By admin I’ll come right out with it: I turned 40 in January 2022. While I had conflicting emotions about this milestone birthday, I knew I wanted to use the event as an excuse to plan a fun trip with a group of friends. Living in New York and having a birthday in late January, I always want to get out of the frigid city and into a warmer climate to celebrate. And I knew my friends would be game.
Aside from the goal of escaping to warm weather, I had two requirements when I started planning the trip: nonstop flights from NYC and relatively affordable prices. We also wanted to stay in a villa so we could all be together with our own private pool and chef.
I had never visited the Dominican Republic (and neither had nearly all of my friends who joined the trip), but when I realized that it met all my requirements, and then some, it quickly moved its way up my list. Multiple airlines offer daily nonstop flights from NYC to the DR, servicing several airports in each country. Since we were planning well in advance, roundtrip flights were less than $400 each.
I initially thought that Punta Cana would be the only option for a group of travelers to the DR with its numerous all-inclusive resorts. This was not my ideal destination, as I generally prefer more secluded, private experiences. Fortunately, I came across Las Terrenas–a relaxed beach community in the northeast of the country, approximately a two hour drive from the capital city of Santo Domingo. Finally, after a bit of searching, I found a six bedroom villa with gorgeous ocean views for the very reasonable price of $1500/night. Las Terrenas, we were on our way.
Our Itinerary: Four Nights in Las Terrenas
We had planned a four night stay in the DR (arriving Wednesday afternoon and flying out early Sunday afternoon). A massive winter storm in the northeast U.S. disrupted this plan a bit, but our original itinerary was as follows:
- Wednesday – Arrive, settle in, dinner prepared by the chef
- Thursday – Breakfast and lunch at the villa, hang out by the pool all day, dinner at a beach club in town
- Friday – Boat day! And birthday for me and my friend Karen. Private catamaran cruise around Samana Bay, then dinner back at the villa
- Saturday – Free day: hang by the pool, explore the beach, do whatever else we wanted
- Sunday – Head home
Getting to the Dominican Republic and Las Terrenas
As I mentioned, there are an abundance of flights from NYC to Santo Domingo, so we had our choice of flying out of JFK or EWR, across several airlines (of course we chose Delta). There are also flights out of numerous other U.S. cities (Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, and more), plus a handful of international cities (Toronto, Panama City, Madrid, Paris, and Frankfurt to name a few). Santo Domingo has to be one of the most accessible cities amongst all of the Caribbean island destinations.
Oh, and I should also point out that the country didn’t require a negative COVID test or proof of vaccination to enter. We all took COVID tests before traveling just to be careful, and we were all fully vaccinated and boosted, but it was nice to not have to worry about completing additional paperwork when traveling internationally.
I arranged a taxi to meet us at SDQ and bring us to Las Terrenas through our villa’s manager, Christophe. It cost $250 for our group of nine (payable by cash only) for the two-ish hour drive. We found our driver easily once we cleared immigration and customs, and he and his colleague were happy to help with our luggage on the walk to the van. They were also happy to stop at a grocery store once we reached Las Terrenas so we could stock up on snacks and alcohol.
The drive itself was beautiful. We started on a waterfront highway to get out of Santo Domingo, then turned to a well-maintained two-lane road north to Las Terrenas. The drivers were pretty aggressive about passing, but we never felt unsafe. I sat in the back of the van for the ride; some of my friends get motion sickness and wanted to sit up front, but it wasn’t a bumpy or winding road by any means. We passed by some exotic jungly terrain, then some farmland, and finally hit the stunning coast.
Our Las Terrenas Villa
Once we reached the coast, we gradually wound down the hill toward one of the main commercial streets in Las Terrenas. Here we made the all-important stop for snacks and alcohol, then made our way to the beachfront strip of Las Ballenas, where many beach bars, restaurants and boutique hotels were located (no large chain hotels here). Next we passed through a guarded gate, wound through a couple small hills, and found ourselves at our home for the next four nights: Villa Cacique.
The villa was a great value given what was on offer. There were six bedrooms and seven bathrooms split across three floors, and every bedroom featured ocean views and an ensuite bathroom. The multi-level outdoor space was expansive with more breathtaking views. The villa also included chef services and daily housekeeping, although I’ll admit that we experienced a few issues, likely due to the language barrier. Regardless, I’d like to think that the staff was doing their best and I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
The one major complaint I had during our stay was that the neighbors across the street had a party on Friday night (my birthday) that went into the wee hours of Saturday morning (after 3am). They were playing music that was so ridiculously loud that for those of us staying on the upper two levels of the villa, it sounded like there was a live band playing in our rooms. We tried complaining to the villa’s security guard, who said he had notified the police, but still nothing happened. I also complained to the villa manager around 11pm and didn’t get a response until after 9am the next morning. Needless to say I was a little cranky the next day after finally falling asleep at 3:30am–and not by choice! My 40s were off to quite a start.
After that fiasco, I will give the villa manager credit. I complained and asked for some recompense, and while he relinquished all responsibility for the noise, he did agree to give us a 50% discount for the night. He also assured us that he had addressed the issue with the neighboring villa’s manager and we would not experience the same problem the next evening (which was also our final night). Fair enough.
Samana Bay Catamaran Cruise
While our villa was beautiful, the highlight of the trip was by far the day that we spent cruising Samana Bay on a private catamaran tour. I had arranged the day through Bonvido, a local DMC (destination management company) that partners with my travel agency. They were able to help coordinate everything and ensure that we were in excellent hands all day long. I will definitely be using Bonvido again when I have clients looking to visit the DR.
The day started early with an 8am pickup and a one hour drive to the marina in Samana, where the catamaran was located (and the closest option from Las Terrenas). While every other day had been bright and sunny, Friday started out overcast and cooler with a light drizzle of rain at one point. Not exactly ideal boating weather. Fortunately, the weather forecast assured us that the clouds would burn off, revealing blue skies and brilliant sunshine by late morning. Fine, we could be patient.
When we reached the marina, we walked down the pier, curious to see which boat would be ours. Bonvido had just told me that we’d be sailing in a catamaran with room for our group of 10. Well, we were all pleasantly surprised when we reached the end of the pier and were welcomed on to the largest boat in sight.
“You are extra VIP today!” the captain told us. “This boat has capacity for 100 but you are just a group of 10!” Well, we would have lots of space–and a crew of four to assist us. We gleefully climbed on board and settled into the nets upfront with Vizzy spiked seltzers in hand.
Our first stop was the site of an old shipwreck, where we dropped the anchor and jumped into the water to snorkel for a bit.
Then we stopped at a small uninhabited island with a beautiful white sand beach. This ended up being more adventurous than expected. First, we had to swim from the boat since there was nowhere to dock. There was a rocky path on the island that led to a viewpoint that some of the group decided they had to see. However, we were all barefoot and the rocks on the path were quite sharp, so the five minute trek was rather painful. Finally, when swimming back to the boat, Gina was stung by a jellyfish in two places. We were done with swimming for the day.
By this point it was lunchtime and we were hungry, so we headed to Cayo Levantado, a popular destination for boat tours and home to the Bahia Principe all-inclusive resort. The pictures I had seen of the island online looked gorgeous, but once we got on land, it felt like a total tourist trap. There were crowds of people everywhere along with numerous stalls hawking cheap souvenirs. The beach was packed, as was the hut where our buffet lunch was held. We decided to eat quickly, although it was fun (and a bit embarrassing) when the mariachi band started singing “Feliz Cumpleaños” to me and Karen.
Then we headed back to the secluded peace of our 100 passenger catamaran. As we boarded, we looked at the other, smaller boats where tourists were piled on top of each other. I felt a little guilty having such a large boat for our small group, but I was also relieved to not be in a crowd of strangers. And I had to laugh when I saw people posing for pictures in front of our catamaran.
After lunch we still had several hours on the boat and the crew told us they had a surprise for us. Whales! It was whale-watching season in the region, and the giant creatures swam close enough in the bay that we would have time to go see them. I hadn’t seen whales in years, so this was a special treat.
Exploring Las Terrenas
When we weren’t hanging out at our villa or cruising around in a catamaran, we did take some time to check out Las Terrenas. Upon recommendation from Bonvido, we made a reservation at Porto, a large beach bar/restaurant that was a fifteen minute drive from our villa. The menu was eclectic (Peruvian, Italian, American, and more) so it offered a bit of something for everyone. Plus, the ambiance of an open-air beachfront restaurant is hard to beat.
The place was in fact beautiful, and the food was quite good, but there were a few things that made our experience less than perfect. My biggest complaint was that the service was SLOW. We waited to order, we waited for our drinks, we waited for our food, we waited to order more drinks… everything took lots of time. When I tried to order a bottle of white wine, the server returned five minutes later to let me know that bottle was “finished.” Okay… So I ordered another bottle. Five minutes later? “Also finished.” Okay… guess what happened with the third bottle? Finally, I decided to just walk to the wine fridge by the kitchen to see what wasn’t finished–and then I insisted that the server walk back to the table with me to open the bottle right away.
We also found it odd that we were the only people at the restaurant at 5pm. Yes, I realize that is an extremely early time for dinner, but Porto is also a beach bar, so I figured it would have a day time/afternoon crowd. Plus, the sun set at 6pm and we wanted to be there for the views. Apparently nobody else had the same idea. Some other tables did eventually trickle in as it got later, but the restaurant never felt full (in its defense it was quite large).
In addition to dinner at Porto, we decided to venture out from our villa on Sunday afternoon to check out Playa Las Ballenas. It was about a ten minute walk from the villa to the beach, where we slowly crawled from bar to bar for drinks and snacks. No one bar stood out to me in particular; El Mosquito had come recommended from Bonvido but we didn’t make it that far out on the beach. As expected, all the bars were on Dominican time, but it was hard to complain given the view of the ocean, the feel of the sand between our toes, and the sound of the lightly crashing waves (mixed with beachy Latin music of course).
Staying at Casas del XVI in Santo Domingo
As I mentioned earlier, a winter storm in the northeast U.S. impacted our original travel plans, for better or worse. We learned on Friday afternoon that our Sunday flights to NYC had been canceled, with no immediate options for rebooking. Seriously, Delta? Two of us were Diamond Medallions, one was Platinum, and four others were Gold or Silver. Not cool to be left in a lurch. We all had to devise our own plans to eventually get home–everyone else made plans to still leave the DR on Sunday, but Reuben and I decided to stay an extra couple of nights in Santo Domingo. We had no urgent reason to return to snowy NYC and we were both curious to check out the Dominican Republic’s capital city.
Sergio, the co-founder of Bonvido, was incredibly helpful when I told him that we were “stuck” in the DR. First he sent a list of hotel recommendations to help us narrow down the options. I immediately focused in on Casas del XVI, a unique boutique hotel concept comprised of seven different casas spread throughout the colonial zone of Santo Domingo. Guests can either book individual rooms in one of the casas, or reserve an entire casa for a group. Since we were booking last minute we didn’t have a lot of choice over which casa we ended up in, but fortunately we were able to get a room in the beautifully-designed Casa del Pozo.
Exploring Santo Domingo
Sergio at Bonvido was also a huge help with recommendations for activities and restaurants in Santo Domingo. I’ll admit that after four days of partying with my friends in Las Terrenas, we were ready for some R&R and didn’t want to spend all day every day exploring a new city. However, we did want to get out and see some of the sites, and we of course wanted to eat some good food.
Fortunately, Casa del Pozo was a perfect base for checking out the Zona Colonial (which also happens to be the oldest permanent European settlement in the new world). While we didn’t venture out to any other neighborhoods, we found the colonial city to be quite charming and accessible. It was easy to walk out of our casa to reach a large number of restaurants, bars, museums, and sites. Some of our favorites:
Grupo Bonye – Free open-air concert held every Sunday evening in the San Francisco ruins. Not to be missed! We felt so lucky to be in town on a Sunday to see this truly special local event. Buy a beer or a rum cocktail at one of the many surrounding bars, find a place to stand in the crowd and get ready to bop your head along with the merengue, jazz and son Cubano beats.
Maracas – This beautiful restaurant serves high-end Caribbean cuisine in a colorful yet classy setting. We booked a same-day reservation on Sunday night through Casas del XVI and were glad we did. The place was popping with well-heeled locals and tourists. The food and cocktails were excellent and the service was the best (read: most efficient) that we experienced throughout our entire stay in the DR.
Time – As a lifelong vegetarian (who sometimes eats seafood), I was pumped to find this vegetarian restaurant located in a courtyard in the Zona Colonial. We sat outside for dinner on Monday evening and enjoyed the golden hour views of the city while we waited for our drinks and food (it was back to Dominican time after Maracas). The food was just fine, but the ambiance was impossible to beat.
As I’ve learned in my lifelong quest to see the world, six days in one country is never enough. I was pleased to have an unexpected extra couple days in the DR, but I left with a yearning to see even more. While Punta Cana is still not on my list, I’d love to visit the coast farther north in the country, and to spend some additional time in Santo Domingo to learn more about the history and mingle with some locals. I have no idea when I’ll be able to make it happen, but in the meantime I hope I can convince some other people to drop their misconceptions about the DR and plan a trip to this incredible country soon.
