Is it me, or are options on a POP flight limited?

Flights are limited, unless you are in New York or Miami. If you were near a city that had charters I would recommend that, however it does not appear that there are any.

The jetblue flights to Santiago is an option - flights are nice and cheap. And the airport is probably an extra 20/30 minutes to puerto plata than the puerto plata airport if you are arriving on the red eye.

dcwolf said:

Greetings! The missus and I are planning a stay at the Marien Coral with our Hilton Honors points in Feb. While we will certainly save money with the "free" rooms, there doesn't seem to be a lot of flight options into POP. Or am I just missing something?

It's either AA out of Miami or Continental out of Newark. We live in Washington, DC and every flight comes in around $600.

We're thinking about:

1. Taking Amtrak to Newark and flying from there. Airfare from Newark is at about $323, and the Amtrak is $126, still less than the $600.

2. Flying US Air into Santo Domingo and making the 3.5 hour trip up to POP. Has anyone else done this? Is it brutal?

3. The Jet Blue redeye to Santiago. What's the story on this flight? Why would it be redeye when you're only changing maybe one time zone? Is that the only gate time that JetBlue could buy?

I hate to sound cheap, we could certainly just pay the $600 and fly out of National, but it just steams me up to think I'd have to pay more to fly 4 hours to the Caribbean than I would to Europe. Plus, if I can save even $200, that's $200 more to play with. :classic:

Any thoughts or tips on saving money into POP I'd greatly appreciate.

Thanks!

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How about AA into Santiago?

What Jimmy said will probably give you the best price 260/taxes depending on dates JFK to STI

Personally, I would fly from DC to SDQ. You'd save over $200 per ticket. The trip from SDQ to POP isn't that bad.

MCM

Caribe Tours busses takes about 4 hrs, cost around 170 pesos.
Nice tourist busses with a/c.

http://www.caribetours.com.do/

You'll need to take a taxi from SDQ to Caribe or Metro Tours. I'm guessing about $20.00 US to get to the bus station. From there it's a nice bus ride to Puerto Plata or Sosua...with a short stop in Santiago.

MCM

apdomini100max said:

What Jimmy said will probably give you the best price 260/taxes depending on dates JFK to STI

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More and more people are flying into Santiago and sharing cabs to Sosua.

YOu are more limited flying into Puerto Plata. You will save some money going into Santiago or Santo DOmingo on the flights but you will use up some of that savings getting to Puerto Plata.

Carina the bus is now 240 pesos from Santo Domingo, still a great deal for a nice comfortable easy trip. I guess this is fuel surcharges...LOL

However, if you are only coming for 7 days then you will lose up to 6 hours travelling to Puerto Plata from the airport in Santo Domingo, then another 6 hours getting back again! What is this worth to you out of your vacation time?

IF you fly into Santiago, then it is a much shorter trip to Puerto Plata, plan on less then two hours from airport to bus to Puerto Plata if you go by bus and make your connections. If you come in late at night the bus is not an option and you will have to take a taxi. Taxi from airport to the Hilton is about 1 1/2 hours, more or less. The bus I believe is only 120 pesos each person, each way and takes you to downtown Puerto Plata, a taxi will take you to the Hilton for about 150 pesos.

When you start adding up the additional costs to get from Santiago or Santo Domingo, and the time involved, it might not be worth the savings.

planner said:

When you start adding up the additional costs to get from Santiago or Santo Domingo, and the time involved, it might not be worth the savings.

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I agree. Unless you want to explore Santiago or Santo Domingo, spend the extra money flying to where you intend to vacation. The time saved, and lack of stress by not having to travel two to five hours to get to the airport, should more than make up for the additional cost.

dcwolf said:

Thanks so much for the valuable insights. I underestimated the time and hassle factor of getting from SDQ to POP in my earlier post, and as someone pointed out, why waste up to six hours each way? So DCA-SDQ is out.

I would consider Santiago, but damn, that redeye just sucks. I am really thinking that the best option is to train to Newark in the evening, stay by the airport on points and take that next morning flight on Contintental into POP.

This is stil going to be a cheap vacation. By the time we pay for airfare, a couple of excursions and such, we'll still come in under $2000, most likely less than $1500, which ain't bad for a week in the Caribbean during the winter. :classic:

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AA has 3 flights a day there and matches Jet Blue in price.

dcwolf said:

Greetings! The missus and I are planning a stay at the Marien Coral with our Hilton Honors points in Feb. While we will certainly save money with the "free" rooms, there doesn't seem to be a lot of flight options into POP. Or am I just missing something?

It's either AA out of Miami or Continental out of Newark. We live in Washington, DC and every flight comes in around $600.

We're thinking about:

1. Taking Amtrak to Newark and flying from there. Airfare from Newark is at about $323, and the Amtrak is $126, still less than the $600.

2. Flying US Air into Santo Domingo and making the 3.5 hour trip up to POP. Has anyone else done this? Is it brutal?

3. The Jet Blue redeye to Santiago. What's the story on this flight? Why would it be redeye when you're only changing maybe one time zone? Is that the only gate time that JetBlue could buy?

I hate to sound cheap, we could certainly just pay the $600 and fly out of National, but it just steams me up to think I'd have to pay more to fly 4 hours to the Caribbean than I would to Europe. Plus, if I can save even $200, that's $200 more to play with. :classic:

Any thoughts or tips on saving money into POP I'd greatly appreciate.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Santo Domingo to POP is 3.5 hrs drive & 4 on bus. When you think of what you are going to spent on car rentals & stops along the way, how tiresome the ride will be and not to mention if you are not use to the roads and don?t' have a cell the vacation can start off on the wrong foot.
I've thought about it a lot of times and I still can't bring myself to do it and I'm from DR.

dcwolf said:

Thanks so much for the valuable insights. I underestimated the time and hassle factor of getting from SDQ to POP in my earlier post, and as someone pointed out, why waste up to six hours each way? So DCA-SDQ is out.

I would consider Santiago, but damn, that redeye just sucks. I am really thinking that the best option is to train to Newark in the evening, stay by the airport on points and take that next morning flight on Contintental into POP.

This is stil going to be a cheap vacation. By the time we pay for airfare, a couple of excursions and such, we'll still come in under $2000, most likely less than $1500, which ain't bad for a week in the Caribbean during the winter. :classic:

Click to expand...

I don't get it, you say this this is going to be a cheap vacation and you still seem intent on swapping vacation time for traveling time to save some money. Why? I could understand you wanting to save money if YOU viewed this an expensive vacation.

Keep in mind that 4 hours by bus is from the Caribe or Metro station in SD, not from the airport. You have to get a cab from there, at least another half hour, and costing 3 or 4 times the bus fare. Also, I believe the last bus from SD to POP leaves at about 6PM, so after that you're out of luck.