Puerto Rico: The Reggaeton Tour

Americans search for cheap tickets to Puerto Rico for its beautiful beaches, scenic national parks, world-famous rum, and of course, its music. Puerto Rico is known as the home of reggaeton, the truly Latin blend of hip hop, Jamaican dancehall reggae and Caribbean rhythms. Although the genre actually originated in Panama, Puerto Rico is known as the place where it really developed and it was Puerto Rican artists who made it explode into the international music scene. If you’re a fan of modern music, check out cheap airfare tickets for flights to Puerto Rico and take a musical tour of San Juan.

What we know as reggaeton started out in Panama in the 1970s with Afro-Panamanians creating Spanish language tracks for reggae music. This Spanish reggae became hot in Puerto Rico where a few musicians added fast Latin rhythms and the style began to pick up hip hop themes and beats as well. The genre was first known as Spanish reggae, Underground music, or Dem Bow, the phrase for one of its most popular dance beats. After the music became more and more popular in the Caribbean in the 1990s, the name “reggaeton” was first used in the early 2000s. 2004 is known as the crossover year, with a few big hits like Tego Calderon’s “Oye Mi Canto” finally receiving mainstream attention in the U.S. and Europe. Soon after, Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” became an international mega-hit. Other artists who helped to propel the genre to stardom in this decade have been Don Omar, Alexis & Fido, Khriz & Angel, Tito El Bambino, and Shakira. Today, music producers, reggaeton fans, and people who just love to dance are booking cheap flights to Puerto Rico to check out this musical wave at its epicenter. Finding plane tickets to San Juan will take you to one of the most exciting and accessible concert hot spots in the Caribbean.

Puerto Rico is a great cheap airfares destination to shop for all the latest reggaeton CDs, accessories and clothing by several artists. There are also plenty of clubs you can visit that play mainly reggaeton and related music and have histories intertwined with the young history of reggaeton. The legal drinking age here is 18. Most reggaeton clubs are concentrated in the historic neighborhoods of Carolina and Old San Juan. The Noise, a club in Old San Juan, is a great reggaeton hot spot for Friday nights and is also in an old colonial mansion. At Steel the Club in Carolina, wild red laser lights will keep you in the mood to dance to dawn after your flights to Puerto Rico. Club Dembow isn’t as flashy but reggaeton greats are still occasionally seen performing here. If you really want to get into the reggaeton spirit, you can get your hair done in the elaborate cornrow style popular with both artists and fans these days. Find great airfares and book cheap flights to Puerto Rico to listen to, dance, and experience reggaeton.