Dominican Republic - so much to offer…..

I have just been on a fantastic educational trip to the Dominican Republic organised by the tourist board in conjunction with British Airways. On arrival at London Gatwick airport we were told that the whole group would be travelling in business class which was fantastic. I had a short stay in the Club World Lounge of BA and the flight to Punta Cana took 10 hours.

We were met at Punta Cana airport by Amstar, a destination management company. They took us to our first hotel; The Hard Rock hotel. This private transfer took around 40 minutes. The Hard Rock hotel is an all-inclusive resort with 1700 rooms, 13 swimming pools and 9 restaurants. The rooms are fantastic and very spacious: even the lowest category rooms. We stayed there for the next three nights.

The first couple of days were taken up by around 10 different hotel visits which included some fantastic smaller boutique hotels such as the Sivory & Zoetry. On the second day we visited the Paradisus Real Palm Reserve which is a fantastic 5* hotel if you are travelling with a family with young children.

After all these hotel visits we were taken on a catamaran to Isla Saona which is a government protected nature reserve that has fantastic beaches. The location of this island is on the southeast corner of the Dominican Republic. The next hotel we stayed in was the Dreams La Romana which had some really good restaurants.

From the Dreams la Romana we drove to the Capital Santo Domingo which takes around three hours. Santo Domingo is a very interesting city with a lot of history. The hotel we stayed in was called the Hostal Nicholas Ovando, a boutique style hotel. The hotel is in a very old building with a lot of character and it is located in the old part of Santo Domingo.

On our return back to Punta Cana we visited the largest resort 5* in the Dominican Republic called Casa de Campo which is a hotel for golf lovers. The last couple of nights we spent in the Now Larimar resort with around 700 rooms. We also had the opportunity the see the real Dominican lifestyle. They took us to a few farming villages which was most interesting and we saw how they grow coffee and cocoa.

I would say the Dominican Republic is a country that has much more to offer than just all-inclusive hotels. The prices are very reasonable. This destination will suit honeymooners, people that wish to get married, golfers, family and also independent travellers. This could be great alternative to other islands in the Caribbean.