Bosque Estatal de Guánica (Guánica Dry Forest)

The driest corner of Puerto Rico holds something the island's lush reputation doesn't prepare you for: a subtropical dry forest established as a reserve in 1919, designated a United Nations Biosphere Reserve in 1981, and considered the best-preserved dry forest in the Caribbean. More than 700 plant species grow here — some endangered, some found nowhere else — alongside roughly half of Puerto Rico's bird species. Hiking trails thread through it. The coral reefs draw divers. Go for the birds, stay because nothing else on the island looks like this.