Advice on excursions from Samana

amolaverdad

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Mar 1, 2006
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First I would like to express my appreciation for the many posters in the forum. My wife and I are planning our first trip to the Dominican Republic this March and we have found a great deal of helpful information here. I do have a couple of questions though that are specific to our circumstances.

First a few details about our group. We will be visiting Santa Barbara de Samana the third week of March 06. We have two families in our group my wife and I and our 4 year old and another couple and there 2 children age 3 and 6 as well as an 18 year old friend. We all speak some spanish, enough to get by in most situations. We have plans for most of the time that we are going to be there but we wanted to take at least one day and devote it to an excursion. From reading postings from this forum and other travel books and things we have narrowed down the choices to the following.

1. A day trip to Las Galeras and then on to Playa Rincon

2. A tour of Las Haitises National Park

3. A trip to the El Limon cascades
- This trip we are a little pensive about because of the kids
4. Whale watching excursion

My question is Can anyone give me any feedback positive or negative about the above excursions considering our situation especially having the young children? How much is a fare price for the above tours? (We are not planning on having our own rental car) Any recomendations for safe honest providers of these excursions? Any excursions on Samana peninsula or nearby that I may have overlooked?

Another question What beach would you recommend that is near Samana city for families? (One that we could go to in the late afternoon for a couple of hours) Also is there somone that rents horses to ride on the beach near the city? What is a fare price?

I would appreciate any help that you can give to us. Thanks in advance.
 

kakaka

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Dec 15, 2005
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Hi

I spent a couple of days in Samana in December

Tour to national park (los haitises) - i went on a boat trip, cost $50 from tour operator on the sea front (can't remember name but it is towards the west of the sea front, fairly close to the bus stop for the caribe tour buses). I paid 20-60 dollars less than others on the trip who had come on a tour from one of the hotels. If you want to do this, buy local!! Tour was good, lots of birds and noice pretty islands to look at, but unsure how great it would be for kids - though its by boat so was "exciting". Free drinks on the boat - nondescript cheap rum, don't get excited by it. After touring round islands, stopped off at mainland part of park, short walk to caves with drawings by the tainos - interesting, but again don't know if the kids would like it (not having kids myself!). Then trip to a wee island, forget the name, with great beach and buffet food plus all the tourist tat (t-shirts, paintings, crafty stuff) you could want. All in all a reasonably ggood day, pricey for me (I'm a tight scot!) but I got a damn sight better value than the others on the tour.

Also went to el limon. Horse ride there is not for "animal lovers" - by which I mean "kids that love cuddly horses" - as the guides basically whip the reluctant horse all the way in to the fall (not that I am an animal welfare expert, but it did feel slightly uncomfortable to me - again, get used to different standards of living / safety / welfare etc etc). Its impressive, but go in the morning / lunchtime to get the sunshine on it if you can. Be prepared to get manky shoes as the clay soil by the water is very gooey. Its a bit of a clamber up and down the brae to the fall itself, might not be great for very young uns. Theres some wee "restaurants" that ill do you a "traditional dominican meal" for a few quid along the main road where you pick up your horses - tasty, but having lived with a dom family, not as good as proper meal!

the guagua (local minibus taxi thing) that I got to the waterfall was clean, cheap, empty - would have been fine for your family - but dunno if that was due to season / time of day / etc. May not be typical.

walking along the bridge is pleasant at sunset, theres graffitti and stuff but it looks nice. Don't explore too much on teh wee islands though as there's lots of youths with funny smelling cigarettes and tonnes of rubbish etc.

I had a great couple of days, though temember i was travelling on my own with limited time.

No "good" beach within walking distance of the town though - there is a wee stretch that looked quite clean just round teh corner from the bridge, but i didn't stay long, though there were a handful of folk at it when I passed.

Hope this helps. Others may have more insights into other issues.
 

amolaverdad

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Mar 1, 2006
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thank you kakaka

Just wanted to say thanks for your info. especially about the horse treatment. My little girl probably would not like that. It did raise a couple more questions about the Los Haitises tour. Is the boat ride really choppy or pretty smooth and the boat that you went on is it one big enough where the young ones could move about a bit or do you pretty much have to stay in your seat?
 

Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
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You do not say where you will be staying in Samana. It is a big province. Please let us know so we can recommend something nearby. Given the young age of the children, I think you should not venture far but enjoy what is nearby.

There are many gorgeous beaches that can be explored. Let us know the name of the hotel and location so we can make better recommendations.

I will be speaking as a mother of 17, 15, 13 year old boys and what they enjoyed at each time of their life. I remember well what went well with them when they were pre-school children.
 

amolaverdad

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Mar 1, 2006
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Response to Dolores

Thanks for your help. We are staying in a rented apartment right in Santa Barbara de Samana. The kids ages are 4, 3, and 6. Any information on nearby beaches and things to do as a family are appreciated.
 

Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
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Would have hoped you had consulted with us prior to booking that apartment in the city.

The best area for young children is Las Terrenas, on the northern side of the province. There is Las Terrenas, Playa Popy, Portillo that are all shallow beaches, good for children. And then there is the Playa Bonita and Cozon area to the west. Just follow the instructions to get to Wyndham Samana and you will be headed in the right direction. The Playa Bonita area in front of Bahia las Ballenas hotel is one of our favorites. But you will need to rent a car to get around, because if not it will be a hassle with the small children. Las Terrenas is about 30 minutes drive from Samana. There are two ways to go -- both highways have lots of curves -- one goes over the mountains, the other one swerves around. But if you are a good driver, both are no-brainers. I, nevertheless, cringe when having to do them.

I believe the bridge over the sea mentioned above is closed because of repairs ongoing at the new Bahia Principe hotel that will be opened there.

What is closest to you is the Las Galeras, Playa Rincon trip. But it is still about 20 kms away. What I am concerned is that it is going to cost you a bundle by taxi to get there to book a boat trip on the beach. Since you will be traveling with small children, you need to find a boat with life jackets (or bring your own for the young children -- not a bad idea, they can use them as floats).
Chirimoya is the Las Galeras expert, she may respond -- she also has a five year old, so she can tell you what he likes about the area. I would go very early to have a full day in this area.

Forget the Limon excursion. It is half way to Las Terrenas on the swerving curvy road. Too strenuous a climb for the 3 and 4 year old. The 6 year old would do fine.

Whale watching, don't recommend for the young children, either. The 6 year old, no problem. Check our link for whale watching on the side bar of the travel section and get in touch with Ken De Pree and Kim Bedell for this excursion. If you are in Samana this time of the year, definitely that is one you want to take. Depending on the size of the boat, you will be able to go with the children -- or someone may have to stay behind.
http://dr1.com/travel/special/whales.shtml

Los Haitises is a good one for everyone. You will have to take a boat to cross the channel. If you were in Sabana de la Mar, from where the excursions leave, it is about US$5/most US$10 per person. There is a small hotel there, Ca?o Hondo, where if you can go for lunch. Very good Dominican food, and a lovely place, if any day but Sunday. On Sundays it is too crowded and noisy.

Try to get to Las Terrenas, but go very early.

My recommendation would be to rent a 4 wheel vehicle to truly enjoy Samana. Once you are on the north side there are many beaches to explore.

Do not try to do too much because the small ones are happy to frolic in a beach. Unfortunately, the city does not have the good beaches.

Also see http://dr1.com/travel/samana/ for more Samana info.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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From the point of view of small children, Samana is beach, beach and more beach. To break the monotony, there are several other things to do in the Las Galeras/Rincon area:

La Boca del Diablo is a dramatic blow-hole. If you're there in whale season it's a vantage point for dry land-based whale-watching too.

The Laguna Salada (?) on the way to Playa Rincon is said to be a wondrous experience, as is the Iguanario, also on the way to Rincon.

Having said that, the short boat ride from Las Galeras to Rincon is a great adventure for the little ones, but that's an excuse to visit Playa Rincon more than once: one day go by road and one day by water taxi. The sea along much of the beach is quite rough, so we always go to the eastern end (right if you're facing the water) where the water is calmer and there are a couple of simple restaurants serving freshly-caught seafood. Ask for coconut bread - pan de coco. At the other end of the beach is the fresh water river - great for rinsing off the salt and sand at the end of the day.

Beaches in Las Galeras itself are Las Galeras beach, Playita and the AI hotel beach (Cala Blanca) - they don't mind non-guests using it, but if you want solitude, don't pick that one. All are within walking distance, and the water is calm and shallow.

In Samana town you can go to the CEBSE centre and see the whale skeleton and other local exhibits of the natural history variety. In Las Galeras make contact with Proyecto Guariquen who are working with the local community to open up visitor centres, nature trails and other ecologically sensitive attractions.

As with the rest of the country, restaurants are extremely child friendly.

PM me if you would like more specific details, directions, local contacts and recommendations.
 

amolaverdad

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Mar 1, 2006
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Thanks for the help

I wanted to thank Dolores and Chirimoya for there helpful postings. After reading your postings and doing a little more research I had a couple more questions. Thanks as well for the tip about the CEBSE my little girl loves museums and old dino skeletons so I am sure she would like the whale skeleton.

1. La Boca del Diablo sounds like an inspiring place (of course every picture I have seen of the Samana peninsula seems that way). Is la boca something that we could stop at on our way to Playa Rincon? I also was wondering about a posting that I saw from last year that said some tourists had been robbed on there way there, is this still a problem? We will be in there in the third week of March 2006. Do you think we might be able to see whales or is that too late in the season?

2.La Laguna Salada. I tried to pull up some information on this but I am not sure. Is this a small town or is it an actual lake? What type of things do you do there? (sorry for my total lack of knowledge on what this is)

3. If we decided to rent a car in Samana is there a reputable dealer? How much is a fare rate for this? Could we just rent it for a day or two in order to go on our excursions? For that matter would it be just as cost effective to try to rent the services of a private taxi for the whole day? How much might this cost? If this is a good idea is there a way that we could assure that we have a driver that wont leave us stranded somewhere?

4. I read about the Bridge to Nowhere, is it worth walking out to, is it safe?

Thanks again for all of your help.
 

amolaverdad

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Mar 1, 2006
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I forgot

On the map of Samana I saw a couple of light houses. One appears near Cabo Samana and the other near Punta Balandra. Are either accessible by land?
 

jonvelas

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Jan 29, 2010
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gosamana-dominicanrepublic.com
Advice on Excursions, Tours and Activities in Samana - Update as of 2011

This is an update as of 2011 - A lot as changed on the Internet since the last post of 2006

You can find a lot of information about Excursions, Tours, Activities, Attractions and Sightseeing in Samana
at the new website of the town of Samana.

They also have a beautiful dynamic Photo Gallery of Samana and its surrounding region.

Here is the link :
Go Samana | Samana, Dominican Republic


:squareeye Enjoy the Natural Paradise of Samana !