Club Med Punta Cana (Dominican Republic)
The first thing that really surprised me is that it’s only an 8hr 15 min flight there (7.5hrs on the return)! This makes it a really viable option for a 1 week long haul trip.
The weather as you can imagine was hot with very high humidity. I’d recommend going in our Autumn/Winter/ Spring rather than the Summer.
We stayed at Club Med Punta Cana. I’ve visited Club Med before (Sinai Bay in Egypt) and I am a real lover of their concept and offers (I have many families that I book to Club Med). The Club Rooms are a tad more basic than some of their resorts; I’d say a 3 star quality. The Deluxe Club rooms and the 5 Trident (5 Star) Triara space are for clients wanting a bit more luxury.
The other thing to note is that the resort is opening the very first “Zen Oasis” in December which will be an adult only area and having seen one of the completed rooms, they really do offer the “wow” factor! It feels like a resort, within a resort. Zen offers adults the option to completely get away from it all or go into the main area of the resort and be more active and join in with the animation.
The beach here really is amazing! I’ve travelled to many Caribbean islands and this is up there with the finest. Think long, wide white sand beaches. Many palm trees too, so lots of shade available. The sea isn’t too rough so it's ideal for all levels of swimmers (no lifeguard on duty on the beach however but not really needed). There is a lovely big pool, with a huge shallow end, so ideal for toddlers. The surrounding area of the pool was quite hot so you’d need your flip flops on to walk around. There’s no breeze by the pool either so the whole pool area was generally hotter than the beach (which had a lovely breeze most days).
The day time animation offered by Club Med isn’t as in your face as some resorts. They have the usual aqua gym, and kids clubs walking around and then the famous “crazy signs” dance around the pool after aqua gym, that’s about it. They then have loads of sporting activities you can join in with, from land options like Tennis, Archery, Crossfit and Spin to water activities like paddle boarding, sailing, windsurfing, kite surfing (no water skiing here though).
The stand out activity exclusive to Club Med is their new tie up with Cirque du Soleil in the form of a “Creative” circus school area all free of charge an exclusive. This resort is the only one to have a double trapeze and then the new Creative area has all kinds of bungee classes, running sideways up the walls, to the ariel hoop, trampolines, cirque make up lessons, juggling, unicycle….The list goes on! I tried the bungies and the running sideways along the wall, did my own cirque make up and refreshed my old juggling skills!
In the evening the resort has a theatre where they put on a show most nights. It’s mostly the GO’s (this is the name their staff go by, guests are GM’s), but one night they have an outside company in and they put on the most amazing Michael Jackson show, I thought it was him it was that good a real must see! The food in the resort is good; the best restaurant is the Hispanola, which is a buffet restaurant. They’ve just employed a Michelin starred chef to oversee this one and in the evening they have lots of lovely dishes (think Tapas style) from all over the world.
They do have a beach restaurant which will be getting done up this Winter which is going to be an adults only dining option over the water.
In the evening for those party animals they often have a beach party or night club in the beach bar, it doesn’t get too rowdy or late so doesn’t affect anyone, but it’s a good touch, if you have the energy that is!
The kids club is also fantastic, a huge area taking them from babies upto teen's with again many things going on day and night for them.
Having never been to Dominican Republic I was pleasantly surprised and I’d return without any hesitation.