Lin-Manuel Miranda’s San Juan, Puerto Rico

“When I was a kid, my bond was really with my grandparents,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, the songwriter, actor, director and producer. “I would go to Puerto Rico with my family for a month every year. As my sister and I got older, I guess you could say we got sent there for a month a year.”

Those months went on to inform Mr. Miranda’s taste in food, art and culture. “I didn’t stay in a hotel, I stayed in town, I ate Puerto Rican food. That’s different than being a tourist.”

Over the years, Mr. Miranda has become one of the most prominent advocates for Puerto Rico. Next month, he will bring his musical “Hamilton” back to San Juan’s Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré for two weeks, hosting a fund-raiser to support the Hispanic Federation and the Flamboyan Foundation, a charity devoted to educational equity in Puerto Rico.

Mr. Miranda’s San Juan is one with a lot of history and authenticity — and, of course, one that leans heavily into the arts, including two places of special importance to the composer: Placita de Güisin, a community space with shops and food, and Galería Lin-Manuel Miranda, with exhibitions dedicated to Mr. Miranda’s art and his family history. Mr. Miranda has donated most of his awards — Tonys, Grammys, a Pulitzer — to the Galería. With one notable exception.

“For Christmas, my dad gave me the Emmy I won for ‘Hamilton’ — it got sent to his house nine months prior. He was like, ‘We found it was in our house, so Merry Christmas!’ I was like, ‘Your gift is an award I won?’” said Mr. Miranda, laughing so hard he had trouble getting the words out. “So I still have the ‘Hamilton’ Emmy … because I got it for Christmas.”

Here are five of Mr. Miranda’s favorite places to visit in and around San Juan.

1. Hotel El Convento

When he was a “young, almost adult,” Mr. Miranda said, “I would rent a car and drive around Old San Juan myself and just take it all in — the colonial buildings, the cobblestone streets.”

One of those buildings was also one of his favorite luxury hotels: Hotel El Convento, a former convent that dates back to the 17th century. It’s a “charming hotel overlooking the bay,” he said, adding that “the hotel’s Spanish Colonial architecture serves as a reminder of the archipelago’s past.” It’s also “steps from the beating heart of the city’s nightlife and historic sites.”

A few years ago, Mr. Miranda performed “Hamilton” in the theater of the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré and recently returned for the unveiling of a new mural by Éktor Rivera, dedicated to Rita Moreno. “It is gorgeous,” he said of the center. “I saw a production of ‘West Side Story’ there, and there’s always something going on.”

“Cafe Manolín is the best example of great Puerto Rican food,” Mr. Miranda said of the upscale diner in Old San Juan that he counts as a recent discovery — “it’s already my new old hang,” he said. “You’re going to get plantains in some form, whether you want them sweet as maduros or salted and fried. You’re going to get a rice — could be white rice, it could be brown rice. And you’re going to get beans — you could get red beans, you could get black beans, you could get lentils.”

The Puerto Rico Museum of Art, in the Santurce neighborhood, opened in 2000, although the new permanent collection didn’t open until 2019. “They have an exhibit from the 17th century to current masters, and you really see a through line,” said Mr. Miranda. “It’s wild to see techniques that were celebrated all over the world and how they manifested in Puerto Rico, with a local Puerto Rican flavor — even in a portrait of a governor from the 17th century.”