First Time Visitor - Las Terrenas

Trainingnan

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Aug 4, 2004
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Looking for some advice...My husband and I are going to DR in September to celebrate our 17th year wedding anniversary. We were going to stay in one of the Hilton Coral resorts, but thanks to this web site, we've decided to do this trip on our own.

We love beaches! When we go away for our anniversary trip, nothing is more relaxing than hanging out on a beach, with a good book, and a cooler full of beer. We're in our early 40s, so we're not really looking for a really "happening" beach--we just want to hang out with each other, enjoy the atmosphere, and relax. From all that I've read, it looks like Las Terrenas is the place for us.

We've narrowed down the hotel Playa Colibri, checked availability, now all we have to do is work out the minor details.

Here's my biggest question...money. The accommodations are very reasonable ($35/night), but my biggest concern is the food and the transportation from Santo Domingo airport. We're planning to have our romantic anniversary dinner at our hotel--from what I've read, the restaurant sounds like it has the best food in the area.

What other restaurants in the area are worth a visit? Where have you been, what did you eat/drink, and how were the prices? Where do the locals eat--usually those places are the best? What's the typical price of a beer?

I guess I'm so concerned about the cost of food, because three years ago we went to Turks and Caicos for our anniversary trip. I was shocked at the prices! We went to the grocery to pick up some "beach beer" and found that every beer in the store was $56/case--Presidente (excellent) was $48/case. A package of Oreos was $8. I understand that EVERYTHING is imported to Turks and Caicos. Are prices this outrageous in DR?

My other question has to do with transportation from Santo Domingo. From what I've read, we need to take a taxi to Caribe Tours bus station in downtown Santo Domingo. Then the price is very reasonable. I haven't been able to locate much on the Internet about the Metro Bus company. I'd love to find some information on them as well--prices, schedules, etc. Are there other options than paying for an expensive taxi or a chartered plane? Are there other bus companies that will go from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas?

Thanks for any questions you can answer--I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
 

Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
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The Canoa Coral by Hilton would have allowed you to do this (enjoy a fabulous beach, good book and good beer), also you would be near La Romana where you could visit La Marina de Casa de Campo and Altos de Chavon, plus La Romana town and Bayahibe town.

But staying in Las Terrenas gives you more options of mingling with people outside of the resort, more options for dining and shopping closer to you. For sure you will be back, so next time, do consider the Canoa.

Colibri is a good choice for a good beach, long stretch to the east and west. Walk through the jungle to the west (there is a path ? bring good walking shoes) and get to Playa Bonita, another gorgeous beach. Recently I called the Colibri and was told a two bedroom caba?a is US$105, as of September it drops to US$85, so if you are getting a US$35 rate for a caba?a, that is a steal. Where did you find that price?

The small beach restaurant at Colibri was very good when was there about three-four years ago.

Recommend you rent a SUV for getting around in Las Terrenas. See http://www.dr1.com/national
Should cost you about US$60-75 per day, but it will be worth it, there is so much to see. Then you can go into town and stock up on beer, etc. Town is about 15 minutes from your hotel by car. Taxis will not be cheap, so it will cost about the same to rent the car. This will also let you go into town for dinner under the stars at night. Las Terrenas has a restaurant strip with lots of good restaurants. Price of a Presidente beer ? big bottle for 4 ? is RD$50, no comparison with Turks & Caicos. Figure about RD$43-US$1 on prices.

Take the Metro Bus to Sanchez, which is about half an hour from Las Terrenas (on the other side of the Samana peninsula). Cost of the Metro Bus is RD$215. From there a taxi to Las Terrenas could cost about US$25 (don't have the actual price). Ask on the bus for public transport options, or their recommendations. You see, this is the dual system ? what is available for locals is cheap by your standards, services for tourists are internationally priced. But tourists in the know can link into the local network and benefit from local prices. A taxi from Las Americas to Las Terrenas will cost you about US$140. Flights there will cost you about US$65 each person one way.

My recommendation is for you to overnight in Santo Domingo on your way in and out. Book one of the Sofitel colonial city hotels that put you right into the colonial city and dine at one of the Plaza de Espa?a restaurants in front of the Columbus Alcazar. So romantic. Then the next day take the bus to Sanchez. Metro Bus departs at 7 am and 3 pm. A taxi to that stop from the colonial city will be about 20-30 minutes depending on the time of the day and the traffic.

For links to hotels mentioned, see http://dr1.com/directories/index.shtml
 
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emendoza

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Mar 16, 2004
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In May, my husband & I celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Las Terrenas & stayed at Playa Colibri. It was perfect. We met a few other couples--one young newlywed couple stayed in La Romana their first 2 nights, & couldn't stand the AI scene so they left for Las Terrenas; & another couple spent their vacation the previous year in Sosua and hated it. Las Terrenas was just perfect and I'm so glad we chose it for our trip.

We relied on motorcycle taxis to get to town from the hotel (or a 15 min walk, bring a flashlight for night walks) but the motorcycle taxi was about $1 US & both my husband & me on the back. Car taxi's are more expensive. The grocery will deliver your food to the hotel (although we ate out all the time, but the Colibri has blenders & a full kitchen). I'd say you could rent a car or ATV for a few days to explore the area but it you mostly want beach time, you certainly won't need the car for the whole trip. We didn't get a car / ATV at all and we were fine.

We arrived in Santo Damingo early evening & wanted to get to the beach immediately. Playa Colibri arranged for a private taxi to take us from SDQ directly to the hotel--it was $120 US total. Our flight into SDQ arrived after the last bus to Samana so we did it this way & it was worth it for us to get our traveling done in one day and wake up on day 2 to the scenery. We were plannign to take the bus back, but a taxi from Colibri to catch the bus is about $25 pp even though the bus is cheap. So we splurged & flew for $65 US pp (not chartered even though it happened to be just us!; Colibri arranged). The flight was a great scenic & unplanned adventure! Anyway, that's how we got there & departed, so just other options to consider. There's no bus directly from SDQ to LT.

We stayed in the Colonial Zone 2 nights before we left the DR. We stayed in El Beaterio (sp?) for about $40 US /night--Playa Colibri arranged it for us. El Beaterio only takes RD$ (no visa, or travelers checks or US and they speak Spanish & French, no English but it was very charming). The Sofitel was beautiful--we visited & looked around, but it was not in our budget. I'd recommend the colonial zone for at least 1 night--very historic (and BTW, we paid $50/night including tax at Colibri for a 1 bedroom apartment; and they had off-season meal plans that were a bargain--we did that a couple days).

We don't speak Spanish, so unfortuantely we didn't get out to mingle w/locals although everyoen we met was so friendly & appreciative when we attempted Spanish. We didn't see many locals eating at the restaurants and didn't find any authentic DR restaurants in Las Terrenas--mostly Italian or French. it's definately a tourist town, but still beats an AI in my opinion. The most authentic meal was when we did the horse ride to El Limon & had lunch at the ranch. That food was great! Anyway, we generally paid about $15 US for dinner to eat out. We had our anniversary dinner at La Yuca Caliente in Las Terrenas--horrible service; excellent food; great setting; we were the only patrons; romantic; amazing sunset view; but there were kids constantly asking to shine our shoes or asking for our food. Kinda put a damper on things (obviously I feel for the kids, but from the perspecitve of trying to have a romantic dinner, it wasn't a pleasant experience). I think that meal was more like $25 US for both--the most expensive meal we had (with just a couple beers).

We hiked over to Playa Boninta--the most beautiful beach I've ever seen & it's pretty quiet over there, but there are some hotels that may be worth looking into. I'll put some links I used here in case you haven't seen them yet. But please let me know if you have any other specific questions. colibri was so helpful with everything & friendly--we did some excursious too--Playa Jackson was great; El Limon was fun; Los Haitises was ok, but kinda slow paced for us and it was supposed to be German/ English but it was all in German.

We didn't get out for nite life, so I don't know if there is any. I have names of specific restaurants we ate at at home, so let me know if you want more info on that. Also, keep in mind that although I consider our experience to be very safe, I would definately not bring any expensive jewelry or a laptop. We heard of some tourists who got robbed in LT while we were there--one lost a laptop, one lost their passports/cash/travelers checks, etc. becuase their safe wasn't locked or they left their safe key in the room or something. I would totally go back to Las Terrenas in a second, but I never take anything worth stealing. Also, be careful ofthe sun--3 of the six people we hung out with all got fried on their first days (including me) so please be careful about the sun & don't let it ruin your holiday! Happy planning & happy 17 years!! Let me know if you want more info!!! I'd love to help!

http://www.samana-peninsula.com/
http://www.samanaonline.com/
http://www.samana.net/sn-english.htm
http://www.playacolibri.com/

PS - the exchange when we were there was about $48 RD to $1 US, and I think in terms of US$, so if the exchange is higher/lower, my prices for meals, taxis, etc will be different.
 
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ge3843

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Jun 20, 2004
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Just came back from there. Las Terrenas is a tourist town full of french, germans, etc... not very local. But anyways its nice and the beaches are nice. We had also spent time in Las Galeras. Less touristy.
The caribe bus from Santo Domingo is very nice and very inexpensive. It was $6 each from Santo Domingo to Samana and less to Sanchez as thats before. About 4 hours bus ride - but they stop half way through in SanFrancisoco for a break. Also only about $3 to get taxi from our hotel in colonial zone to caribe bus station.
It cost us total $12 taxi to get to Sanchez bus station but in las Terrenas you need to get to guagua station to find most taxis or to take guagua and thats a bit out of the tourist section of town.
Pricing varies dramatically depending if your willing to haggle and how much of a tourist you appear to be. It gets exhausting but it allows for a rather inexpensive vacation if your up for haggling.
 

Bartolomeo67

Newbie
Mar 18, 2004
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Santo Domingo - Las Terrenas

Info from my last week's visit:
Metro buses to Sanchez run only at 7 am and 3 pm.
Prices at Metro and Caribe Tours are the same : R$ 215 (about 5 U$)
Metro offers you a coffee on departure, no disturbing music or TV and is often a bit faster since they make less stops.
For both bus companies, make sure you get there at least half an hour before time, otherwise your bus will be full and you have to take the next one.
At Sanchez you negociate a taxi : approx. 500-600 R$ to get you to Las Terrenas.

There are plenty of good tourist restaurants in Las Terrenas e.g. in the former fisherman's houses on the beach on Playa Cacao road (about 20-25 U$/person). A good local place is Comedor Playa on the beach road towards Portillo (about 7 U$ for a good meal).

Bartolomeo