Anyone been on holiday to the Dominican Republic?

[Roz]

Have been looking at places to go on holiday to this December that have guaranteed sun but don't cost the earth and the Dom Republic looks like a good bet, plus you can ride out there.

OH wants to go for an all inclusive, but we don't want to end up in the middle of a hotel full of lager louts.

Has anyone been to the DR and do you have tips, do's and don'ts

Many thanks

[nix not logged in]

Hi Roz

My daughter's carer is off there next week for a fortnight. I'll grill her for hints, tips and where to go/avoid when she gets back if you like .

Is there anything specific you wanted to know and I can ask her to find out while she's there?

Nix

[gem]

Roz so its still going well I would still love to go there but a firm no from OH has meant we are looking at cuba now.

I think as long as you go to a bit off track (tourist track) you will be fine

[VictoriaA]

I went about 4 years ago, its a gorgeous place, beautiful sandy white beaches, real tropical paradise! We stayed all inclusive and it was fabulous, you'll probably find most places are all inclusive, and each hotel complex is like a mini resort in itself. We had not prolems at all with lager lout types, it was a lvoely peaceful and relaxing holiday, did lots of scuba diving, eating, chilling out, it was great. The sea is lovely and warm so swimming is an absolute pleasure! You might get some stormy weather in December but it'll be hot regardless. Go for it, you'll love it!

[Sun lover]

I've never been to dominican republic but antigua and st lucia are gorgeous, but if you're looking for cheaper guaranteed winter sun I can thoroughly recommend Gambia, fantastic people and wonderful weather .

[Roz]

Thanks guys.

Nix - that would be really great if you could speak to your daughters carer when she gets back, I think we're looking at the Gran Ventana Beach Resort Hotel in Playa Dorada. I just love to know what she thought of the place, any good or bad points etc.

Gem - yes I can't believe how well it's going, seriously I expect for something bad to happen but it really hasn't so far (but I know it's early days). We seem to get on very well and spend every weekend together, even if it does mean I have to ride around on his tractor (at least it has air-con!) as he's in the middle of harvest and it's the only way we can spend time together.

I did find a really good website on holidays including Cuba, I will dig it out and email it over to you.

Victoriaa - really good to hear that you liked it so much, I was slightly worried that it's now on the cheap package holiday destination and has got so over commercialised, but as Gem said if we go off the beaten track, it should be OK. Can I ask what all inclusive you stayed in and what area?

[fi]

went to the dominican republic for christmas 2003 , it is a beautiful island , but what ever you do read the reviews of the hotels , and get a good hotel ,the baha principle is very posh , avoid the SeaGrape Beach Resort near caberete, its a complete dump the all the tourists had the trots from day one, we went all inclusive and it was a nighmare we ended up spending all our money on meals out of the hotel as the food was so poisoness, the horses were a complete bag of bones , although we passed a lot of ranches around the hotel and their horses all looked in reasonably good condition, also the cabarete , area is very windy ,and ok for wind surfing but if you have kids the sea is not safe, or at least it wasnt when we were there ,the people on the whole were very friendly although it is a really poor country and i was quite shocked how people manage to live just in shacks with hardly anything to their name , it made me feel very lucky and a bit guilty about how i take so much for granted in this country, if we had had a better hotel it would have been fantastic as their are some loverly places , so chose your hotel with great care, i wish we had read the reviews of our before we went

[fi]

forgot to mention that it rained quite alot and was quite chilly sometimes, , but some days was really hot , sorry i hope i havent put you off , but its just what happened when we were there, i am sure you will have a fantastic time if you decide to go

[Cameo]

I went to the DR for my honeymoon some (!) years ago. Beautiful place - I got very fat on all the good hotel all-inclusive food!
Too hot to do much except eat, swim and well, other honeymoon things...
BUT - I found some horses ( of course) and we went out on a day ride that was absolutely wonderful - never forgotten it. All the horses were stallions ("no mares because it makes the stallions fight") and all quite happy to jostle around each other, no enmity. No shoes either and these saddles made roughly western in style but very basic - made of wood with huge blankets underneath. No rubs though.
The horses were fit , lean (but definitely not thin) and well-behaved. All the riders were given a very short lesson on how to ride these horses before they rode.
First though it was, "Put up your hands if you can walk", "Trot?" "Canter?" and you were out on horses dependent on what you put your hand up for.
Best bit - well there were many best bits on that day...was that these horses were from Paso Finos in breeding and the guides said that if you hold them back a little, then push on, they'll go into gaits - and they did!
FANtastic! Simply great fun!
We also rode on a beach - galloping through the surf, down a dry stream and through planations...we lunched deep in the island in a tiny village where there was a lot of poverty - so at last our money was going somewhere needed ( not into the hotels/travel agencies pockets) at an eatery where the food was home cooked - and gorgeous and even veggies catered for.
I've never forgotten it - nor the little grey stallion I rode all that day.

[VictoriaA]

I stayed at the Puerto Plata Village in Playa Dorada. Even though DR is cheap by Carribean standards, I don't think its really cheap enough to be somewhere anyone will go as a cheap package holiday, the long flight will always make it more expensive than most European cheap deal destinations. So I wouldn't worry too much about it being too hugely over commercialised. Main problem might be the Americans - lots of things are geared towards the USA visitors! lol
You can chose to stay totally within your hotel 'resort' or travel about and see some of the real DR.

[Roz]

Thanks guys for all your feedback, I can't tell how much it helps!

Victoriaa - what did you think of Playa Dorada, were the beaches any good, can you swim in the sea or is it very corally? I've got a very good deal at the Gran Ventana in Playa Dorada, I just hope the weather will be OK, we're planning to go at the beginning of December, which I know is the tail end of the rainy season. I know what you mean about the Americans, I went to Jamaica a few years back and I could see why people called it Jamerica, the Americans seemed to strut round like they owned the place. I don't blame the Jamaicans though, there was wide spread poverty and they were trying to make money to survive, any way they could. The scariest thing was watching the Jamaican guys waiting for the rather large female American tourists to get off the cruise ships in Ocho Rios, makes me shudder!

Fi - yes I had heard that the Sea Grape was one to be definitely avoided, but thanks for the reminder, I am so sorry that you had a such a rough time, how disappointing for you (to put it mildly). I am trying to find some reviews on our hotel, so I will be properly informed.

Cameo - wow, reading your review makes me want to go right now, the chance to ride Paso Fino's would be fabulous, it sounds like you had a honeymoon to remember. Do you remember whereabouts you were staying?

[Cameo]

Ooh - I'll have to have a think - I remember ti was the other side of the island to the very commercialised side - if you look at a map - it was near teh top right - not a huge distance away from Haitii.
Pretty sure it was near Puerto Plata.

[speedy]

I've been twice - South Island and North Island. Stayed at Talanquera in the South and Bahia Principe in the North. Both were fabulous - never had problems with the food etc or rowdy tourists. Last trip it did rain an awful lot and most of the trips were cancelled due to flooding of roads/river burst it's banks/coral islands under waves etc! But it was still a great holiday and great fun taking photos of flood damage!! Worst thing was the flight crammed into tiny little package planes - but don't let that put you off. As I remember, Playa Dorada is busy, busy - the hotels that are more out of the way would be quieter

[VictoriaA]

Each hotel has its own section of beach from what I remember (so they can continue the all inclusive - food and drinks on tap on the beach). Beaches were gorgeous! White soft sand, clean, palm trees and mangroves, wonderful. Sea is warm to swim (bliss!) and not corally. A bit further round the coast is the place where a lot of the diving trips start (whose name escapes me at the moment), was nice there too and you'd have to swim out a long way before you saw coral!

[boz]

roz,

so still going well then. Matt and I went out last year on Boxing day for a fortnight and it rained! in 14 days we only had 4 that were actually really hot and sunny. On some days it was just wet and cold. We were in Caberete as Matt surfs and Windsurfs. We were not able to do any of the outings because of the flooding and the sea was not clear because of all the sand thrown up by the storms. I personally would not go back there again. The island is seriously poor and the hotels are all foreign owned with the revenue generated not being put back in to the infrastructure of the island. Transport is downright dangerous with the buses being 12 seater minibusses - we counted 2 people in the one we were in. the taxis were small motorbikes which managed to travel at great speeds with up to 5 people and a large retriever on one - yes we did see that. The roads are lethal with cavernous potholes so do not under any circumstances hire a car.

The beaches are beautiful and well maintained but you are continuously harrassed by locals who are trying to braid your hair, sell you cigars, fruit, painitngs, jewellry etc. And you are restricted to the seats in front of your hotel - and in ours that was a cramped area about half the size of our hotels frontage - venture outide of that and you were charged a fortune for your lounger.

The food was ok but totally repeated menu in the second week and we ended up eating out . We did all get a stomach bug and think it was probably food in the hotel. It was also packed full of germans and boy the stories about them and their beach towels is so true. You could not get a lounger near the pools and they also were out early to grab the loungers.

Having been to DR and Barbados I would say Barbados is far far better and I will not be going back to DR. We thought about Egypt this Christmas but will probably wait til November and see what is available.

It was quite telling that the DR was the only hot destination that had loads of holidays available at Christmas time