Roavi · San Juan
Become a Local Friend in San Juan
Go out, explore your city and meet travellers from everywhere. Your days, your rate.
Go out
A sunset, music, a rooftop
Explore
Your city, the way only you know it
Meet people
A coffee with someone from abroad
Your terms
Your days, your rate
In public places · Respectful · Platonic only · Earnings vary by city and demand
How it works
Get started in
3 simple steps
- 1
Create your free profile
Tell travellers about yourself, your interests and your city. Stop and come back any time; your words are saved.
- 2
Show what makes you special
Your favourite places, three real photos, and how you'd like to spend time. A person on our team reads every profile.
- 3
Connect with travellers
When you're ready, reply to travellers and agree on a plan that works for you: the day, the hours, your rate.
Example profileMarta$22/hr
Lisbon, Portugal
Usually replies within 1 hour
I'm great for
Speaks
Portuguese · English · Spanish
Send a messageExample profile · this is how yours will look
Real people. Real places.
See what Local Friends share
From hidden beaches to local food spots, Local Friends show travellers the side of their city that isn't in the guidebooks.
Explore more profilesWhat a sanjuanero can show past the cruise terminal
Most visitors to San Juan see the same seven blocks of Old San Juan between a ship docking and a ship leaving, and then go home. It is a genuinely beautiful old city and it is also a funnel. Ten minutes away is Santurce, the beaches locals actually use, the food in Piñones, and a mountain rainforest an hour east. Almost none of that reaches someone working from a cruise itinerary.
What you can show
- 1
Old San Juan at the hours it belongs to the city — early morning, or evening after the ships pull out. Same streets, completely different place.
- 2
Santurce: La Placita on a Thursday, the murals, the restaurants that made the city's food scene. This is where San Juan actually goes out.
- 3
Piñones for fritters on the beach — alcapurrias, bacalaítos — which is the most Puerto Rican afternoon available and takes twenty minutes to reach.
- 4
El Yunque done right, or the bioluminescent bays, including the honest part: which one, on which moon, and when it is not worth the drive.
Worth putting on your profile, because visitors from the mainland often do not know it: no passport is needed for US travellers, the currency is the dollar, and US phone plans work. People arrive with questions about all three, and the ones searching for a local are frequently the ones planning to leave the tourist strip.
Travelers are looking for locals in San Juan
Be one of the first Local Friends they meet. Build your profile today and get discovered by travelers heading to San Juan.
Questions?
Everything you need to know
The questions people ask before they join, answered plainly.
Ask Roa or the teamThe Compañía de Turismo certifies tourism guides, and certification matters for guiding at certain sites and for working with operators. Roavi is not that — you are paid for your time as a local who accompanies a visitor, not for a guided tour product. If a visitor wants a guided visit somewhere that requires a certified guide, point them to one for that part.
It is a real and underserved slot. Six hours is too little for most operators to bother with and plenty for a good local afternoon — Santurce and lunch, or Piñones and a beach. If you are willing to work around ship schedules, say so; very few people are offering it.
Yes. Creating and publishing your Local Friend profile is completely free — there’s no cost to appear in the directory or receive messages.
No — and that is the point. A Local Friend is not a tour guide: you spend time with someone as yourself, you do not run a tour. Professional guiding is a licensed profession in a number of countries; spending an afternoon with someone is not. And if you do hold a guiding licence, put it on your profile — travellers look for it.
Yes. You set your own hourly rate, and you can change it anytime from your profile.
Yes. You choose your days and times on your profile, reply only when it suits you, and can pause your profile whenever you like.
No. You need to be 18 or over, live in the city, and add three real photos of yourself. If you know where you’d take a friend, you have what it takes.
No. Roavi doesn’t process payments or take a commission on what you arrange with a traveler.
No. You decide who you respond to, and you can say no to anyone, for any reason.
No. Verification is optional. It’s completed through Stripe Identity and adds a verified status to your profile, but your profile, visibility, and messaging stay free either way.
Travelers message you directly through Roavi once they find your profile in the directory. You choose whether and how to reply.
Yes. You can pause your visibility or delete your profile at any time from your account settings.
Ready to share your world?
Become a Local Friend today
It's free. It could be the start of something amazing.
18+ · Every profile is read by a person before it goes live