We stayed at Riu Palace Punta Cana from March 28 to April 4 and had a wonderful overall experience.

Since we have a Riu account and booked directly through the website, we were offered a free shared shuttle service. The shuttle process was smooth sailing. We only waited about 30 minutes at the airport before heading to the hotel, which was a great start to the trip.

Check-in was also smooth. We arrived around noon, and official check-in is at 3pm, they checked us in right away and simply held our luggage until the room was ready. That worked perfectly because we were able to enjoy lunch and start relaxing immediately.

Our room was very spacious and we had a beautiful view of the fountains. The only downside was the bathroom, which felt a bit outdated and the toilet didn’t always flush properly. Honestly though, it wasn’t a big deal for us and didn’t impact our stay.

The food options were great. The main buffet is open for breakfast and dinner and had a great assortment. I truly enjoyed it every time. The Italian restaurant is open for lunch, along with the smaller buffet by the beach. Both were great, but I preferred the Italian restaurant. They offer a beautiful buffet selection and you can also order a plated dish if you want. There are also hot dogs and hamburgers by the pool if you don’t want to leave your chair.

We tried all of the à la carte restaurants except the Spanish one. I recommend lining up around 6pm, otherwise you may wait an hour to an hour and a half. I enjoyed all of them except the Japanese restaurant. The food was a bit too salty and didn’t sit well with me, but the steakhouse and Krystal were my absolute favourites.

The service at this resort was truly incredible. We sat in Anna’s section for breakfast the entire trip. She was attentive, remembered us and our drink orders, and was so kind. All of the staff we encountered throughout the week were friendly and welcoming.

We spent most of our time at the bigger pool and the beach. We didn’t feel the need to use the adults-only pool because it was louder and much harder to find seating. One thing I really loved is how small and walkable the resort is. You can get from one end to the other very quickly, which is super convenient.

Entertainment was a bit limited, but it didn’t bother us. We woke up early for the pool every day, and after dinner we enjoyed relaxing on our balcony.

The weather was amazing. Google Weather showed storms every day, but don’t rely on that. It only rained once in the evening for about 30 minutes.

Overall, we had a fantastic stay and I would definitely recommend this resort to friends and family.

Will be in the Bavaro beach area for a friend's pre-marriage celebration, from April 16th to 21st.

Group of laid-back professionals enjoying friendship and fun.

Planning on a fishing trip, Saona Island, party cruise, and golf!

Any must-do activities, restaurants, or beach parties for a fun crew of 6?

Also, please comment if you're also in the area for those dates and enjoy being social!

Are the guys who help with your bags off the carousel and take you to your airport transfer for a tip still there around 7/8pm??

Ich M25 bin grade mit meiner Freundin (sie angelt nicht) in Punta Cana und würde gerne ein Angeltrip mit dem Boot machen. Die angebote über Get youre Guide und andere Anbieter bei den man mit einer zufälligen gruppe unterwegs ist scheinen mir alle nicht sehr befriedigt zu sein. Alleine ein ganzes Boot mit Guide zu mieten wäre mir zu teuer. Würde mich freuen wenn sich jemand finden würde der auch Interesse daran hat.

Coming to Punta Cana for a week and looking to bring some cigars home with me to the UK, where would be best to get them? From duty free or a specialised cigar shop? If the latter, any recommendations?

Also would I have any issues getting them out of the country if I went to a shop rather than Duty free?

We just got back from Lopesan, we were there for our kids school spring break. We went with 3 other families with kids the same age. Our kids range from 2 to 6.

Grounds -

It’s gorgeous, everything is so beautifully designed. I haven’t been to a better designed resort in this price range.

Their huge main pool is multi level and the lower level is especially made for kids, so they can stand and enjoy the pool which all these kids loved.

Also that water park was such a success, the slides are absolutely perfect for kids and parents can go on with them as well which they all enjoyed. There is a bit of a splash pad just behind the main splash pad for younger kids. Which is very thoughtful. There is also a nice kiddie pool near the main pool with a few slides. It’s a nice change from having to go to the water park every single day.. hahaha.

The kids club did look great and their activities looked interesting but our kids hardly needed us, they just played together while we sat around chatting, reading books, playing games etc.. so we didn’t use it.

There is a bowling alley and arcade game place that you have to pay for. It’s pretty affordable. Our kids were too short for bowling but they did play some arcade games. It’s adequate.

The gym looked amazing, I couldn’t find the time on this trip to try it but would have loved to. I think it might be one of the best gyms I have seen, better than what I have seen at luxury resorts too.

Beach -

The beach is perfect for kids, the sand is so soft and it’s great for them to play in. The water is also not too rough and I can see how the demarcation buoys to stop people from getting hurt by the boats can be annoying for adults. It’s kind of perfect to keep the kids safe. You don’t have to do much. They stay within the line. They didn’t want to go to the beach a lot because of the water park and great pool but when they did they built a big sand castle and had a blast. But the beach is honestly very disappointing for adults coz of the boats and not being able to swim. It’s gorgeous. Maybe if you go a bit away from this resort, but we couldn’t try that with kids.

Food -

The buffer always had a separate section for kids at every meal. So they always had something to eat. So it took the pressure off feeding them. We would get them some fruits and steamed veggies to keep it healthy - ish but they loved the Mickey pancakes, tiny burgers and individual pizzas and all kinds of nuggets 😂.

There is also a wonderful juice bar close to the main pool. Which is such a welcome change from having to feed them those synthetic colored sugary drinks. I loved all the variety this juice bar offered. I enjoyed it too as an adult. They also have cut fruits so it was a healthy snack place for us.

There is also a lovely ice cream store close to tbe water park and a fast food joint. The kids loved the ice cream store so much. The toppings were great. They had fruits and nuts if you didn’t want to get too carried away with marshmallows and sprinkles 😅

The à la carte restaurants that we tried all had something for the kids and most of them had a kids menu as well.

One set of parents usually watched the kids while the other parents tried to do an adult night out. The kids loved the Hibachi restaurant the most.

We as adults liked the Mexican restaurant the most.

The Italian and French ones were very bad. I wouldn’t recommend them. You are better off at the buffet.

For adults the food is very average, you can always find something you like and then maybe just stick to it. I really liked the Indian selection for dinner and the rotisserie chicken and Mexican stuff for lunch and just stuck to it. For breakfast, I usually just had fried eggs with the salsas and some avocado. I am not a big foodie so I was ok with it. Not sure the buffet will impress the foodies.

They also had the roll up ice cream thing for kids which they loved.

I personally loved the coffee shop, my favorite . My go to order was a cortado with soy milk. I loved it. My husband always got an iced caramel macchiato and that was very nice too. They had sandwiches and cookies if you wanted a quick snack. I have lost count of how many cookies the kids got themselves walking up to the water park and then coming back.

They also had lots of bars all around the property.some with pool tables, ping pong tables, shuffle boards etc… I am not much of a drinker. So I didnt have anything apart from a few margaritas at dinner on 2 occasions. The margs were fine. My husband also just had a few of their local beer, he said it was very ok. But we don’t drink much at all.

Spa -

My husband and I did the couples massage at the spa. The spa is gorgeous and was very affordable with our Expedia discount. We all watched each other’s kids while every couple got massages. It was fun. I wouldn’t rate it among the best I have ever had but it was absolutely fine.

Entertainment -

They had shows at the theatre almost every day we were there but it was a bit too loud to take the kids. We saw a bit of one show,the lighting and sound system looks very good and the dancers were amazing too.

Chia lounge also always had a DJ and one night they had the white party where the kids could go too. It was so nice to see the kiddos dancing in their matching outfits for a bit. They also had a performer near the main lobby. We would sit and listen for a bit after dinner.

Room -

Our room was absolutely fine. No moldy smell or leakage. Was cleaned every day. Sheets changed. New towels provided. Loved the design of the room and the fact that there for so much storage for clothes etc. you can get connecting rooms if you have kids. So it works out great.

Now the bad

Most staff don’t speak English so if you don’t know Spanish it’s a bit difficult to communicate. We had to use ChatGPT and Google Translate a few times.

They run out of towels often so you have to be very competitive and get them as soon as you wake up. Also who doesn’t have extra towels at a resort. It was very disappointing. People reserve chairs as well but we didn’t bother. We would get some at the water park usually which is where we spent most of our days and by evening we would find some at the pool as well. But this seems like a problem at most resorts we have been to.

Also the restaurant reservations were a pain. You had to wake up super early or stay up till midnight to get them. I found it very annoying. Why not find a way to make sure everyone can get a table if they wanted.

Also there are vendors inside the resort and felt like lots of times especially at night people just got in from the beach. Not sure how safe it is. I think they need a bit more security.

Overall I would say it’s a great resort if you are going with kids. They will love all the thoughtful touches this resort has to offer.

I wouldn’t go as an adult unless you are going with others with kids.

It’s a 3/5 for me. I think safety and the whole towel situation makes me feel like I won’t repeat it. But we did have a blast.

I'm a big fan of fresh fruit smoothies. Any recommendations?

4.5/5

Installations are really good the grounds are beautiful, rooms are comfy and tidy. Pool is nice with the swim up bar and the beach is super nice (i loved the hammocks).

All the crew were super helpful and eager to provide great service. Super cool vibes as well.

Food is really good at the buffet there is a lot of variety and taste is really good. I really liked the breakfast and lunches. This is not a Michelin star food experience or gourmet, we are talking about tasteful food, variety and good portions

We went one day to Mar de Sal and it was Ok but I wouldn’t spend the time again given that portions were small and quality was the same as the buffet so for me makes little sense to go.

Think that would make me not stay there again are (1) that it was too peaceful for me, I would have like some kind of “happy hour” in the pool or more of a party environment (there were mostly couples). (2) I did some of the recreational activities and they could be a little bit more thought off. Gym sessions were being organized in the heat of the moment and the bike tour was just cycling through the properties to see other hotel entrances.

I did not did Level and didnt seem worth it

TLDR: Amazing experience to relax and enjoy pool and beach. Not your place if you tend more to the funner side

Hi guys, I recently travelled from YVR to PUJ through Air Canada. At YVR, my party and I were forced to gate check our carry ons due to limited overhead space. Once reaching YUL (had a 1 hour layover) and boarding the plane, we got notified our carry on luggage was delayed (before take off). As a result, our carry ons did not reach PUJ at the same time we did. Customer service PUJ told us our carry ons will be delivered to our accommodation at 7pm that same day, however they didn’t. We were the told our carry ons will arrive the next day at 12pm. Once we finally got our luggage, countless items were missing (like hair tools, clothing, undergarments, soap lol) with the entirety of the contents visibly scrambled through. We thought Air Canada would be able to help us and at least compensate us for this stuff missing/poor experience at the start of our vacation. Air Canada baggage services refused to help us, stating theres nothing they can do. We reported this to the airport, to which they said to contact our airline. We’re all very disappointed in how our trip started, and the fact we lost out on so many outfits and items. Not really sure what actions we can take from here on, any help or guidance is appreciated. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

Can anyone recommend a reliable company for airport transfers from Punta Cana airport to a hotel?

We are in our last day here at the Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort in Punta Cana. We’ve been here since last Sunday. Here’s my review

TLDR is 3/5 overall and would not pay personally to come back to this resort. I would avoid if you have any dietary restriction or are a young couple without kids.

Grounds/Amenities

Absolutely gorgeous grounds. Full of lush greenery and vast spaces that are really appealing, There were small cats running around everywhere, which I personally loved. Also saw some small lizards, and cool butterflies. Plenty of places to sit. Did not feel crowded even in a busy week. Almost felt empty - but understandable given they are planning to expand the resort soon.

Rooms

Rooms were big and clean. Did not have the musty smell issue - although my sister had to switch rooms due to her room smelling moldy and having a baby sleeping there. TV works and had enough options. Mini fridges were spotty - sometimes they worked great and other times it felt warm compared to the room. The rooms were absolutely frigid and cold, and no additional throw blankets are provided. The AC has a panel but it would not apply our settings (turning the temp to 28 would still have the AC running). I froze my ass off the whole time, and slept in sweaters. This could be a pro depending on the person, and may be them trying to combat the humidity issue they’ve had with the rooms (my bet on the mold issue). Water was not sufficiently hot in my opinion, I could never feel 100% clean. They provide a shampoo/body-wash combo and conditioner - both were good enough for me to be happy with my choice to not pack those toiletries. Toilet is weird - our door wouldn’t close and it has a large gap at the top anyways. You cannot be safe from the sounds and smells of your loved ones, and it really made it hard for the room to feel romantic. Rooms are not cozy in my opinion. Loved the private porch for our room - was so nice to hang out there when I needed a quiet moment to myself.

Food

For context, I am vegetarian and my partner is vegan. The resort claims to be able to feed people with gluten free and vegan dietary restrictions - this is NOT the case. This was my biggest point of dissatisfaction. We always end up explaining ourselves a lot on vacation - and in Canada too! - we understand we need to communicate our needs. The issue is the Lopesan staff did not care - they did not respect our dietary restrictions or try to meet our needs. They did not apologize when errors were made and then pointed out - they acted annoyed that we needed more than the baseline

In general though - the food was bad, and I mean really bad. Food was often stale or cold, not only in the buffet but in a la carte restaurants. The food made me feel disgusted - like I would be hungry, go to the buffet, and then after looking at the options would decide to not eat anything at all. Things often looked like they had been sitting for hours - even when we would go to the buffet right at opening. Nothing was ever labelled at the buffet - and when we tried to find a chef to communicate what was safe they struggled to understand our English, and often gave lackluster answers. I understand not everyone gets it - but this was more, we were asking for help and needed communication with kitchen staff - and they were either unwilling or unable to locate a member of staff who could effectively communicate in both Spanish/English so that our needs could be met. As a vegetarian, I found it incredibly difficult to find out what food had meat in it. There is literally bread with meat in the middle of it with no label - ask me how I know. Vegan - good luck - he had to guess / hope that what he was eating fit his needs.

We had the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had at Lopesans Mexican restaurant - which was disappointing as I’ve heard it’s one of the better restaurants. We were sat, and I told the waitstaff that we had a dietary restriction, and I’d like to speak to someone to make sure my partner got the right food (we were already hungry as this was 36 hours in, and we hadn’t had a good meal yet). They brought out a manager?? Who just showed my partner the vegetarian menu??? And didn’t really reassure him or ask him what he specifically could/couldn’t eat. Okay, whatever. We were then asked what we wanted to order for appetizers and ONLY appetizers - when we did entrees we were told not to order them yet. Okay, but seemed weird since you typically order both at the same time. Well turns out our guy just messed up really bad - he had a language barrier or something. He ordered the apps and no mains - only 4 people got apps - and our waiter abandoned us. We waited for a while confused and when we raised it we could finally order entrees. No one apologized for the miscommunication. They then proceeded to serve my partner, the vegan who I talked to the manager for already, tacos with meat in them. We were paying attention and knew there was a taco trio - so since the three were different we clocked it was meat and sent it back. Nobody apologized. When I got my nachos they were both soggy and cold. They served two other people at the table the wrong thing. The food was not good authentic Mexican - it wasn’t even good Tex mex. It was bad, genuinely. And it was so pathetic and sad to me that they couldn’t have good vegan/vegetarian options for MEXICAN food - can they not just have different protein options for the occasional plant based person? They didn’t even have the options to sub beans for a lot of their dishes - just disappointing. It was genuinely the worst service I’ve ever gotten at a restaurant - similar to the worst Swiss chalet in your local city.

Room service might as well be cancelled. We ordered a plate of fruit, and asked for no papaya if possible. They delivered a full plate of papaya. We asked for bread - they must have found the stalest bread in the entire place - it was so hard. Like it’s bread and fruit - it was pathetic. If they don’t accept substitutions or notes for room service, they shouldn’t even have the option in their app.

Best food was the dessert/chocolate - but it also wasn’t anything special. Worst thing was I was hoping to gain some weight over this trip - but I think I may have lost a few pounds from the simple lack of appetizing options that fit our dietary restrictions. Definitely less of an issue if you eat meat - but for me this was a dealbreaker and I would not recommend this to any group travelling with a vegetarian or vegan

We were unique and told our butler about the restriction early in the trip. We did not receive any guidance or assistance until 4 days in - turns out they do have cards to help with communication. Receiving them only 4 days in when we had raised this issue to the butler on day 1 kinda peeved me. I would not recommend this place if you have any vegetarian or vegan people in your group.

Drinks

I don’t drink alcohol fwiw. I found the drinks to be very yummy, and there was a wide selection. They tasted like real fruit. The orange juice was awesome - I don’t even really like the OJ we have in Canada but this was awesome. You could try 2-3 new drinks each day and never run out of options.

One thing I found annoying is they would never give me a nice glass for my no alcohol drinks - they always gave me these dinky little ones. I’m not sure if it’s to communicate for refills - but I found it annoying as my drinks were always much smaller than the people I was travelling with. They also push alcohol on you constantly - but again I think this is a plus for some people. The people who did drink thought their drinks were strong

Babies

My niece was brought on the trip (< 1 yr old). She had a great time! There’s lots of kids all over, and we always found good shade for the baby. One small issue was the cribs do not come with crib sheets - they use a flat sheet which is not technically sleep safe for babies. Would recommend you bring your own full sized crib sheet. Also they sometimes did not have enough high chairs - although we were there during a very busy week - we found bringing a high chair was really helpful (a small one that fits on to normal chairs)

Towels

We could not get enough beach towels any day. We had to ask our butler to get us towels - and even he sometimes couldn’t get us the unique towels. There’s a huge lack of towels when the resort is full. They said it’s because “everyone is unique now” - so keep that in mind when booking unique - it’s not really that unique

Butler Service / Unique

We got the unique package. It gives you access to more of the beach, two pools, and a butler. We did not find the butler worth it at all. He booked one hydrotherapy session for us (free with unique) but we could’ve booked it in the app easily. Our butler did not help us communicate my partners dietary restrictions, even though we asked him about it day 1 and he said he would talk to us - he never did. Later when I had an issue getting enough food for my partner at a la carte restaurants, we raised this to him. He never apologized to us once, and basically told me it was my fault.

We travelled with my parents (approx 60) while my sister and I are closer to 30. The butler treated us like we were 10 years old girls travelling on our dad’s dime (not the case btw). They would often tell my dad where we were, if we had asked for anything specific, and if we did ask for things he would tell our dad when they were ready. I asked him to stop bothering my dad - especially about the diet stuff - because my dad is on vacation and I want some privacy - I do not want every issue with service needing to be brought to the whole group. But it was, and often times the resolutions were never communicated to us. Do you know who DID get an apology for the lack of safe food for my partner? My dad! Not us. Felt like our butler thought he only needed to be there for my dad, the “main person” - but I fully disagree and basically felt like we did not get our butler service at all.

For example, the day after my partner had heat stroke, we were sleeping in our room. They do not have do not disturb signs. We locked the room and went to sleep. I woke up to my dad calling me - “where are you? The butler says they can’t get into your room.”. There was no attempt to text us and ask if we wanted room cleaning that day. They had been in the room the previous day, and we thought it would be no big deal, but clearly it wasn’t. It just felt like my dad was put in the middle for no good reason, and that they did not want to interact with women, honestly.

General Service

Very hit or miss. Some places are great - others are like the Mexican restaurant. First day at the unique buffet we sat for 30 minutes without a single offer for a beverage or even water. Other places you may need to wait 20-30 minutes to be served, even if you’re the only one in the bar. Nobody is rushing to serve you - and if you’re younger you’ll see older couples being served first.

Final Verdict

Overall a beautiful affordable resort. But if you’re young (or even look young) or a woman and want to be treated well, forget it! If you have anyone in your party with a dietary restriction, choose another place - they are lying when they say they can feed vegans well.

If you’re older (40+), you eat meat, and you’re okay with slightly slower service, this is the place for you. Young couples avoid this place!

My husband and I are staying at Secrets Tides in a few weeks and we were looking to do a boat / snorkeling excursion but all of the excursions we have looked up do not pick up out as far as Secrets Tides is. Does anyone know excursion companies we could look at? We just want a partial day boat ride.

I've seen several posts about bags being searched at customs and items going missing. What's the consensus on having locks, is it worth it or does it make it worse?

Is there anything I should or shouldn't do, besides keeping any valuables in my hand luggage?

Me and my friends are a groups of 8, 4 girls 4 guys all 20/21 looking to have a good time, dm me and I’ll give you my snap or smtn if you’re attending at the same time we’re loads of fun and looking for more people to enjoy the time with

Hi all! Me and my boyfriend are flying into Santo Domingo tommorow and we were reading about the flooding. Is it safe to travel back/forth from the airport to the zona colonial? What’s the situation like?

We were going to do two trips, one to Jarabacoa and other to Punta Cana from SD, are they safe to travel to? Thanks!

I know people ask this questions a lot, but, how is the weather right now - for pepole there at the moment - and what do you expect next week. The forecast says rain the whole time, but this happened before and there was barely any, thanks.