Thanks to all for the help and guidance that made our trip special
After missing out on a vacation last year the wife and I decided to spend 2 weeks this year in beautiful samana. One in las galeras which was a new spot for us, and one a return visit to las terrenas. We flew into SDQ (still no flights to el catay from US) and rented a suzuki gran vitara. Thanks to all who advised the suv, it was very much needed and appreciated and i cannot imagine doing some of the things we did in anything less. Rented from europcar via the net and the car was a bit dinged up but sound. make sure you take pictures if the car has some dings and scratches. We lost our ticket detailing the dings and when we returned I felt like a criminal as i believe they thought we did some of the damage and a few pictures would have been nice to show them. I still haven't gotten the full cost of this but it was much more than the base price i paid online even though we declined the CDW insurance because our CC covers.
The drive to las galeras was uneventful and the roads much better than anticipated and with all the work still going on i can imagine it to get even better in the future. The only mishap was a wrong turn in samana town because there is a sign as you first get into town that directs you to turn left fot LG. Don't make this turn, the road is crowded and awful and immediately made us glad we had the suv! Stay straight through the malecon, even though it is a longer way the road is much better. We were hustling to get through samana before nightfall and only had a small stretch of driving in the dark, which was not so bad.
Our place in LG was a villa (el castille) rented through JuanyLolo. They were very helpful and checkin was a breeze. I thought for the money ($360/week with AC) the villa was a good deal. It was very quiet (right next to el marinique which was not open at the time) had nice ocean breezes and definately close to town center. We settled in and walked to the luisitania for some tasty pizza, found some brugal at the local colmado and came back to rest after a long day of travel.
off to work more later with some pics
After missing out on a vacation last year the wife and I decided to spend 2 weeks this year in beautiful samana. One in las galeras which was a new spot for us, and one a return visit to las terrenas. We flew into SDQ (still no flights to el catay from US) and rented a suzuki gran vitara. Thanks to all who advised the suv, it was very much needed and appreciated and i cannot imagine doing some of the things we did in anything less. Rented from europcar via the net and the car was a bit dinged up but sound. make sure you take pictures if the car has some dings and scratches. We lost our ticket detailing the dings and when we returned I felt like a criminal as i believe they thought we did some of the damage and a few pictures would have been nice to show them. I still haven't gotten the full cost of this but it was much more than the base price i paid online even though we declined the CDW insurance because our CC covers.
The drive to las galeras was uneventful and the roads much better than anticipated and with all the work still going on i can imagine it to get even better in the future. The only mishap was a wrong turn in samana town because there is a sign as you first get into town that directs you to turn left fot LG. Don't make this turn, the road is crowded and awful and immediately made us glad we had the suv! Stay straight through the malecon, even though it is a longer way the road is much better. We were hustling to get through samana before nightfall and only had a small stretch of driving in the dark, which was not so bad.
Our place in LG was a villa (el castille) rented through JuanyLolo. They were very helpful and checkin was a breeze. I thought for the money ($360/week with AC) the villa was a good deal. It was very quiet (right next to el marinique which was not open at the time) had nice ocean breezes and definately close to town center. We settled in and walked to the luisitania for some tasty pizza, found some brugal at the local colmado and came back to rest after a long day of travel.
off to work more later with some pics