This was our first visit to the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic and at we loved it! We got a last minute deal through Airtours for only £325 all-inclusive! We took the 8-hour flight from Gatwick to Puerto Plata, which is in the North East of the island.
The price included coach transfers and it was only about 15 minutes drive to the resort. The resort itself was massive consisting of many hotels, some beach side and golf courses. Our hotel was the 3* Hotetur Villas Doradas. Initially we were a bit down when we saw our rooms but mainly because we’ve stayed in much nicer 3* accommodation at other destinations. I think the
lack of light was the problem. We had a few teething problems with our room because the room only catered for two whereas we were 3 of us. However the hotel staff assisted us very promptly with no problem.
The main restaurant was buffet style and the resort included a Chinese restaurant, a seafood restaurant and a beachside snacks bar/café. The best was the buffet restaurant as it did have a huge variety of foods. Although we were eating at the buffet restaurant majority of the time, each time felt different due to the different atmosphere. The fresh fruit smoothies in the mornings were absolutely gorgeous! Just by the restaurant, there were two outdoor pools – one included a bar. The resort had 3 other bars; one of these was on the private beach. Main drinks consisted of Dominican Brugal rum mixed with coke or 7-up. There is also ’lethal’ ‘151’ rum, which is 75% proof and is also known as Dominican gasoline! We were told to keep away from that! The private beach also meant we did not have to hire sun beds.
One snag – don’t expect white sands and turquoise waters here. This resort is by the Atlantic – you need to go to the South for the Caribbean Sea and sands. However, we did not find this a problem at all
The onsite entertainment was fabulous! There was a different show on every night, which began with a short show for children run by the Fun Team. The costumes and dance sequences were great and mostly traditional. The Fun Team always tried to get the tourists involved in the day and night activities. The beach party was great and included limbo dancing and a bonfire on the beach. I think we were really lucky that we had the full moon during the week we went, which added to the magic of it all.
We didn’t have a nightclub on site but there were a few on the resort and the best one recommended by locals was called ‘Crazy Moon’. There was a mixture of hard house, hip-hop and local meringue. We loved it there as many locals went there too. Most dancing was done in pairs and it was funny to see bump and grind movements to hard house music! During our visit, we did make friends with a local guy who took us to a club called Le Barrica in Puerto Plata, the nearest city but we didn’t like it in there as it was far too dark!
There were a lot of British when we were there and some other Europeans. As we were the only Asian women there, I think we were a bit of a novelty and treated like movie stars there. The main language spoken there is Spanish although quite a few spoke English near and by the resort. Otherwise we had to stick to sign language!
Because it was all-inclusive, there were many activities included free of charge in the price. We took advantage of this and took up on the horse-riding lesson in the countryside, beach aerobics and sail-boating.
As with most tour operators, we had a meeting with them the first morning we were there where we were told of the many tours on offer. Big tip – you will find the same tours much cheaper from local tour operators, although we were told that they are rip offs! We went jungle trekking and to our surprise found out it included swimming across lagoons and climbing up many waterfalls. Don’t worry if you can’t swim like me, water guides are available to swim with and help you with the climbing up and down. It was fantastic!
Shopping wise we didn’t find anything really worth buying there apart from the usual souvenirs. We were told not to buy from the local fixed price stores and to use the market places where you can haggle the price but to tell you the truth, unless you are really good at haggling, I would stick to the fixed price stores as you do not know how much extra they are getting from you. Taxis have to be haggled too. Buses are fixed priced. We used the local buses (gua-gua) to travel into town, which is like a open doored minibus. They are far cheaper and more fun to use than taxis.
Another great place to visit is Mount Isabel de Torres and again we decided to go there ourselves using the local bus and then cable car across.
If you want to visit the capital, Santo Domingo, I’d recommend going there one evening and staying over as you will need at least a day to do all your site-seeing!
Enjoy!!!!
Ps. Avoid going May - Sept as it is the rainy season although it only rains in the evenings and is dried up by the next morning!
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Great op, you got a real bargain their, might try this place in the future.
Critchyboy 28.05.2003 20:15
My wife and I were going to go the Dominican Republic but decided it was too far to travel for only a week, so we are off to Tunisia instead! We will, hopefully, make it to the Dom Rep sometime!! C :)
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Advantages: Entertainment, The Brits, Excellent food, Amazing location and great Excursions Disadvantages: Mosquitoes eat you alive, Sambuka after a Japanese meal, Staffs lack of English and being hassled off the resort while shopping
SouthernComfort 19.05.2003 (19.05.2003)
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Review of General: Dominican Republic
May 28th, 2003
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