Eat Your Heart Out at the Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival

July 10, 2026

We’re taking you to the Walk Around Grand Tasting at the Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival! The event is part of a 5-day culinary party with events hosted at the beautiful La Concha Resort and around different venues across San Juan. 

In this episode we break down ticket costs, food tasting, all the food & cocktails included and give an inside look at what the party is like: loud, fun & exciting!

Continue your Puerto Rico trip beyond the festival:

Continue you Puerto Rico adventures with our episode on the rest of the 5-day trip to Puerto Rico. It is a beautiful country with a lively culture, you’ll want to explore more and come back again and again.

Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hey squaties, welcome to this week’s Just the Tip.

Today you have me Kim, to share the experience of attending the Puerto Rico Food and Wine Festival.

The Puerto Rico Food and Wine Festival is one of the Caribbean’s premier food festivals, bringing together celebrity chefs, top Puerto Rican restaurants, wineries, mixologists and food lovers for a multi day culinary celebration across San Juan.

1:04

I absolutely love food and wine festivals and I really want to do a lot more of them around the country and the world.

If you remember back last year, I went to the Wine Cast Wine and Film Festival in the country of Georgia, and it was such a good time.

You have to go back and listen to that episode.

1:21

I’m really, really glad I got to attend this festival here in Puerto Rico because one, it was so fun and it just kind of came across my desk.

I wasn’t intentionally going to Puerto Rico to try to time it for this, but it fell into my lap perfectly perfect that it was just it meant to be and it was so fun.

1:40

Puerto Ricans have the best energy.

I love them.

They’re so fun, their food is amazing, their drink culture is alive and thriving, and it was just a really cool experience to be a part of this.

The 2026 Puerto Rico Wine and Food Festival took place across five days.

1:59

That was April 23rd to April 26th with events centered around La Concha Resort and across various different premium venues around San Juan.

Things that you can experience if you are to attend this festival in the future.

They have grand walk around tasting events with dozens of food and beverage vendors.

2:17

It’s all free.

It’s all included in your ticket, right?

So when I say vendors, I’m not talking about pay.

It’s a beachfront party with the DJ, interesting, cool, interactive and immersive experiences and entertainment.

You will have themed and chef hosted lunches and dinners throughout the festival, wine and spirits tastings and seminars, Puerto Rican cuisine spotlighting local ingredients and traditions and famous chefs.

2:41

There was even a golf tournament with mixology and tasting stations throughout the course.

Really, really cool.

Tons of stuff going on and it was a great time.

Tickets are sold separately for each of these premiere events, which is nice because you can pick and choose.

You don’t have to go to everything across all of the days.

2:58

They also have different packages that you could purchase that have stacked events throughout the festival if you really do want to immerse yourself in most of it.

It’s a lot though.

In 2026 there were 19 different events.

So you are going to be eating and drinking and partying, but that’s no different than any other day in the life of a Puerto Rican.

3:17

That is the life there and it is amazing.

When I went in 2026, the three main night events were hosted at the LA Concha Resort on Condado Beach, which was extremely convenient and like I said, just kind of fell in my lap because that’s already where I was planning to stay.

3:34

I can tell you Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights walk around tasting events are a big deal.

It brings out a huge crowd.

You have a red carpet entrance photo op when you walk in with a photo backdrop, live DJ, really cool entertainment like people and stilts and dancers and costumes.

3:53

And it takes place across the property and it is loud.

So if you’re staying at the LA Concha and you don’t like loud one, I wouldn’t recommend staying there anyway because there’s a nightclub there and it just, it’s a spot, right?

But the parties are loud and you will hear them.

4:10

The night that I checked in was a Thursday.

I got there as that first grand tasting event was ending.

So it’s like around 11:30 that I kind of walked in.

This was the all White Party night.

Everyone’s dressed in all white.

The lobby was bumping with people that were there.

4:26

We went Friday night, last night, Saturday night we did not go to the event.

Tried to go to sleep early because I was so exhausted from the boat day and not getting enough sleep the night before.

But the party was so loud.

It went on so long I felt like 2:00 AM it was still bumping.

This was the Rum and Roomba night and they were not playing.

4:44

Like I said, Puerto Ricans like to have a good time and they are the best at it.

So back to how this kind of just fell into my lap.

I booked my hotel directly with Marriott and I noticed there was an option for the Puerto Rican Wine and Food Festival package.

I didn’t even know this was happening.

4:59

I didn’t even know that it was a thing.

Then I saw it and I looked into it and I was like Oh my God, this is amazing.

I do recommend if you want to stay at La Concha and you want to go to this event, then particularly look out for this package because the hotel stay came with 1A chef welcome gift and a bottle of wine. 2 free tickets to one of the grand walk around tasting events, and two free tickets for a sunset drink and app event at the resort.

5:23

The main event tickets were about $150.00 each.

So if you do get this package, that’s $300.00 for those two tickets.

That’s a really good deal.

It’s also extremely convenient because it’s on from the property you’re staying on.

You have easy access to go straight down, go back to your room after you’ve been partying all night.

5:40

It’s awesome.

Now, I don’t know if they’re going to do it centered around La Concha again or if they do that every year, just know that was 2026.

But wherever the events are happening, say it’s a different hotel, I would check that hotel for these packages.

Maybe they’ll have them too and you’ll get the same thing.

5:58

A beautiful, convenient, amazing place to stay in a package that maybe get some free tickets out of it.

I only went to the one event at the Puerto Rican Wine and Food Festival and that was the Friday night grand walk around tasting event.

So I can’t speak to all of the events that they had.

6:14

I wish that I would have been able to go to more.

Honestly, I just didn’t have enough time in Puerto Rico.

I had was a five day trip, but two of those days were basically travel.

So I really only had three full days in Puerto Rico and I can just tell you that it’s not enough time.

But the event that I did go to was, like I said, the walk around tasting event.

6:32

It was from 9:00 PM to midnight.

The IPS could go in an hour earlier.

Wouldn’t say that’s a bad idea.

If I did it again, I might try to get the VIP entrance.

The one that I went to was the Masters of Sabor.

It was hosted by several different well known chefs in the area and it was part of the Friends of the James Beard benefit series.

6:51

It was a great event.

From what I saw each night, the grand walk around tasting events, they look the same.

It’s a bunch of booths set up with umbrellas over them.

They have different wines, cocktails, small bites, and I’m sure the bites and the drinks change night to night.

7:07

Although I did notice some of the same, but the setup is mostly the same.

The DJ’s probably different than music, that kind of stuff.

But I had such a good time.

Like I said, you have this beautiful entrance, you get all excited, you get your cup or your little wine glass when you go in and you are walking around.

7:25

You get to go in.

Try the different restaurants that have their masterfully crafted dishes and hear the speeches of different people that have been a part of this organization and key in helping it grow and continue on year after year.

7:41

There were some really interesting flavors, presentations, and just like unique combinations, really good cocktails.

It wasn’t expecting cocktails, right?

Because you heard Wine and Food Festival.

I know there’s going to be wine.

Wasn’t expecting cocktails but I did have some that were delicious.

7:57

I mean they can make it a beautifully crafted craft cocktail, but mini size.

It was just gorgeous and delicious.

It’s a dazzling event.

There’s a DJ going right above the pool, there’s beautiful lights, vibes are good, and I wouldn’t say it was too overcrowded either.

8:13

There was plenty of room to walk about to grab something and keep moving.

So some of the bites that I had that were particularly delicious were this rectangle shaped like sweet cornbread type thing and had this very lightly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

But the cornbread was like crispy on the outside and then so warm and soft on the inside.

8:33

It was absolutely delicious.

I had a mini Dubai churro.

It had chocolate, a little scoop of chocolate ice cream, a little churro, and then I guess Dubai sprinkles, Dubai chocolate sprinkles.

But they were in dry ice, so they were like fogging and smoking as she poured a little scoop on top.

8:52

It was a beautiful presentation.

I would say one of the most beautiful of the whole night.

Next one was this really good carrot hummus.

So it’s kind of a mouthful carrot hummus with garlic yogurt, harissa and sattar and pita chips.

Oh, it was good.

It was so delicious.

They had guanini asados with oisado mole.

9:12

I do apologize for that pronunciation.

All you need to know is it was delicious.

It was almost like little potatoes with a delicious sauce on top, if I had to just make it sound really basic, but it was yummy.

Now get ready for this.

The best thing I had the entire night was a white bean and truffle soup and you could see the big black truffles and they were grating them into it.

9:34

It was the most delicious thing I’ve ever had.

It was from a restaurant in San Juan called Marmalade.

They only do tasting menus there and if I go back or when I go back to Puerto Rico, I need to go to this restaurant.

It was absolutely delicious.

I would 100% go again to this event.

9:51

I would love to do more of those wine tasting seminars, maybe one of the chef hosted lunches and just kind of plan around it.

If you listen to the Puerto Rico episode, you know I did a lot, but I would have liked another day or two to just kind of chill, enjoy the beach, stay closer to the hotel, just relax.

10:07

Could have easily fit in a chef hosted lunch if I had a more chill day like that.

So next time, maybe next April when this comes around again, I will go back to Puerto Rico.

I think April is the absolute perfect time to go to Puerto Rico.

The weather is perfect.

10:22

It’s not too hot, it’s not too humid.

At least these grand walk around tasting events are happening at night, so it’s even less hot than it would be.

It’s the perfect time to go.

I definitely need to hit up this one again.

And Squatty’s, like I said, I’m going to be going to a lot more food and wine festivals upcoming.

10:40

There’s one in Austin that I’ve been wanting to go to every single year.

It comes up in the beginning of November.

I will be going to that one this year.

It’s already marked off on my calendar.

They haven’t even announced the official dates yet, but I’m going to it.

They’re just such a good time.

Food and wine festivals bring people together.

10:57

It’s a real community thing.

People are in such good spirits.

They’re having fun, they’re trying new things, they’re discussing and conversating and forming new bonds and just brings out so much joy and togetherness.

I love these types of events and I cannot wait to be a part of that.

11:14

And I hope that I’ve encouraged you to at least consider hitting this one up or timing your trip around the Food and Wine festival when you go to Puerto Rico because it’s one that I would not miss if you can time your trip for it.

Scotty’s, thank you so much for tuning into this week’s.

Just the tip.

Make sure to subscribe, leave a review and follow us on all the socials at Travel Squad Podcast and have fun eating and drinking this weekend.

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