1. Maps.
A selection of good maps of the area is available from:
Punta Cana Map | punta cana tv
2. Public transport - this question comes up with increasing frequency.
B?varo/Punta Cana to/from Santo Domingo
Metro Bus and Caribe Tours do not service the east. Although they have local offices, they only offer private bus hire and Metro has its courier service with pick-up points in Punta Cana Village (Mail Boxes Etc) and at their offices near the Coco Loco crossing.
Direct service:
Expreso B?varo
From Punta Cana Bavaro to Santo Domingo
From Bavaro, one can take the Expreso Bavaro Bus directly to Santo Domingo. Travellers can board and/or purchase a ticket for Expreso Bavaro from the Bavaro Bus Station just a block south of the Friusa Intersection on the Avenida Estados Unidos 809.552.1678. You may also board at the Veron stop along the Carretera Luperon-Punta Cana 809.455.1473. Departure times from the Bavaro Bus Station are: 7am, 10 am, 2pm, and 4pm. Tickets cost RD$375 for both adults and children. Note that the Expreso Bavaro Buses leave from the bus station in Friusa and pass by the Veron stop on the way to Santo Domingo, so pick-up times are approximately a half an hour after the original departure time.
The buses are large and well maintained with air conditioning that can be self controlled from your seat. The driver will also put on one to two movies during the trip. Unfortunately, there is no bathroom on the bus so be prepared. Your next and only opportunity to purchase refreshments and/or use the restroom is about two hours into the trip at a highway rest stop called La Lechonera. The rest stop is basically a buffet style stop-off where you can purchase a wide array of chow such as chicken, fish, pork, rice, snacks, sweets and drinks. The restrooms are acceptable at the very least.
Upon entering Santo Domingo, the driver is flexible with letting passengers off. The normal stops are in front of the Dario Contreras Hospital on Santo Domingo’s east side, the corner of Calle Josefa Brea & 27 de Febrero and the last stop on Juan Sanchez Ramirez, off of Maximo Gomez. Simply ask the driver if you have a particular stop in between the ones previously mentioned and he will find the solution.
Getting to Bavaro from Santo Domingo
The bus is picked up just off the Avenida Maximo Gomez on Juan Sanchez Ramirez #31 809.682.9670 just about a half a block from the Supermercado Nacional. Departure times are the same as in Bavaro 7am, 10am, 2pm and 4pm.
Before leaving the city, the bus will make one more stop at El Parque Enriquillo on Avenida Duarte. Tickets can also be purchased at this location. If you forgot to buy a snack or drink for the ride, the Parque Enriquillo stop is your last chance. Outside the bus there’s plenty of vendors knocking on the window selling refreshments and you’ll have a few minutes purchasing time if need be.
Just like the bus ride from Bavaro to Santo Domingo, you will have one opportunity to use the bathroom and buy food or drink at the La Lechonera rest stop, about two hours into the trip.
The Bavaro stops begin at Veron, which is basically the entrance to the area of Bavaro. You will need to get off here if you are going to a hotel or resort in Cabeza de Toro as well as resorts to the south towards Juanillo, such as Club Med and the Punta Cana Beach Resort. The last local buses for both of these routes pass through Veron at 6:30 pm, so if you arrive later, the driver will drop you off at the taxi station just down the highway from the normal stop.
Once the Expreso Bavaro bus reaches Bavaro, it is no longer an express bus. From the bus’s first stop at Veron, to its last stop at Friusa, the driver will let passengers off wherever they please.
The last stop is called Friusa, located at the main bus terminal on the Avenida Estados Unidos about another half hour from Veron. Here you will encounter numerous local buses that sweep past nearly every hotel and resort in the Cortecito and Arena Gorda area. These local buses run much later, till 10:30pm, since most resorts are located in this sector and more hotel employees need to be shuttled around.
There are also 8am and 3pm departures that go all the way to Punta Cana Airport. If you take any of the other Expreso B?varo buses, get off at Cruce de Ver?n and stand at the roadside next to the Shell Station – Sitrabapu guaguas (minibuses) pass every 15 minutes or so and continue to the airport.
There is a more frequent but indirect service via Higuey. From B?varo/Punta Cana take a guagua to Higuey and ask for the stop where the buses depart for the Capital (Sichoprola)
3. Non AI hotels
Hotel Naragua - 20 minutes from airport in Cabeza de Toro
Welcome to the Frontpage
budget hotel, basic but clean, rooms around 40$US per night
809 468 3060
Hotel Flamboyan - 30 mins from airport
Bavaro Punta Cana Hotel - Flamboyan
809 552 0372
Hotel Cayacoa - near hotel flamboyan
809 552 0622 / 809 552 0624
The Bowman Hotel - 30 mins from airport
Plaza Brisas on Ave Espana
The Bowman Hotel - Home
809 552 0102
email:
ebowman@bowmanhotel.com
El Castillo Real - 20 mins from airport, budget hotel (rooms from 700rd)
apartahotel castillo real
Las Piedras Guesthouse - 25 minutes from airport, near Fruisa bus station
doesn't have own website, this link gives description + map
Guesthouse Las Piedras, Punta Cana, Rep?blica Dominicana
email:
guesthouselaspiedras@gmail.com /
hotelpuntacana@gmail.com
809 889 2873
Cortecito Inn - 35 mins from airport
across the road from the beach in Cortecito
budget hotel
email:
info@cortecitoinnhotel.com
809 552 0639
Hotel Natural Village - 30 minutes from airport in Bavaro (see map on their website)
very nice little hotel, clean, modern but simple, pool, Italian run restaurant on site.
Natural Village Club - Hotel Bavaro Punta Cana
double rooms around 80$US per night
Email:
reserva@naturalvillagehotel.com
tel: 809 552 1164
Golf Suites Hotel - 30 mins from airport in Bavaro
http://www.thegolfsuites.com/
not 100% sure if they rent for one night only.
Phone: +1 809 552 8888
E-mail:
info@thegolfsuites.com
more upmarket:
Golden Bear Lodge Cap Cana - 15 minutes from airport
Golden Bear Lodge & Spa
Phone: 1-809-469-7425
E-mail:
sales@goldenbearlodge.com.do
Puntacana Resort & Club - 10 minutes from airport
Luxury Hotel Rooms and Suites in Punta Cana
around 124$US per night, incl. taxes
809 959 2262
4. Health care facilities - these are the three main private clinics in the B?varo-Punta Cana area:
Hospiten
Hospiten
Centro M?dico Punta Cana
Rescue Punta Cana Home
Centro M?dico B?varo
Centro M?dico Caribe B?varo
5. Schools - these are the main private schools.
PCIS – bilingual
PUNTACANA International School
Heritage – bilingual -
Heritage School At Cap Cana
Calasanz – Spanish -
Colegio Calasanz B?varo
Jardin Verde
www.jardinverde.net
Dominico-Cubano Carrusel
Montessori (due to open 2011-2012 school year)
Colegio Villa Montessori
6. Couriers
For receiving packets and correspondence from overseas:
MBE – Punta Cana Village and Palma Real Shopping Village (Business Centre)
CPS - Amstar Business Center, Suite No. 403, Ctra. Ver?n- Barcel?, B?varo
Phone: 809 455 1620
For courier service inside the DR
Metropac – at MBE PC Village and Coco Loco crossing, also in Friusa (to all cities serviced by Metro Bus)
Expreso B?varo (to Santo Domingo only from their Ver?n and Friusa offices)
