Plus side: The staff at Vida Urbana are pleasant, helpful and responsive.

Whoever created the apartment had a great eye for design. The patio has a retractable canvas cover and, even on cloudy days, fills the apartment with light. It is also a great place to just enjoy the sun. The opening between the rooms and hall (forming part of the patio), and the patio and the stairwell permit very good flow of air. Combined with very high ceilings and fans the unit was always comfortable. Painting the walls white and the wood doors and window louvers dark brown made it feel very Spanish and refreshing. The bedrooms are air conditioned and those work very well.

Minus side: The furniture in the patio, necessarily outdoor type, is hard and not comfortable. Privacy is not great. The stairway to the third-floor apartment has two large open windows that look right down into the patio and the hallway. Make sure you are mostly covered before leaving the bathroom after a shower. The many openings, covered only by wooden bars or louvers, let sound bounce off the hard walls and between apartments. There is also a water pump above a drop ceiling in the bathroom that feeds a plastic cistern. It and kicks on and off frequently. The complete absence of any outside windows is a little disconcerting.

Mixed: Calle San Sebastian has apparently been recently designated as the late night party area for Old San Juan (and maybe for all of Puerto Rico) and not just for the annual festival. On Thursdays to Saturdays the bars keep their multiple large doors open and the music volume high, trying to drown out that of their competitors. If you are looking to party into the wee hours, this is the place for you, it actually sits directly above one of the bars. On the Wednesday night we were there things were quiet – the only sound was that of the cistern pump. On Thursday night loud thumping music went on to about 12.30 AM. On Friday, it lasted until about 1.30 and on Saturday night (Sunday morning) to a little after 4 AM. Sleep was impossible during those times. At 2.30 Sunday morning I actually got dressed and went down and outside to see if it was what it sounded like and, sure enough, there were about 60-70 guys (and 4-5 girls) out in the street, walking, talking and drinking on that block alone. There were also others inside the bars, although not as many. I am told that it gets quiet again on Sunday nights.

Beautiful but wish it were elsewhere.