Anyone has info about Las Terrenas ?

El Belga

New member
Feb 17, 2004
74
0
0
61
www.betranslated.com
Hi,

I am currently living in Santiago and thinking about moving to Las Terrenas. I was told they had 24/7 power. As it is furthermore one of the nicest place of DR and there are a lot of French speaking people (I am a native French speaker), I think living there could be nice.

I still have to go and check everything by myself but I would like to know if what I've been told is true :
*They have light 24/7 (a private company is providing power to Las Terrenas)
* There is a French school
* They have DSL connexion (which I believe exists in the whole country, I mean in the cities)
* They have French channels on cable TV
* They have a lot of fine French restaurants

Could someone provide me with info about an honnest real estate company (there are a lot of agencies in Las Terrenas, but don't know them) as, if we move, we will need to rent a nice 3 or 4 bedrooms house at a decent price (not 1500 USD a week, as I saw on some websites, this is a "tourist price").

Now, I know Las Terrenas is much smaller than Santiago, but as I spend most of my time working, I mostly need a nice place on the coast where I could go on the beach or having a nice time with my family (my wife and my 2 kids, 11 and almost 2 years) when we have time, as we find Santiago boring (I know there are a lot of bars and restaurants, although all serve the same food, it seems the gastronomy here is limited to "filete de res importado". If some of you know about French cuisine, they know what I am talking about...). And of course there are nice "private clubs", such as "El Centro Espa?ol", but do you think it is worth paying 100 000 RD$ to mix with all these high class prepotent people ? I don't really appreciate them, as they are very arrogant and thing they are the last drop of Coke in the desert.

Thanks in advance for your information !
 

gin

New member
Mar 19, 2004
27
0
0
El Belga said:
Hi,

I am currently living in Santiago and thinking about moving to Las Terrenas. I was told they had 24/7 power. As it is furthermore one of the nicest place of DR and there are a lot of French speaking people (I am a native French speaker), I think living there could be nice.

I still have to go and check everything by myself but I would like to know if what I've been told is true :
*They have light 24/7 (a private company is providing power to Las Terrenas)
* There is a French school
* They have DSL connexion (which I believe exists in the whole country, I mean in the cities)
* They have French channels on cable TV
* They have a lot of fine French restaurants

Could someone provide me with info about an honnest real estate company (there are a lot of agencies in Las Terrenas, but don't know them) as, if we move, we will need to rent a nice 3 or 4 bedrooms house at a decent price (not 1500 USD a week, as I saw on some websites, this is a "tourist price").

Now, I know Las Terrenas is much smaller than Santiago, but as I spend most of my time working, I mostly need a nice place on the coast where I could go on the beach or having a nice time with my family (my wife and my 2 kids, 11 and almost 2 years) when we have time, as we find Santiago boring (I know there are a lot of bars and restaurants, although all serve the same food, it seems the gastronomy here is limited to "filete de res importado". If some of you know about French cuisine, they know what I am talking about...). And of course there are nice "private clubs", such as "El Centro Espa?ol", but do you think it is worth paying 100 000 RD$ to mix with all these high class prepotent people ? I don't really appreciate them, as they are very arrogant and thing they are the last drop of Coke in the desert.

Thanks in advance for your information !

Hi El Belga,

I'm also native french speaker, sorry about my limited english, it's an english forum, so i'll try to respond in english.

Light 24/7 : not true, it was true some years ago, but for instance, in last december, there were very long blackouts (10-12h/day). The situation is perhaps better than in the rest of the country but not 24/7 !!

French scholl: this is true and the school has a very good reputation

French channels : TV5

French restaurants : yes, not 3*, but correct

Real Estate : I have a friend who has bought a house two years ago with www.atlantique-sud.com and he seems satisfied. His house will be for rent in a few months and you can see it at http://www.atlantique-sud.com/immobilier/maisons/casa_toa.htm

All the beaches nearby LT are wonderfull and living there could sure be nice.

Good luck

Gin's Dad
 

Bartolomeo67

Newbie
Mar 18, 2004
592
2
18
57
Hola El Belga,

On Las Terrenas:

French cuisine: I can recommend the restaurant of the Atlantis Beach Hotel in Playa Bonita (next to main village of Las Terrenas). The cook, Gerard Prystasz, is supposed to be the cook of former French president Mitterand.

Real Estate: the atlantique-sud.com operation is run by Belgian Olivia from Kortrijk together with a Swiss. Recently they featured in Belgian Knack Magazine.

Good luck,
Bartolomeo
Belga tambien
 

rmary

New member
Oct 4, 2003
228
0
0
I certainly cannot vouch for atlantic-sud, as I have not dealt with them, but their site is one of my favourites to go to and DROOL. One positive thing that I have noticed is that they seem to keep their site updated. Over time, properties have appeared and disappeared so they don't seem to be doing the "bait and switch" routine.

I too can vouch for the Hotel Atlantis' food. We were only there for a couple of days, but I insisted that we have one meal there. Boy, am I glad I did. It is a little on the pricey side, but I felt it was well worth it.

Rose
 

gin

New member
Mar 19, 2004
27
0
0
add info: currently, there are approximately 100 pupils at the French school (from the nursery school to the third) There are some small blackouts, especially in the night

Gin's Dad
 

Juniper

New member
Apr 15, 2004
406
4
0
I am not French nor do I speak French but I have been spending a lot of time in Las Terrenas and can vouch for the French food. And if you want a little variety, Italian food would be an excellent choice.

I have heard many good things about the French school and nothing negative.

The only thing I am not sure about is good medical attention. I took a tour of the local hospital recently, and forget it. I won't even go into that.

People have to fly by helicopter to be taken to a hospital in Santo Domingo, so if you have an emergency that requires immediate attention, I sure as heck do not know what you could do. It's something to think about when you have young children.

Good luck. I love Las Terrenas!
 

gin

New member
Mar 19, 2004
27
0
0
Juniper said:
People have to fly by helicopter to be taken to a hospital in Santo Domingo, so if you have an emergency that requires immediate attention, I sure as heck do not know what you could do. It's something to think about when you have young children.

Good luck. I love Las Terrenas!

Helico Tropical Service is based at El Portillo (3-4 miles from Las Terrenas) and has an emergency evacuation service.

http://216.230.206.197/LT7/ for some info

Gin's Dad