. Definitely someplace I would visit again.

Touring the Castillo San Cristobal is definitely something that should be on your to-​do list in San Juan. San Juan was one of the ports of call that our cruise stopped at… and time was a little tight. We only had 6 hours and wanted to do so many things in San Juan.
We decided to go with San Cristobal instead of El Morro because it was much closer to the port. It was only a 10 – 15 minute walk from our cruise ship. Just a tip… the streets of Old San Juan are very uneven and tricky. Wear very good walking shoes.
If you are a history buff like myself, you will love your visit to this fort. We didn’t do a paid tour… we just kind of walked around the whole property reading all the information signs.
After going inside the dungeon area, we walked around on the lawns in the back, and we were the ONLY people back there! There are beautiful sweeping views of both the city and the coastline. The architecture of the fort amazed me. I cannot believe these structures are still standing.
Other than good walking shoes, have some sunscreen, water, and ponchos… it switched between rain and sunshine multiple times! We didn’t let that ruin our visit.

Cuando fui un niño que visita los parientes de mi padre en San Juan, mis amigos y los primos iban aquí y jugaban. Jugamos a un juego que estaba llamada «Los Conquistadores.» Ahora es un destino de turista, y como un adulto, yo aprecio el valor histórico de la Castilla. Es demasiado de un destino de turista ahora para cualquier niño de jugar allí ya. No costó $ 5 cuando fui un niño y jugado allí.

Amazing old fort with a rich history. Read some of the other views for more about that.
It is easy to walk to from the cruise ship port. Just walk up the hill and you will see the entrance slightly to the right. When you walk up it you will catch some amazing views of all of Old San Juan.
Admission is only $ 5 and its very well preserved. I highly recommend stopping here during a visit.

If you should find yourself in San Juan, PR, and you are wondering around Old San Juan, this is a «must» visit place.
Between this fort and its neighbor, El Morro, these are the oldest forts in US territory. Since they are now a part of the US National Parks, an entrance fee of $ 5 will get you into both forts (save your receipt). Be prepared to walk a lot and bring a flash light.
There is a visitor center with a gift shop, from there it’s up two flights of stairs/​elevator and onto the grounds. It is a self guided tour and if you want to see everything here expect to spend 2+ hours. There are some hidden passages with no lights and that where the flash light will be handy. Although most of the fort is wheelchair accessible, some of the most interesting vantage points are not. There are not many water fountains around, so bring your own water or buy a bottle at the gift shop.
To get to Fort El Morro, there is a trolley at the main entrance, however, I would highly recommend the ¾ mile walk as there are a lot of sights to see in between. To see both forts and to walk in between, figure on spending around 6 hours.

We enjoyed this fort so much more than el morro! This one had more information and the feel of a museum. I believe they had parking. You could walk through under ground tunnels– it was cool!!! We will be back and I wi recommend this to all my friends who travel to PR!

If you happen to find yourself in Old Town San Juan, Castillo San Cristobal is a must stop. It happens to be the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World.
It is extremely impressive that San Cristobal has managed to stay in the condition that it is in considering that its initial construction began in 1539 and it was used as an active WWII military base through the early 1940’s.
For $ 5, you can spend as little or as much time as you want to explore the different areas of the fort. To get to the different levels, one might have to exert some effort in walking up the steep ramps to get to the upper levels, but the views are worth the effort. Not only can you see far off into the ocean, but you also get a full view of El Morro.
The easiest way to get to San Cristobal if you happen to be visiting the area on foot is to take the free Trolley (green) or the open air trolley cart that loop through Old Town. The easiest stop to access the fort from is stop 18. Stop 18b is farther down the hill and you will need to walk up the hill to get to the entrance.
**While wearing flip-​flops tend to be a vacation foot wear must, it might not be the best idea when exploring the fort.

Def one of the most memerable things that I did on my trip to Puerto Rico. I really enjoyed that you are allowed to explore on your own. We got some really beautiful photos here. The fort is big. The price to get in is like $ 5 a person. I don’t remember really, but it was something very small like that, but you also get to see another fort near by for free with paid admission here.
This fort is huge! We spent about two and a half hours here and I think we felt like we rushed through it a little. This was the best way to end our time in Puerto Rico, as we went here on the last day before we caught our flight home. Def check it out if you are near!

Amazing. Beautiful. Historical. Worth a visit to see and not just read about. Be ready to walk a lot so wear comfortable shoes. Bring water or money for it. Wear sun screen and be ready to sweat it off and reapply it.

Castillo San Cristobal is the smaller fort in San Juan! My friends and I caught the trolley from El Morro and arrived here within twenty minutes
Even though it’s a smaller fort, there’s still some nice views and scenery to enjoy from here! Watch out for iguanas! We spotted these cool creatures here wandering the grassy part of the fort.
Must visit!