Puerto Plata to Samana Pennisula

HerbigPovec said:

Hello All:

My wife and I are flying into POP next month and are splitting our time between Cabarete the Samana Peninsula.

We thought we would rent a car for the week so to have have some freedom to get to surf beaches or get into town for food. We are in our late 20's, adventurous and have driven overseas quite a bit. We don't know Spanish.

Should we rent a car?
From what company?
Do we need all-wheel drive on the peninsula?
What other options do we have to get from POP to Las Terrenas?
How much does a bus cost? Taxi? Private driver?
Are there car rentals in Las Terrenas or Las Galeras?
What transportation options does one have getting from Cabarete to the morning surf @ El Encuentro?
What do we risk by renting a car?

Any info or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for your insights!

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• Sosua/Cabarete-Las Terrenas is a little less than 200km (less than 120mls). If you do it yourself and at a touristy pace, stopping here and there and enjoying the often changing scenery along the way, you may calculate 3 to 4 hours... if you want to risk your life and rush along with the Locals, you may make it in 2 hours... or never .
• It's a fairly safe road (for Dominican standards) in the sense that you wont have to pass thru complicated cities nor face a lot of wild traffic and, after having studied a map, you are unlikely to get lost (as long as you go left at the main intersection in Nagua). Yet, I don't know what you mean by driving "overseas", then if you are comparing this here to driving in the US, you may face a little more of adventure than what you counted on.
• You do not really need a 4x4 unless you want to go off road, which I don't recommend. But you would be safer renting a SUV type vehicle for added safety and road authority purposes... here, larger vehicles have priority of smaller ones, unlike Europe nowadays.
• This forum's search function may help you find a wide variety of answers about whom from you may want to rent a vehicle from and what deals to walk away from. There are recent threads about this very subject. You will also find fairly recent directions for your trip.
• There is some bus transportation along the North Coast, some long distance, some local hoppers. Hotels and other excursion operators in and around Cabarete may also offer you trips to Samana and Las Terrenas.

... J-D.

If you are bringing your own boards and want the flexibility of stopping at various surf spots, rent an suv. I would rent an suv anyway for a couple of reasons. It will give you access to a lot more places where you can't get in or out in 2wdrive, it helps negate the potholes along the north coast highway, and it gets you up a little bit for visability while driving. There are the usual car rental companies at POP airport which you can reserve your car or suv in advance. Trying to go by bus with boards is pretty tough, and will wind up costing you money in taxis to your spots. This applies even if you are renting boards in Cabarete and then travelling up the coast. If you aren't surfing and won't have boards, but just a tavel bag, public transport here is cheap, interesting and plentiful. But without any spanish skills, getting on the right bus or van(normally van with 20 people in it) might be a little difficult.

There?s a guagua between Puerto Plata and Las Terrenas, the price should be 300 - 400Pesos. To go to Las Galeras you have to change the guagua at Sanchez.

Should we rent a car?

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You?ll have much more comfort by renting a car. For Samana a jeep would be the best. The mainroads are plenty of potholes, and you need a quad or a jeep to reach the best beaches.

At LT or LG there are some local car and quad rental companies.

If you don?t have your surfing equipment with you and if you like little adventures: Take the guagua to LG or LT. There rent a quad to see the beautiful spots around, it?s cheaper as a jeep and you?ll have much more fun. To explore the rest of the peninsula you could rent a jeep.

But it?s also risky to be your own driver, especially if you don?t speak Spanish. Police controls to better their poor salaries, faked accidents, drunken Dominican hell drivers... When you can avoid it, don?t drive at nighttime and don?t drive through Las Terrenas during rushhour - that?s a perfect chaos.

saludos and sorry for my bad English

The roads betwen Puerto Plata the El Catey airport are probably the best they have been in a long time. Some bad spots around the new airport and if you head in to Las Terrenas, the road over the mountain is a nightmare (however it is a slow road due to the condition of the tarmac). Rent a car and have fun, just don't drive in the night time. If you rent a 4x4, drive to Playa Rincon (then again, I have seen lowered Toyota Corrola's behind me, doing well..). Simply stunning beach.

Forgot to add, in Samana, don't stand by the car with the doors unlocked looking at views in very isolated area (very easy to do, as this area is naturally stunning). You will turn your back and suddenly notice that your rental car is gone with all your possessions.

leehall said:

Forgot to add, in Samana, don't stand by the car with the doors unlocked looking at views in very isolated area (very easy to do, as this area is naturally stunning). You will turn your back and suddenly notice that your rental car is gone with all your possessions.

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Also heard stories about that. Best thing to do is to wear your values close to your body. In April at Santa Barbara market I suddenly was surrounded closely by children, aged 7 years maximum. A girl successfully picked something out off my jeans, it was only a foulded map, she thought it to be some Dollars.
When you stop in isolated areas you may also be surrounded by lots of children, sometimes they?re sooo nice. If you like to give them a present (perfect are schoolthings as pens, paper...or cosmetics as saop, shampoo, bodylotion...), make your present in the moment you?re leaving and then leave - their number will increase rapidly.

When you use a concho, taxi or guagua on Samana - ask for the regular price in your hotel before. Otherwise you?ll pay "gringo"-prices, maybe 30$ instead of 10$.

Saludos

My boyfriend and I reacently took the gua gua from Samana to POP for only 200 pesos. It was a long trip and the chicken in the plastic bag behind us kept clucking, but we go there just fine. That same gua gua returns to POP in the late afternoon. The stop is at the central park, you'll have to inquire there about the exact time.