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United States United States national forest

El Yunque National Forest

RaulGarcia271828 · CC BY-SA 4.0

100% trees around it and 1,143 species recorded.

92Forestyas Score

ForestNational forestDense canopyFungiBirds

  • trees within 3 km100%
  • wild within 10 km96%
  • species recorded1,143
  • Altitude873 m

The forest around

100% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 98%Grassland 1%Built-up 1%Trees 81%Mangroves 2%Grassland 6%Wetland 1%Water 3%Built-up 7%100%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km100%
  • 1–3 km100%
  • 3–6 km98%
  • 6–10 km81%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees100%
  • Mangroves0%
  • Grassland0%
  • Wetland0%
  • Water0%
  • Built-up0%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

1,143 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Sierran palm
Sierran palmPrestoea acuminata69 recordsOquendo · CC BY 2.0
Philippine ground orchid
Philippine ground orchidSpathoglottis plicata67 recordsSémhur · ✉ · ✍ · · CC BY-SA 3.0
Trumpet Tree
Trumpet TreeCecropia schreberiana59 recordsPancrat · CC BY-SA 3.0
Native begonia
Native begoniaBegonia decandra57 recordsJami Dwyer from Portland, OR, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Camasey felpa
Camasey felpaMiconia racemosa55 recordsClau. Fessard · Public domain
Mottled toothedthread
Mottled toothedthreadOdontonema cuspidatum55 recordsMarshman at English Wikipedia / Eric Guinther · CC BY-SA 3.0
Guzmania berteroniana
Guzmania berteronianaGuzmania berteroniana52 recordsScott Zona · CC BY 2.0
Yellow-cedar
Yellow-cedarPalicourea croceoides48 recordsFilo gèn' · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lobsterclaw
LobsterclawHeliconia caribaea39 recordsPatrice78500 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pisonia tainaPisonia taina283 records
Birdwing treefernCyathea borinquena48 records
ShingleplantMarcgravia sintenisii46 records

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

92out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 100%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 96%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 1,143Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 873 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking from December to March.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan27°24°51 mm
  2. Feb27°24°41 mm
  3. Mar27°24°54 mm
  4. Apr28°25°74 mm
  5. May28°26°126 mm
  6. Jun29°27°92 mm
  7. Jul29°27°107 mm
  8. Aug29°27°138 mm
  9. Sep30°27°176 mm
  10. Oct29°27°167 mm
  11. Nov28°26°145 mm
  12. Dec27°25°71 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

El Yunque National Forest.

Rainforest in near Río Grande, Puerto Rico

El Yunque National Forest is a national forest in United States, 873 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 100% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 96% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

1,143 species have been recorded around it: 623 plants, 368 fungi, 144 birds and 8 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Sierran palm, Philippine ground orchid and Trumpet Tree.

The best time to walk is from December to March.

Awesome view form the Three Peaks in El Yunque
RaulGarcia271828 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at SJU airport (San Juan)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

El Yunque National Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 12marked trails within 5 kmCaimitillo Trail, Tradewinds Trail, El Toro Trail and 9 more
  • 4picnic sites within 4 kmPuente Roto Day Use Area, Palo Colorado, Sierra Palm and 1 more
  • 29shelters and huts within 6 kmPR-967 and 28 more
  • 7viewpoints within 5 kmTorre de Los Picachos, Las Cabezas de San Juan Viewpoint, Torre de Yokahú and 4 more
  • 2visitor centres within 6 kmCentro de Visitantes Palo Colorado, El Yunque National Forest Visitor Center
  • 14car parks within 3 km
  • 12places to stay within 10 kmYuquiyú Treehouses, Private Residence, Casa Cubuy Ecologe and 9 more
  • 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • campsites within 10 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around El Yunque National Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas27 mountains within 25 km
Los Picachos927 m · 0.9 kmPico El Yunque1,080 m · 1.1 kmMonte Britton2.1 kmEl Cacique5.1 kmPico del Este5.9 kmEl Toro6.9 kmCerro Bravo8.4 kmCerro Candelero24 km
Islandyasthe island
Puerto Rico9,100 km²
Coastya3 beaches within 10 km
Balneario Luquillo9.4 kmPlaya de Luquillo9.6 kmLa Pared Beach9.8 km
Cavernyas1 caves within 20 km
Cueva del Indio16 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Puerto Rico El Yunque 1
Stan Shebs · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hike to La Mina Falls in El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico
Shannon McGee · CC BY-SA 2.0
The La Mina river and trail in El Yunque
RaulGarcia271828 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q2375961) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species72,778 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Coastya, Cavernyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here