Cataño is a small city in northern Puerto Rico, and is one of the smallest towns in Puerto Rico as well as one of the youngest. The city was founded in 1927 as "Hato de Palmas de Cataño", but officially shortened to "Cataño" when it was established. The city is known as "La Antesala de la Capital" (the Prelude of the Capital) because of its location across the bay from the capital of Puerto Rico, the city of San Juan.

Although bordered to the North and West by San Juan and to the South by Bayamón, Cataño is generally not considered to be a part of the so called metropolitan area of Puerto Rico, or area metropolitana.

Cataño is known mostly for four things: Its industry, its trash burning facility, its ferry service that connects old San Juan and its considerable amount of protestant churches and catholic cathedrals.

Cataño has one of the largest groups of manufacturers in Puerto Rico. Bacardi has a rum manufacturing plant there, and many other companies, both Puerto Rican and American, have plants there.

On the other hand, Cataño's trash burning facility is the largest in Puerto Rico. Both Cataño's large number of manufacturing plants and Cataño's trash facility have been considerable factors in Cataño's earning of the dirtiest city in Puerto Rico title, a dubious honor, a few times.

Cataño's ferry service is known as La lancha de Cataño, or The ferry of Cataño. Despite what the name might lead to believe, there is actually a number of ferries, not just one, that operate on the five minute ocean route between Cataño and old San Juan and vice-versa daily. There is a large ferry terminal at Cataño, and tourists can enjoy the view of the Castillo de El Morro and the large cruise ships docked at the old San Juan terminal during these trips.

Cataño has a considerable number of Christians among its population, and because of that, a large number of churches and cathedrals also exist there, attracting worshipers from all over town and from area metropolitana cities as well.