Don't go there. Drive threw it.
food bad no beach real no beach.
south side of PR is like denver very dry.
fires. dead. head north on 10 to aerocibo. threw the mmountains great trip.

Ponce could, eventually, be the cultural center of Puerto Rico if it is built up properly. It will take some time though. As it stands now, you can clearly see the remnants of an old once great town thats could easily boost itself back up if planned properly. Many of the buildings outside of the main square downtown are delapidated, abandoned, etc.... but you can easily still see how gorgeous they must have been at one time... and, given some time and care, will hopefully be again. It's definitely interesting to see a town in this situation... right before it picks itself back up.

The restaurant situation in the general town square area is fairly dire, unfortunately. Aside from a few fast food joints (Ken-Taco-Huts, Burger Kings and Taco Makers rule this town) there are a few really nice restaurants in the area. A couple of which will have you going into hotels to find them though.

The best things in Ponce, which, besides the architecture, are the main reasons for me saying that it could easily be the cultural center of Puerto Rico, are its Museums. They're wonderful. Definitely worth taking the time out to visit. Great art, Great History, etc. And all very inexpensive.

If you are just looking for beaches, Ponce is not the place to go. The local beach is hardly even that. There is sand, and there is water, but there's no swimming and the surrounding area is all industrial (Aside from the Boardwalk, which is actually pretty nice and fun and where you can catch the $5 boat to Coffin Island.) But, even to get down to this area, you will need a car, as it is no where near downtown Ponce. If you do get a car, the closest beach is out by the CopaMarina beach resort, about 30 miles from Ponce. There is a decent public beach there, and, at the nearby Seafood restuarant, you can catch a ferry ($6) to Gilliagan's Island (which, is a really interesting spot... it's two mini islands covered with mangrove forests and they're connected in the middle with really shallow (maybe 4ft deep) water. It's an interesting place to hang out with the locals and wade in the water, drink some beer, etc. Definitely get the snorkeling gear before getting on the ferry and, if you can, take a cooler and hang out for a while. It's a pretty neat spot, and you won't find many other places like it in the world.

We rented a car and explored all over the southern coast of PR, and, all in all, the beaches aren't so hott until you get all the way over to the SouthWestern Corner of the island. The beaches at Cabo Rojo (on the eastern side of the lighthouse - though be prepared for rough terrain... we got a flat tire driving on the unpaved hole filled rock covered road to make it out to the beach... it will be worth it though) and at Boqueron are wonderful. They're not Veiques by any means, but they are definitely the best in the area. Playa Santa is alright too, though a little scruffy and unkept... but you can rent kayaks and other boats and such here, which is a total plus. All of these are under and hour away from Ponce, and are well worth the drives. But, if you have the time and are really needy for a beach, just stick around Ponce for a day or two, explore it, give some money to the local economy, support the museums and such and then move on to the beach towns down the coast. It really is a lovely city, it just needs some care and some attenton and it will eventually be a place where you can really stick around and hang out for longer periods of time.