Connecting several sleepy towns in Eastern Puerto Rico is Highway 184. This route is famous for the lechoneras, open-air eateries specializing in whole roasted pigs. Because you’ll find some of the best pork in the world here, it’s become known as the Pork Highway, or la Ruta del Lechón and it is a popular day trip for Puerto Rico visitors and locals alike.
We felt up to this challenge! Okay, we kinda turned it into a challenge. We ate roast pork at all of the lechoneras that we could get to and rated each eatery based on several factors. Ride along with us in the post below and we’ll tell you how to skin this pig – both metaphorically and literally. We’ll break down the route, the stops, how to order and what stops were best. Keep reading for all the information you need to explore the Pork Highway yourself.
About Driving The Pork Highway
While there is a lot of buzz around this road trip, due to high profile chefs and travel shows featuring the Pork Highway, it was one of the least touristy places we visited in Puerto Rico. And while we were able to get by with our App-learned Spanish in most of the country, this place was a struggle for English speakers in terms of communication.
You may be wondering if this route is overly touristy, rest assured it is not. We visited on a Tuesday. And while there was a steady stream of people at every lechonera the crowds weren’t at all bad. However, Saturdays are the best time to drive the Pork Highway as they really amp up the party vibe on the weekends. So if you’re going for the experience, consider visiting on a Saturday.
Where Is the Pork Highway?
About 30 miles south of San Juan, you’ll find the town of Beatriz. This is where route 184, the Pork Highway, diverges from the main interstate. This winding road takes you through the jungle atmosphere on a super fun drive. It was a great road trip even without the amazing pork.
Driving Time For The Pork Highway
If you plan on driving the entire Pork Highway, start around noon when the roast pig is ready. Lunch is more popular here than dinner. Most restaurants stay open until the pig is gone, which means several close before dinner time.
You’ll want to dedicate about 4 hours to this road trip. This will give you time to drive the length of Highway 184 and stop at all of the lechoneras. If you don’t have enough time for this full road trip, don’t worry. There are several that are close to the highway which give you an easy way to have the lechonera experience.
About The Food
This is the real deal when it comes to roast pork! This pigs roast all day and when they are gone they are gone. At each lechonera you’ll find a pig on a spit, seasoned minimally with a recipe unique to every shop. When you order the lechon, it will be skillfully and a little bit aggressively chopped off the pig and into pieces with a machete. A very cool way of getting served meats in our opinion!
Each pork serving comes with some shredded pork – shredded via machete along with some crispy pig skin. They normally place the roasted skin on top of the meat pile. It may seem a little strange to eat the pig skin but don’t knock it until you try it. The skin is crispy, greasy, and chewy all at once and in the best way. The fresher the pork, the better the skin will be. By the end of the day, the pig skin was so crispy we could barely chew it.
In addition to the pork, these lechoneras are like giant lunch counters with lots of different food options. Options include other meat dishes, blood sausage being very popular. Additionally, you’ll find lots of side dishes like rice, plantains, and veggies. While, there are lots of different types of food here, if you have any food sensitivities or restrictions, this probably isn’t the best place for you. This food is not made to order. It is made in large batches and served cafeteria style.
Lastly, you’ll be able to pair your food with an ice cold drink. There are lots of juices, piña coladas and cold Medalla’s, or beer.
How To Order On The Pork Highway
Lechoneras on the Pork Highway are like open air cafeterias. You start at the meats end of the counter and order your meats by weight. Next, you move on to the sides and you order those sides based on sized containers. All of this is put on a tray for you with some plastic silverware and disposable plates and napkins.
At several stops, there is a separate line for drinks served in a different area of the restaurant. So if you need a drink head there next.
Lastly, you head to the seating area and find a table to eat at. These tables don’t get cleaned frequently when they are busy so don’t expect to find a clean table.
If you are planning on eating at multiple stops, make sure to order small. We ordered a half pound of pork and the smallest size side dish at each stop. And we were full by the end of the trip.
Additionally, make sure you know some Spanish before visiting. We know enough Spanish to order food and even with that, we struggled to be understood (I have a feeling our accent is terrible). There were helpful people who translated for us and ordering generally involves lots of pointing to things so we got by. However, basic Spanish would be helpful.
Best Stops Along The Pork Highway
We rated every stop based on 6 factors on a 1-5 scale (5 being the best):
- Value – We got the same size pork at every stop so it was easy to compare prices.
- Flavor – pretty obvious but this is the flavor of the pork. For context, we like highly seasoned meat.
- Texture – this ranking is for the texture of the pork. For context, we like our pork moist and tender with crispy skin
- Menu options – higher rankings were given to stops with more menu options
- Vibe – we gave better vibe rankings to stops with live music, craft vendors and bars.
- Gringo friendly – we don’t speak Spanish well and this was a factor for us. So we gave a gringo rating – basically how easy was it to navigate the lechonera without fluent Spanish skills.
Take a peak at our ratings below to see what stops are best for you.
Lechonera Los Amigos
- Value – 4
- Flavor – 3
- Texture – 3
- Menu options – 3
- Vibe – 4
- Gringo friendly – 5
Lechonera El Mojito
- Value – 5
- Flavor – 4
- Texture – 5
- Menu options – 4
- Vibe – 3
- Gringo friendly – 3
El Nuevo Rancho
- Value – 5
- Flavor – 2
- Texture – 3
- Menu options – 3
- Vibe – 4
- Gringo friendly – 4
Lechonera Los Pinos
- Value – 5
- Flavor – 2
- Texture – 4
- Menu options – 3
- Vibe – 3
- Gringo friendly – 4
Lechonera El Rancho Original
- Value – 5
- Flavor – 4
- Texture – 4
- Menu options – 2
- Vibe – 5
- Gringo friendly – 3
What Else Will You See On The Pork Highway?
In addition to great food, you’ll find that there are plenty of local artists that sell their wares at the lechoneras. Most lechoneras have small gift shops or kiosks selling touristy gifts along with some great hand made trinkets. You get a little bit of everything on the Pork Highway.
Also, you’ll likely see some live music. Each lechonera has a space for a band to play and even when we visited on a Tuesday, there were multiple stops with live music.
I hope this post has helped you to create your own perfect Pork Highway road trip. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, especially a rainy one. If you have any questions please leave them below. Also, if you’ve had your own experience with the Pork Highway, please leave your comments on the lechoneras below.
