Hi, I’m Sara and in this article I’ll be sharing my travel experiences in Punta Cana – a paradisiacal place I was lucky enough to stay in for a month. But before I do so, let me introduce myself. I’m a 24 year old blogger and content creator from a small town in New Jersey. I was born and raised in the US, and never had many opportunities to travel abroad. I hadn’t thought much about it because my friends and family did not do much traveling, and social media at the time was just picking up.
As it advanced and got more popular, traveling quickly became my dream as I watched countless Youtubers and Instagrammers go abroad and experience many different countries and cultures I didn’t even know existed. So, after graduating from college, I knew right away I did not want to settle down or get a job in my home country. There’s a whole world to explore and I’m just getting started on this whole ‘life’ thing. I knew I needed to see it and I realized I had been restless for a long time.
My boyfriend and I made plans to do a bit of traveling, and we spent around a year after graduating to prepare. We sold our cars, put all of our belongings into a storage unit, waited out our apartment lease and filled a suitcase with whatever was left of our material lives. We flew to Europe and our journey began.
We didn’t plan on being gone for so long but our love for the new cultures we’ve been lucky enough to immerse ourselves in, as well as our newfound cravings for adventure, have had us in another country every 1-3 months for the past two years. We now consider ourselves full time travelers. Once you start, it’s almost impossible to stop! We have been to 16 countries in 4 continents with plans to visit many more.
I wanted to share my experiences, give advice and help others have smooth journeys of their own. I would always look up information on a specific city or town before we visited and found that what was on the Internet was never exactly what I was looking for. So, I decided to provide a solution myself and create my blog, BlondeVelvet Travel (www.blondevelvet-travel.com), answering questions I knew I would ask.
My goal was to give as much detail as possible in order to help others and motivate them to travel through the comfortability of my shared knowledge. My love for photography was then able to flourish as I could share my pictures on both my blog and Instagram (@blondevelvet_travel) which fueled my journey to becoming a content creator.
What Inspired Me to Visit Punta Cana
We had just begun to explore some Caribbean islands when we decided to visit the Dominican Republic. All of our destination choices typically result from us googling ‘top places to go in __’. In this case, it was the top places to go in the Caribbean. It’s all very unserious, starting with nothing other than childlike excitement on adult money – what a combination!
With our choices narrowing down, another very important aspect for us is that it’s a relatively cheap destination as we tend to lean more towards budget traveling. That means monthly accommodation, groceries, and medicine all need to be affordable while simultaneously not sacrificing the beauty of the destination. Therefore, we had to do some extra research to find something that would meet all of our needs.
This research led us to find that the Dominican Republic is a relatively affordable and beautiful country in comparison to other islands, so we just needed to narrow down which area to stay in. We asked around to friends we’ve met abroad who have visited the island, told them we wanted a town with good nightlife and beautiful beaches (the typical bright blue waters you see online) mixed with a little bit of jungle. All roads, ultimately, lead to Punta Cana being our final destination choice.
How We Spent Our Days in Punta Cana
We spent one month in Punta Cana which was the perfect amount of time to tick everything off our bucket list. Punta Cana is on what’s known as the ‘Coconut Coast’ and is the most visited destination in the Dominican Republic. It is a beautiful, relaxing seafront oasis with activities for any type of person – whether you’re active or sedentary, young or old, a couple or a family, there is plenty to do.
Our days were spent depending on how we felt that day – we would wake up and ask ourselves if we wanted to ‘vacation’ or ‘travel’. To us, the difference is that vacations are spent resting and lounging on the sand, eating delicious Dominican food, pelican-watching or hanging out by the pool in various beach clubs. Some of our favorites include ‘The View’ and ‘Flamingo Bar’ as well as one swim-up bar which I’m pretty sure was in a resort and I’m not too sure we were actually allowed to be there, all in Bavaro Beach.
If you get a drink (it does not have to be alcoholic) or a snack, you can sit on the beach beds or under a cabana that these day clubs have for the whole day! Travel days were spent doing water sports, snorkeling in the warm aquamarine waters and generally exploring Punta Cana.
Our Accommodation: One Suite & Beach
We stayed in an apartment rental called One Suite & Beach about a 20 minute walk inland from the beach. I believe there’s misconceptions that it is very unsafe off the resort areas in Punta Cana. I read online in a few places that people were recommending staying within the resort properties due to safety reasons.
While you should always practice basic safety precautions while traveling in foreign countries, in order to truly immerse yourself in the culture of the country you’re visiting, and to get the best food, it’s important not to confine yourself to one small area. There were some great restaurants and local bars nearby our rental that we would have never discovered if we stayed near the resorts, and being a bit off the beaten path always feels more authentic.
The Breathtaking Beaches of Punta Cana
The beaches in Punta Cana are breathtaking. The photos you see online hardly do it justice – the waters are clearer, and the sands are whiter and softer than what you could imagine. The most popular beach and one of my favorites in Punta Cana is Bavaro Beach. Most of it is backed by beach clubs, all inclusive resorts and tall palm trees.
The palms in front of the resort are unlike anything I had ever seen – they are extremely tall and skinny whereas the palm trees I am used to seeing are shorter and thicker. So, it was very interesting and a beautiful thing to see.
The northwest part of the beach is wider with more spaced out restaurants, hotels and beach clubs, while the southeast side is narrower and almost entirely backed by lavish seafront resorts. Bavaro beach is also very long. You could walk for miles down the uninterrupted sand, passing resort after resort until you get to my favorite spot in Punta Cana.
Despite how beautiful it is in front of the resorts, my favorite area of this beach is southeast of them all and is a bit of a hidden gem. It was away from the crowds and there were never many people around. It’s the part of the beach that comes with a giant sign, ‘you are leaving the resort area’.
Walk past the Piscina Natural – a natural pool where the party boats anchor, and enjoy the narrow strips of sand backed by quiet jungle. Nothing but coconut palms, seashells, the occasional horseback riding tour passing through and really good vibes. We did quite a bit of snorkeling in the reefs in this area.
Best Activities To Do in Punta Cana
Apart from beach and water activities, one of the top things to do in Punta Cana is to engage in the nightlife of this iconic party destination! Our nights were spent exploring the vibrant evenings that Punta Cana is known for. From dancing in front of DJs on the sand to going to nightclubs inside caves and seeing some of the most amazing live shows we had ever seen, the nightlife on offer did not disappoint!
I highly recommend visiting Soles Beach Club/Chill Out Bar, Imagine Cave Nightclub and Coco Bongo. Coco Bongo is a famous nightclub that also has a location in Cancun – I have never seen such a cool show before!
There was dancing, aerial acrobats, and acting from different shows, movies and bands such as Spiderman, Gladiator and The Mask. If you visit I highly recommend the VIP seating on the top floor – it’s not much more expensive than regular entry, you don’t have to wait in line to get in and it has the best view of the whole show plus an open bar. When you want to dance and party you can walk to the bottom floor and join the action!
Another top thing to do is to visit restaurants where you can try traditional Dominican dishes! Dominican cuisine is not something to pass up on. The rich flavors are heavily influenced by African, Spanish and Taino cultures. Some mouth-watering traditional dishes that you must try in Punta Cana are ‘La Bandera’, ‘Sancocho’, ‘Mangú’, and ‘Mofongo’, to name a few. Some restaurants I really enjoyed trying some of these dishes at include Locos X El Cerdo (the best mofongo), Delicias de Bavaro and La Casita de Yeya.
Some restaurant recommendations I have that are also delicious but do not offer Dominican food are ‘Pizza Bavaro’ which has possibly the best pizza and Italian food on the island (they also deliver throughout Bavaro for free), Sky Bar Tamashi which is a rooftop bar and restaurant that has a pool with gorgeous beach and sunset views, Terra Negra PC for some great Mexican and Inca Cocina Peruana located in a large open-air plaza for Peruvian!
Reaching Punta Cana & Getting Around
It’s very easy to get to Punta Cana as it has its own international airport and only takes around a 25 minute drive to get to Bavaro Beach from there. There are plenty of rental car companies at the airport and a lot of taxi services. Uber is readily available both at the airport as well as throughout Punta Cana at pretty much all hours of the day. From early morning beach days to late night pick-ups from the clubs, I’ve never had a problem getting an Uber.
Another fun method of transportation around Punta Cana was with TukTuks! TukTuks are three-wheeled motorized bikes with covered seats in the back. They’re one of Thailand’s most iconic forms of transportation and I hadn’t seen them in any other country I’ve visited, so I was pleasantly surprised! They’re super fun and very cheap to catch short distance rides near the coastline of Punta Cana.
Need to Know Before You Go
Something everyone should know before you go to Punta Cana is that a lot of smaller local shops, restaurants, bars and methods of transportation (such as the TukTuks) will only take cash. The official currency of the island is the Dominican Peso and you can withdraw this currency from ATMs on the island.
However, most of these ATMs are located near the resorts. You’ll find much less of them inland. You don’t have to keep large amounts of cash on you, but it’s highly recommended to have at least enough to pay for a meal or two depending on what your plan is.
The local language is Spanish, and while the tourist areas of Punta Cana will speak English, it can’t hurt to learn a few words or phrases before visiting. The locals really appreciate the effort and it can help you to make local friends or get some good recommendations for restaurants or bars off the resorts.
Another tip is that you can spend as much money as you want or don’t want while in Punta Cana. It is very possible to make it a budget-friendly or a luxurious trip – it’s entirely up to you. There’s delicious and cheap restaurants, or very expensive and fancy beachfront restaurants, and always something in between.
As for activities, you can do one or two cheap ones here and there such as party boats and parasailing, or you can take a private sunset catamaran cruise and spend some days in spas getting the full package. As I’ve said a few times so far, there is truly something for everyone.
My Favorite Memory From the Trip
Punta Cana was definitely one of my favorite island destinations so far and I made lots of great memories during the month I was there. One of my favorite memories was when we were snorkeling in my favorite quiet spot in Bavaro, the one past the resort areas, when my boyfriend decided he wanted to climb a palm tree to get us a coconut. There was no plan here, and it definitely wasn’t the right kind of tree that he could make it all the way up. Plus, we didn’t have anything to cut it with if he did manage to get it down!
As we were laughing while he tried to climb it, a local was passing by and coincidentally had a bunch of coconuts and a machete. We asked, and he said he was going to sell them on the beaches. When we told him what we were doing, he laughed with us and offered us one of his. He cut it open and I was able to have the fresh drink I was craving without the possibility of my boyfriend falling from the top of a coconut tree!
It was so funny and definitely one of my favorite special memories. It isn’t a crazy excursion or luxurious spa treatment, but something little that made me love being human. I hope this article helps with your visit to Punta Cana! Follow me on Instagram (@blondevelvet_travel) or subscribe to my blog (www.blondevelvet-travel.com) for more travel photos and guides!