Going to Puerto Plata/Staying in Cofresi - Advice Needed!

Thinking about a vacation there with a few friends. Looked at some villas, they are relatively well priced for a awesome luxuries (pool, chef, etc).

Was wondering how the city/beaches/bars/clubs/etc are. Any suggestions/comments/information would be appreciated.

Of course, on our list of things to do - meeting women is part of it. Not just talking about paid-for services. Was hoping can invite some locals back to our villa have some fun in pool, eat good food, etc. Is this a safe thing to do? Is it possible? Are people friendly? Our villa we have in mind has a security guard...

I don't mind leaving the villa, wandering around, etc. I'm not really scared about that kind of stuff, I'm pretty street-smart as far as getting pick pocketed, robbed, etc. I also rather go to local places and actually experience that real food, drink, and living situations. We'll also be in a group of 4 total. My friends are the tough, street-smart, don't take **** type so we should be alright.

We are renting a 5 bedroom villa in Cofresi. It is apparently a mile or two away from Puerto Plata city center I believe. How far is Sousa/other beaches from us? The description of the villa states "within less than a half hour drive are the beaches of Costambar, Long beach, Maimon, Playa Dorada and Sosua." In that case, are taxis cheap? Are they readily available (i.e. 3 or 4 am late night return trip)...

We were thinking of renting a car or something, but we're all gonna get drunk so don't want to end up drinking and driving, etc. Maybe we'll hire a driver and rent a car for the time we are there? It's all of ours first vacation there so we don't really want to crash driving drunk end up in Dominican prison...


Puerto Plata, the owner of the villa said, has many nightclubs, discos, etc. From what I have been reading though it looks like Sousa is a crazier partying atmosphere. Maybe more locals there...?

It does look like we can do all sorts of **** in/around Puerto Plata other than partying though: swim with dolphins, rent jet-skis, hunt small game, horseback riding - are all these services relatively high priced?

Any general advice is appreciated!!

bigbird said:

You want to party with local chicas? Do you and your friends speak Spanish, dance merengue and bachata?

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My friend is fluent, yes. However, our merengue and bachata skills are lacking haha. I mean I just want to be able to socialize with people - I'm not saying I need to go out and do a dance routine with someone...:laugh:

bigbird said:

Your friend being able to speak Spanish will help a lot. Sorry to say but for the most part the "regular" Dominican chicas won't want to be bothered with you or your friends. You and your friends will be on a week vacation and probably will never be seen again. So why would a Dominicana want to waste time with you?

Now there are plenty of other chicas you can party with but you have to rent them by the hour, if you know what I mean.

As far as transportation your best bet would be to see if the owner of the villa can give you info for a driver with a car. Whatever you do don't rent a car. There is public transportaion available all hours but with a group your personal driver will work much better.

Did you look into staying in Cabarete instead?

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Thank you for your advice.

As far as the driver is concerned, that sounds like a great idea. I will def. be looking into that further to see if we can make that happen instead of hailing taxis everytime we want to go somewhere.

I didn't look at Cabarete in too much depth - but, are you suggesting it is a better place for us to visit/stay? If so, why?

divingmarky said:

Hi,
In my humble opinion I would move to the other side of POP and stay in Sosua or Caberete. Here you can stay in the towns at night and use public transport to get from one to another. Cofresi is a little isolated and you will end up doing a lot of travelling for the night life.

With only one of you speaking fluent Spanish, his life will be very hard in POP communicating for you all. It would be better for him and the rest of you to stay in one of the towns mentioned above at least you will find English spoken in many of the bars and some of the girls you might be looking for will have some broken English.

Being in Sosua or Caberete means no need to bother with drivers and cars and everyone will be able to communicate with someone every night.

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Thanks for your advice. I understand what you are saying - the only issue is that we would like to have a nice villa to stay at instead of all staying in different hotel rooms or a big apartment in the city. It is a vacation, so having a pool, chef, maid, etc would make our lives THAT much easier/better.

A few of the members from the forum did private message me and say that Puerto Plata is not bad as far as nightlife is concerned. And one forum member was nice enough to provide me a driver's # who has a van and they are very familiar with. If it comes down to it and we have to travel to sousa/cabarete a few nights to enjoy some nightlife - we will. No big deal.

It's only, what, 20-35 mins away for Sousa/Caberete?

bigbird said:

but.............you can rent a villa much closer to Sosua and Cabarete and avoid the "only, what, 20-35 mins away"

ocean view villas | villas for sale | rental villas | Dominican Republic | Hispaniola Residencial

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Hahaha, this is true. But, it looks like those villas don't include staff/luxuries we want on our vacation. We don't mind the travel- if we have to take a 30 minute cab right a couple of the nights we are there - no big deal. Don't think it's worth trading the amenities/location/view we are getting with our villa just to be walking distance to a few bars we can pay a taxi to take us to and from.

divingmarky said:

Hi,
I agree with the above, there are some stunning villas closer to Sosua and Caberete. If your looking for something that special research Sea Horse Ranch Everyone will need to speak Spanish in POP at night to make the most of it and stay safe. I am sure you will have a great time where ever you stay but I would wager you will be spending a lot of time on the highway from Corfresi to POP and Sosua and Caberete.

Just make sure some local guide doesn't guide you straight to El Boehems or crystals they will fleece you.

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I will look into finding something really nice around Caberete/Sosua just in case. I think we will be alright travelling as a group of 4 fairly strong guys who know how to handle themselves. We've all been to a lot of third world places (South America, China, Indonesia, India, etc) so we know what the environment is like.

Hahahaaha and I have heard of El Boehems and Crystals already - expensive whorehouses basically.

bigbird said:

Can you post a link to the luxurious villas? Is your group a bunch of guys?

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Yea, sorry don't know why I haven't already - didn't think of it.

Playa Cofresi vacation villa rental - EAGLE VILLA Stunning Oceanview Private Villa Near Beaches, Unique 5 star luxury

I mean it's not overly luxurious. But, it's really nice, nice views and has chef/maid/security/maintenance guy (who will help us arrange things we want to do) included.

And yes, it's 4 of us guys total. Been friends since middle school - ha. It is our first trip to the DR. We try to take a vacation to a new destination every summer. A couple of people from the message boards who live where we are going have befriended me via private message / facebook and I will probably meet up with them once we get down there so they can hopefully show us around with more ease...get the whole local experience so-to-speak..

bigbird said:

Very nice villa, looks like the perfect place for R&R.

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Thanks

...My ultimate goal would be to throw a pool party/bbq and have a bunch of locals (majority women, if possible) over. Would be a great story to tell for years to come...

thomasj said:

You are setting yourself up for trouble. Dominicans for 500 years have lived on the "back" of foreigners first as pirates and now descending on unsuspecting tourists.
You think you are street smart, Think again. 90% of the population live by their wits for their daily food. Men and women alike. They are all very friendly and very charming, but they will rob you, even kill you if necessary. Do not bring anyone back to your place without securing every last item of value, not only money, but nice clothes shoes etc. because these things will be gone in the blink of an eye. I have been a tourist here for 15 years, before I came to live full time 13 years ago.
I have grown eyes in the back of my head and still I get taken occasionlly.
Nothing is as it seems here. My son goes to a private English school. Government officials whose children are going to the same school have their kids taken and picked up by the police. These are Dominicans. Do you think they would do that if it was safe here.
Be careful

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bigbird said:

you are just toooooo funny with those rose colored glasses on..........

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I understand what you are saying. Impoverished people will do what they have to do for anything. I understand this full well. I've walked around the ****tiest slums in India, China, etc. I don't trust ANYONE but the three guys coming with me. Ever. No matter where we are, even Philadelphia or New York City (where I've lived).

That being said, we have two large safes in the villa along with a private security guard who is there from 6 pm to 6 am when the chef and maintenance guy come. If we do bring people back to the villa it will most likely be only 2-3 girls who I will watch over non stop, believe me. Nothing of any value will be left out besides the clothes I'm wearing and maybe a change of clothes. Everything even close to important will be locked in the safes.

Thank you, though, your concerns/suggestions are not going to go in one ear out the other for me.

Thomasj, where abouts do you live in the DR?