My mom, stepdad and I drove up to Samana last Friday and very much enjoyed our trip, only wish there were a shortcut from Punta Cana to Samana
The highway from Santo Domingo to Samana is still in terrific conditions. Do be careful however as I met up with 2 Amet stops where they had their radars out and were stopping speeders. Speed is supposedly 80km/h but it's very easy to go at 120km/h on many stretches.
Once we reached the end of that stretch, we headed towards the city of Samana. How many darn speed reductors (coconuts as I call them) can you put on a road? wow! I understand the need to have people slow down for school crossings but darn! Let's just say I was avoiding them right and left with my overloaded Picanto. We reached the city of Samana in just over 6 hours and fell in love with the port/malecon area. It's too bad that only that area is so clean and organized. It really felt like a totally different place with 2 big cruise boats on the horizon and all the smaller boats anchored in the bay. Real movie set feel.
We then drove up to Punta Balandra, hoping to stop at the observation point but unfortunately, it looks like it's never occured to anyone to actually set up an area where people can park their cars and enjoy the view so we ended up driving past it, turning around and driving back. If ever you go this way, make sure your car has good breaks and the motor doesn't have a tendency to overheat. Very hilly!
We crossed back thru Samana and took a right exiting the city towards Las Terrenas. Another very hilly road but beautiful and typical of the country (cattle walking on the sides of the roads, women chatting in the shade, etc). The views from up there are breathtaking and definitely worth it!
We had booked our weekend at Residencia del Paseo based on comments on Trip Advisor and their own website and we were a bit disappointed. The construction itself is beautiful with lots of wood and I can't even imagine how much was spent on wood alone. However, it looks like the interiors were made by someone else. The bathroom was quite small, the shower tiny with a shower curtain on a rood that had a chain hooked up to the ceiling to keep it from falling. We had paid extra for a room with a/c and hot water. The a/c was quite loud but cooled the 2 floor room down well but the hot water? Lukewarm at best. On Saturday morning when we woke up we didn't have any water so my mom went down to the reception to see if it was just us and was almost rudely informed by the manager that he already knew about the problem and had called the technician. I ended up sleeping on the second floor in the queen size bed while they slept on 2 twin beds as the stairs were more like a ladder, very steep with narrow stairs and not for someone like my stepdad that suffers from occasional vertigo and loss of balance. The kitchen also didn't make much sense, having to go thru the balcony to get to it, thru a heavy sliding door. There was a counter that divided it from the rest of the room which could have easily been made into a half-counter and been more easily accessible (I ended up crossing over it several times). The humidity smell in the cupboards was also very bad and we didn't put anything in there. The pool and the grounds however were very nice and well kept and the hotel is basically just behind a small plaza that's across the street from the beach. It's too bad that no one offers chairs for rent on the beach anymore. Either you sit on your towel in the sun (no shade) or you go up about 500m to a spot where they do offer chairs and shade under the coconut trees. So overall, I might go back if I were sharing a room with 2 other people for a night and we could split the cost (US$98 per night) but for someone looking for something a bit nicer, I would recommend paying a bit more and finding another place.
For dinner on both night we went to Restaurant La Yuca which is oceanfront with very nice service and terrific food. Their pizza is wonderful and I would definitely go back there to eat.
Recommendation for those going up for a weekend, bring your own food. We had the foresight to bring everything we'd need. Thank god. Supermarkets within the immediate area of the hotel are quite small and prices are actually even more expensive than Punta Cana.
Yesterday we drove back by the new highway and thoroughly enjoyed it. The views are breathtaking and very much worth spending 450 pesos on. I understand how for locals it might be quite expensive but for visitors going to the area, do it. We got back to Punta Cana in just over 5 hours.
The final bummer? The whales hadn't arrived yet But I'll definitely be back to see them!!
Add on: Was forgetting to mention, we ended up going thru 8 (eight!) Policia Nacional/Guardia Nacional checkpoints over the weekend and 2 Amet radar points and thanks to our "turista" looks were able to get thru without being stopped. lol
The highway from Santo Domingo to Samana is still in terrific conditions. Do be careful however as I met up with 2 Amet stops where they had their radars out and were stopping speeders. Speed is supposedly 80km/h but it's very easy to go at 120km/h on many stretches.
Once we reached the end of that stretch, we headed towards the city of Samana. How many darn speed reductors (coconuts as I call them) can you put on a road? wow! I understand the need to have people slow down for school crossings but darn! Let's just say I was avoiding them right and left with my overloaded Picanto. We reached the city of Samana in just over 6 hours and fell in love with the port/malecon area. It's too bad that only that area is so clean and organized. It really felt like a totally different place with 2 big cruise boats on the horizon and all the smaller boats anchored in the bay. Real movie set feel.
We then drove up to Punta Balandra, hoping to stop at the observation point but unfortunately, it looks like it's never occured to anyone to actually set up an area where people can park their cars and enjoy the view so we ended up driving past it, turning around and driving back. If ever you go this way, make sure your car has good breaks and the motor doesn't have a tendency to overheat. Very hilly!
We crossed back thru Samana and took a right exiting the city towards Las Terrenas. Another very hilly road but beautiful and typical of the country (cattle walking on the sides of the roads, women chatting in the shade, etc). The views from up there are breathtaking and definitely worth it!
We had booked our weekend at Residencia del Paseo based on comments on Trip Advisor and their own website and we were a bit disappointed. The construction itself is beautiful with lots of wood and I can't even imagine how much was spent on wood alone. However, it looks like the interiors were made by someone else. The bathroom was quite small, the shower tiny with a shower curtain on a rood that had a chain hooked up to the ceiling to keep it from falling. We had paid extra for a room with a/c and hot water. The a/c was quite loud but cooled the 2 floor room down well but the hot water? Lukewarm at best. On Saturday morning when we woke up we didn't have any water so my mom went down to the reception to see if it was just us and was almost rudely informed by the manager that he already knew about the problem and had called the technician. I ended up sleeping on the second floor in the queen size bed while they slept on 2 twin beds as the stairs were more like a ladder, very steep with narrow stairs and not for someone like my stepdad that suffers from occasional vertigo and loss of balance. The kitchen also didn't make much sense, having to go thru the balcony to get to it, thru a heavy sliding door. There was a counter that divided it from the rest of the room which could have easily been made into a half-counter and been more easily accessible (I ended up crossing over it several times). The humidity smell in the cupboards was also very bad and we didn't put anything in there. The pool and the grounds however were very nice and well kept and the hotel is basically just behind a small plaza that's across the street from the beach. It's too bad that no one offers chairs for rent on the beach anymore. Either you sit on your towel in the sun (no shade) or you go up about 500m to a spot where they do offer chairs and shade under the coconut trees. So overall, I might go back if I were sharing a room with 2 other people for a night and we could split the cost (US$98 per night) but for someone looking for something a bit nicer, I would recommend paying a bit more and finding another place.
For dinner on both night we went to Restaurant La Yuca which is oceanfront with very nice service and terrific food. Their pizza is wonderful and I would definitely go back there to eat.
Recommendation for those going up for a weekend, bring your own food. We had the foresight to bring everything we'd need. Thank god. Supermarkets within the immediate area of the hotel are quite small and prices are actually even more expensive than Punta Cana.
Yesterday we drove back by the new highway and thoroughly enjoyed it. The views are breathtaking and very much worth spending 450 pesos on. I understand how for locals it might be quite expensive but for visitors going to the area, do it. We got back to Punta Cana in just over 5 hours.
The final bummer? The whales hadn't arrived yet But I'll definitely be back to see them!!
Add on: Was forgetting to mention, we ended up going thru 8 (eight!) Policia Nacional/Guardia Nacional checkpoints over the weekend and 2 Amet radar points and thanks to our "turista" looks were able to get thru without being stopped. lol