dominican republic in aug any ideas

angeleyes

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -IN AUG -ANY IDEAS hi
we have booked to go to the dominican republic in august, we are staying in gran ventana in playa dorada-has any one got any good tips and ideas to go for day trips etc -what is your experience of there
we are looking to swim with the dolphins and monster truck we have heard they are good has any one been on these and roughly how much did they cost
ta :beer:

JayS_3

Just a quickie, I read somewhere this week, you need malarial cover if visiting the Dominican Republic. Check it out with your practice nurse/GP.

Hope you have a great holiday
JayS

pattycake

I am a huge fan of the Dom Rep. 10th trip upcoming in June.
You will find masses of information on trips, prices, etc on https://www.debbiesdominicantravel.com

There is also quite a bit of information regarding malaria and other health implications.

I have not personally stayed at the Gran Ventana but have been to Playa Dorada a number of times. Enjoy

pandas66

We went there Oct 2000 andit was fab. We stayed nearPlaya Dorado. The Monster Truck is a very good excursion, can't remeber cost. One tip is to make friends with your bar man as they often know how to get these trips cheaper than the resort reps. cts out the Holiday Rep commision. We went into the local town at night although we were advised not to. We had no problems. One trip I found excellent was to Bacardi Island, you can float in the sea its so salty!! Make sure you have air con in your room gets really hot.

Amie_007

We stayed at the Gran Ventana in May 2003 for 2 weeks and thought it was great.

Nice clean hotel, friendly staff and good food with plenty of choice each night. The day time menu in the beach restaurant usually served the same each day, but we didn't want lunch every day, so it wasn't to much of a problem.

The night entertainment provided by the hotel wasn't great though and was usually finished by half ten, although the pool bar stayed open till midnight ish. Plenty of entertainment during the day though, and the staff work hard to keep you entertained.

There is a shopping centre approx 3 minutes walk away which has a couple of bars and the nightclub there is called "The Crazy Moon", which is where all the tourists and locals go, if you fancy a dance!

We didn't go on any excursions, as we couldn't be bothered to move from our sun beds

Have a fab time, we did x

sleepy

We went last summer and had a great time.
We swam with dolphins at ocean world, which I presume is the place you mean.
Their website is https://www.ocean-world.info
Whilst we were there we decided to do the sea lion encounter (quite pricey for what it is, but fun) and the shark+ray encounter (which I would highly recommend). It was reasonably expensive for the whole lot, but at least there was only two of us. We decided that it was probably the only time in the near future we'd get to do anything like that (we're now saving up for a house and wedding!), so we should take the opportunitys whilst we had them. Remember, it is at least half the price as the same stuff in America (my dad and brother did the dolphin encounter in seaworld discovery cove last summer too).

The trip I would recommend most of all is "Dominican Discovery" it is similar to the monster trucks, but so so much better. It was one of the highlights of our holiday.

Hope some of this helps. Hopefully you'll have an amazing holiday

angeleyes

DOES ANYBODY KNOW IF IT'S BETTER TO TAKE US DOLLARS WITH THE EXCHANGE RATE BEING BETTER
WILL IT BE BETTER TO TAKE DOLLAR TRAVELLERS CHQS
THANKS

bridiej

Depends, 1st time I went a few years ago everyone took dollars, but when we went two years ago they wanted pesos!!

sleepy

I took both dollars and pesos.
This meant I had pesos ready to spend as soon as I got there and I didn't have to worry about changing money there or the exchange rate shops used to give the dollar price. I spent most of the dollars on the excursions and on buying the hugely expensive photos at oceon world.

pattycake

Trust me, I know. As a seasoned travelled to the DR, the Yankee dollar is king. We do not even bother to change into pesos anymore.
We just take dollars cash. Make sure you get plenty of one dollar bills to use for tipping.
We have done all the tours in the past so usually repeat our favourite. On the north coast (i.e. round Puerto Plata) it is the catamaran. A superb day out as long as you are good sailor.

JULIE

We went dominican in may last year to get married....we went on the outback safari..... bloody great day out... it included floating down the rapids... boogie boarding, visiting the locals' homes, a reptile place.... we had a great guide and our driver called scooby who would ply us with his scooby snacks... i'm not sure how much it cost as parents paid for us... but we took our two children on it and a brill time was had by all....
we also went on a taxi tour which was dead cheap they took us to the rum distillery, an amber jewellry place and also to go up in the cable car which you can see if you walk round the bay of the beach to the right... there will be warnings not to venture past a certain point as its said the locals can be quite annoying for money etc but we want right to the end and had no problems whatsoever in fact we were invited to join in their beach games..although we declined..