Hotel Bayahibe
There is a part of me that is reluctant to write this review, as it may encourage tacky development and commercialization of special scenic areas throughout the Dominican Republic. At the same time, I am indebted to Jose Kovo for an earlier review that inspired our family to visit the charming little community of Bayahibe, and stay at the Hotel Bayahibe. So, this is what we found during our trip to the DR in March of 2006.

If you love packed crowds of fleshy people, and expect a trip free of inconveniences or adventure, read no further and book a package deal with one of the many all-inclusive resorts scattered about the island. If however, you prefer unique cultural, authentic experiences and have a reasonable tolerance (or good earplugs) for early-morning roosters, then you will not be disappointed with your stay in Bayahibe, on the southeast coast of Hispaniola.

I was certain, prior to arrival that we could work our way to Bayahibe via inexpensive guaguas and/or public buses. However, despite my wife’s excellent Spanish skills, the airport and its regulators were determined to force a visitor into using an over-priced private taxi that only foreigners can pay for when they come loaded with cash. The buses and guaguas are not allowed into the airport terminal area, nor is there any formal bus stop at the airport exit road next to the principal highway. You will have to pay $85 US one way for the private taxi from the airport in Santo Domingo to Bayahibe. With luggage and little time to learn the chaotic local public transit system, this was the only viable option as far as we could determine to get to Bayahibe, short of renting a vehicle.

Hotel Bayahibe is less than 200 meters from a quaint little beach that also serves as a fine launching area for swims across the picturesque bay. There is enough sea life in the bay to keep youngsters intrigued, but don’t expect anything like a tropical reef teeming with color and activity. The water however, is wonderfully warm and pleasant. In the mornings and late afternoons you have to be cautious of the many tour and dive boats motoring out on the east side of the bay. In Bayahibe, we dove several times with the local dive outfit, Casa Daniel, at some of the most highly recommended dive sites. Their service was competent and satisfactory. The dives themselves were interesting and colorful, though fell well short of remarkable, unless this happened to be your first warm-water dive experience. Our diving in Bonaire some 10 years ago was much more engaging, in part because we could dive unsupported straight from the shoreline and the marine life was awesome.

There is also a small delightful beach/ water access about a 10- minute walk out of town. The snorkeling was fun – eels and numerous fish in knee-deep water. My 10-yr-old son even had his first scuba dive lesson at this unnamed beach. Unfortunately, like most of the DR, the place is beautiful if only you are able to look past all the trash, which is a disheartening reminder that you are visiting an impoverished third-world country without the means or wherewithal to keep their landscape clean.

Although set back a block or more from the oceanfront, the Hotel dining area has a nice water view and we enjoyed many lovely sunsets from the adjacent balcony. Juana, the hotel manager, was extremely helpful in assisting me with accommodation plans—both at Hotel Bayahibe and in Las Terrenas. The owner of the hotel, Manuel, also serves as headwaiter in the Dining room. His attention to our needs was exceptional and unmatched by any other restaurant we visited in the DR over the next ten days. While the menu became a bit repetitive after our third day, the food was very good and the “special” meal the hotel provided on the fourth day was fabulous. Wine offerings were very good, and as we found out later in our trip, uncommonly reasonable at $6-$9/bottle. Total costs for meals averaged about $8 per person per day for breakfast AND dinner! Room rates were just as reasonable with two-double beds and three or four people per room at only about $50 per night. Our experience was that these costs for comparable room and board are not at all typical in the DR. For lunch, try Esperanza, owned by a French couple who serve excellent food.

After picking up more family members at the airport, we rented a twelve-person van, which generally served us well, though it was moderately expensive and the driving a bit chaotic. Actually the base rate on rentals is reasonable, but the mandatory supplemental insurance, government taxes and 10% airport “concession” fees will quickly push the cost to over $100/day. Dollar Rental car does not include the mandatory airport fees in its so-called online total cost estimate, even though other taxes are listed. Dollar reps in the DR also tried to charge an extra day beyond our one-week rental period, even though we returned the van within the week. Therefore, if the numbers are unexpected, do take the time to think it through before paying the bill—sound advice for all areas of overseas travel when dealing in foreign currencies.

Many roads in the DR are deceiving—stretches of good pavement interspersed with deep jaw-jarring potholes. Directional signage is terrible, both in Santo Domingo and in the countryside. Despite all these reasons not to rent, we found the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted extremely liberating—especially with a family of nine. We got to see the countryside and towns at a pace that suited us, without the irritation of being led around by the nose on a group tour bus.

Aquarium Hotel
Later in our trip we stayed a night in Bonao while enroute to Constanza, a lush agricultural community high in the central mountains. Bonao is an industrial mining town and anything but attractive, yet the Aquarium Hotel appeared to be nicely set up for foreign visitors expecting higher standards and a restful night. Our four-person room cost $75, and they conveniently fail to mention that the downstairs disco that is part of the hotel would be playing horrid music loud enough to vibrate our floor well into the next morning. By 3:30 a.m. I had had enough and forcefully expressed my frustration to management. The “music” stopped & we got a few hours rest. Both dinner and lunch at the hotel restaurant was expensive and unappetizing. A 16% state tax and a forced 10% “service” tipping charge is added to all meal tabs, unless expressly stated as being included on the menu. I dislike such forced “service” charges especially when the “service” is as poor as the food—which was the case at the Aquarium Hotel in Bonao. This additional 26% effective tax, on top of most restaurant meals between 350 and 650 pesos ($11-$22 US) with wine and a few drinks at full US pricing, makes the DR anything but the bargain vacation it is purported to be in some travel guides.

Constanza is a lovely place to see and the road in, while steep, is an interesting trip in an underpowered van with 9 people and all o f the luggage. Don’t let others discourage you from making the drive—the road is generally in fine shape. Unfortunately the hiking trails I had read about were difficult and sometimes impossible to locate and we only spent a day visiting this farming oasis. Lorenzo’s restaurant in Constanza is highly recommended. Great food, great service at reasonable cost. If we had had more time we should have hired a guide to help us find good hiking, as the mountainous ranges looked very inviting to explore.

Hotel Casa Nina
I ran across an obscure, but complimentary review of the Hotel Casa Nina, while planning a visit to Las Terrenas, on the Samana peninsula on the northeast shore of the Dominican Republic. It was quite the challenge to locate contact information, but having stayed there I am glad to have persevered, as the accommodation proved to be an excellent value for our family. The hotel is within walking distance of the main part of town, and like most of the hotels, is situated on the main road that runs along the beach. The pool garden and dining patio are exceptionally well maintained and a pleasure to relax in, especially when we had the whole place to ourselves one rainy afternoon. The bedroom cottages do not have refrigerators or air conditioning, but with fans for each bed, were reasonably comfortable during our 5-night stay in late March. Early-rising roosters were notably absent at Casa Nina.

Christiana and Gabriel were most courteous hosts and went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. They allowed us the use of their personal beach towels and the hotel refrigerator for our afternoon poolside rum-and-coke drinks. Due to the length of our stay, the included hotel breakfast quickly became a bit monotonous. I hope they will consider additional breakfast offerings in the future for guests that stay with them longer than a few nights. Fortunately, our stay did not fall on a weekend, as I understand the noise from late-night partying can be excessive, but as noted above, we found this to be common, especially in the capital.

Atarazana Hotel
I think it is unfortunate that an energetic and ambitious Santo Domingo couple could spend years renovating a run-down building into a comfortable and attractive hotel in the colonial district, only to have a neighbor open up an all-night (till 5:00 a.m.!) ear-splitting disco directly across the street. Fortunately they had the foresight to install tight windows and noise absorbing drapes in the Atarazana Hotel, and only two rooms are subject to the noisy street life. If you are going to spend time exploring the Colonial district in Santo Domingo. I do highly recommend contacting Suzanne at info@hotel-atarazana.com, but be sure to ask for the quiet rooms in back.

Back in Las Terrenas, the tourist-oriented restaurants that were recommended to us served fabulous food; but again, don’t expect any third world pricing bargains at these establishments—save one. Arche Noah, near the bridge, served an outstanding dinner-grade lunch for only $100 RD ($3.00 US). To our great disappointment, they did not serve dinner. BTW, when we find a place with great food and service at reasonable prices, or a polite and friendly night watchman working two full-time jobs to support his family back in Haiti, this is the time to tip generously—and it feels good doing it.

Generally, the beach along Las Terrenas is pleasant, but the amount of trash being disgorged from the town’s central stream during a heavy rainstorm was painful to see. Fortunately, several of the Hotels bordering Casa Nina, as well as the hard-working gardener at Casa Nina do a good job keeping their sections of the beach reasonably tidy.

Two days of heavy rains and wind kicked up a sea that turned the water brown with turbidity so we could not make any fair observations on snorkeling conditions on the Atlantic side. We’ve read and were told that it is not near as good as the calmer and more colorful waters facing the Caribbean. However, we did get two fantastic days of body-surfing and beach running at Playa Bonita—a 10-minute drive east of Las Terranas. Despite being public and no cleaning crews in sight, the beach was clean and pristine. We explored further to the south and found the equally appealing beaches of Playa Canoe free of trash, possibly due to its remote location from any Dominican towns and a few conscientious local resorts employing cleaning crews for the benefit of their guests. If you don’t have a car, it would be an easy and inexpensive and fun trip from Las Terranas to Playa Bonita on the back of a motoconcho (motorcycle).

While parts of what I write are not complimentary on the DR, I am still naive enough to hope that pointed constructive criticism by the customer may inspire some future change. Twenty-four tears ago, as a polio-vaccination volunteer in the DR, I came to the conclusion that lasting beneficial change could only take place if it were owned and embraced by the local population. As compelling as it is for us westerners to show them the way, our solutions will inevitably fail without home-grown grass-root support and initiative. I do not have the answers to the problems facing the DR, but I do believe that if the country expects to attract more tourist dollars, it will have to initiate better programs to both prevent and clean up their mess and dramatically improve the efficiency and value of their ground transportation system.

We spent one full day in the capital, spending two nights at Hotel Palacio (and one additional night upon our return to the city before leaving the country), which was right in the Zona Colonial and around the corner from El Conde and a short walk from the Catedral Primada de America. We only had time for a walking tour of the Zona Colonial. For sights, if you are short on time as we were and you love history as we do, I would recommend the Cathedral and the Museo Alcazar de Colon (Columbus' son's palace). We also spent quite a bit of time at the Larimar Museum and gift shop, which may not be the cheapest place to get larimar and amber but at least we knew it was authentic, and they had a wide selection of settings. The best rum prices we found at a grocery store in the capital right on the corner down from our hotel. The Hotel Palacio was beautiful: clean, comfortable and gushing with history, and the staff was friendly. Lonelyplanet classifies it as top-end; also, lonelyplanet says there is a hot tub and exercise area on the roof but that is not so: those ammenities will be on the addition they are building, not the current structure. A buffet-style breakfast is offered but not included (I think it was about $7/person); it was delicious.