Paradise in the Dominican Republic?

The highlights of our trip were:
1) Relaxing on the Beach. The Paradise Resort has a wide stretch of beach and lots of beach chairs. There are ladies who walk the stretch offering 1/2 hour massages for US. My husband and I both got massages and it was great!
2) Taking the Jeep Safari tour to the Dominican countryside. The highlight of the tour was the visit to Dama Jagua Falls. To get to the base of the falls we had to wade across a river and walk along a very rough path through a jungle setting for about a mile, crossing the river many times. When we reached the falls, we had to swim through clear, gushing spring water to get to the falls. There are 21 levels in all, and the tour takes you up 7. With the help of 2 guides, one, who pushed and shoved us from below and the other who pulled us up from the top, we climbed up 4 levels. There were no steps and no walkway to the top of the series of falls. After climbing the 4th, we started down, which was the really fun part. Each level had a natural slide area, or one could jump down to the next pool. The rest of the tour was nothing to talk about except for the drive through the lush, green countryside and the mountains covered in tropical forests.
3) Taking the cable car up the Isabel Del Torres Mountain and seeing the view from up there. It was breathtaking. After walking through the tropical forest on the top of the mountain, we came back to the cable car station which was covered by clouds. You could stand there with your head literally in the clouds!!

Quick Tips:

Exchange your currency through the ATMs. You will get a better rate!
Tip the resort staff and you will get personalized 5-star service.
Always negotiate the price of any tour that you take! We took a city tour where the taxi driver started off asking p/p and we finally settled for p.p. The same applies to shopping, whether on the beach or in the stores.

Best Way To Get Around:

We took a taxi to Puerto Plata town for the city tour. Taxis are cheap if you negotiate ahead. We paid p.p for the ride and the 4 hour tour. The cab driver took us to the Central Square with the SAn Felipe Church, to a few souvenir shops where he gets his kickbacks, to the cable car up the Isabel Del Torres mountain. The cable car tickets (100 pesos which is approx. US) were not included. We decided to forego the Amber Museum since we had already visited the Amber Museum store in the Playa Dorada shopping plaza and were told that the museum is not much bigger!

Best Things Nearby:
The Playa Dorada shopping complex -- the selection and prices were even better than in town. The Dama Jagua Falls excursion -- exciting, a little scary and well worth the price of the tour.

Best Things About the Resort:
The Beach -- the resort has the best stretch of beach in the Playa Dorada tourist complex. Lots of activities for kids. My 13-year old loved it -- tennis, beach and pool volleyball, ping-pong, the ATV tour, etc!

Resort Experience:
The resort is old but clean and well-maintained. Our two-bedroom unit was spacious and clean. We had a view of the beach and the balcony was large with comfortable chairs and a table! We loved to sit on the balcony and listen to the sound of the waves (when seated, you couldn't see the beach!).

The daily maid-service is a bonus! The furniture and appliances are old, the curtains and bedspreads well-used and a liitle threadbare, but then we didn't spend a lot of time indoors. The mini-kitchen had an old stove-top, a mini-fridge and no dishes or utensils. With the mandatory-all-inclusive fees, you didn't need to use the kitchen.

The food in the resort was good -- a lot of variety and new menus all week. The Italian restaurant Michelangelo's was not bad either! The mixed grill at Eden's was very good! What was disappointing was the absence of shrimps and lobster on the menus! The Dominican buffet was a hit in terms of numbers! The restaurant was packed! Unfortunately, we didn't get to sample the buffet because we had reservations at Eden's that night!

The thermostat for the air-conditioning didn't work so we had to keep turning the A/C on and off. If it was on too long, you felt you were in the midst of an Arctic blast!

Tipping the waiters got us excellent service the whole week. One of the waiters even came by specially the morning that we were leaving to give our son a small leather key-chain as a souvenir.

The live entertainment was okay! The Dominican folk dance was good and the interactive 'Ideal Couple' show was hilarious!

The resort had a lot of vacationing locals from the cities of Santiago and Santo Domingo. I am not sure if the other resorts are also so popular with the locals, or if it is oly this particular resort. A disadvantage with this was that most of the activities were in Spanish and those of us who don't speak the language felt left out! Also, the pool was always crowded with little kids, mostly locals!

Coming back to Canada, we met a few people who had stayed at the Ramada Hacienda resort and hated it! A lot of people there had gotten sick and were throwing up all week. On the other hand, I also met one Canadian girl at Paradise, who was there with her friends and was returning to this resort for the ninth time. She said she loves it and will be coming back again! There was another lady who was returning for the second time with her son.

The resort has a casino and a disco that we did not go to!

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Good
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Good

The beach is nice, except that it is rocky along the shore. When you step into the water, you can unsuspectingly scratch your feet and legs on the rocks below the waves close to the shore! The water temperature was great! Warm and soothing! The Paradise Resort has the longest and best stretch of beach in the complex. The palm trees provide shade and cool breezes during the day! I would highly recommend getting a massage from one of the ladies who walk the beach offering massages and are registered with the Playa Dorada complex. For $15 U.S for a half-hour massage, you can't get a better deal.

Cost: US$35 p.p. We later found out that some people had got the same tour for US$29 p.p. Kids were half-price

An open jeep that can seat about 8 people comfortably takes you on a tour of the Dominican countryside - the real Dominican! We were picked up from our resort at 8am. We drove through Puerto Plata with its pink and blue clapboard houses, its crowded smog-filled streets and its bike traffic!

Then you leave the town and drive into the countryside with it's lush green tropical forests, sugarcane plantations and little villages.

We first stopped at the Dama Jagua Falls which was an adventure! You wade through a river, walk through jungle paths and swim (about 2 kms) till you get to the base of the falls. With the help of a water guide you clamber up the rocky falls. You swim to the next little fall and repeat the same thing all over again. We went up 4 levels and we were told there are 21 levels in all. Coming down was a whole new adventure. You can slide down the rocky cliffs where the waterfalls have created natural water slides or jump into the river from the ledges above. We chose to slide down. It was wonderful and we enjoyed it greatly.

After the Falls we stopped at a Domincan market. Then we were taken to Brugal's ranch. Brugal is a rich Dominican and owner of the Brugal rum factory. There we saw his Brahma Bull which weighs about 1200 kgs.

Then we were taken to a local restaurant where we ate Domincan food - fried chicken, rice, meat with some kind of local vegetable, beans and bananas! It was not bad and we didn't get sick. We were also taken to a soapstone (or distressed wood) factory where we saw a handful of people sitting under a rough shelter carving little figures. At the store, the vendors would follow you around offering you the best price. It was so overwhelming that we left without buying anything from anyone!

We then walked through a botanical garden where we saw different kinds of tropical fruit trees, cinnamon trees, pineapple bushes, ginger etc. We saw a variety of tropical flowers like orchids, birds of paradise, hibiscus, bougainvillea etc. We stopped at a Dominican residence where we had delicious Dominican-style coffee, hi-octane and brewed with cinnamon and sweet! The houses all have roofs built with palms, no electricity because of frequent power outages, hardly any running water and none of the amenities we are used to.

We stopped at a souvenir shop on the way where we were given a tasting of the famous MamaGuana, a drink made of herbs and tree barks which is a proposed to be remedy for any ailment that you can think of. It is also the Dominican version of our Viagra! From there, we drove through the mountains and got back to our resort at 4pm.

Cost: RD$100 p.p.

We also hired the services of a guide. We took the cable car up the mountain. The view was fantastic. Once you are on the top of the mountain you can see the town of Puerto Plata, the ocean and the many bays along the coast, if it is not too cloudy! The clouds usually gather towards noon. So try to make it up early! We got there in the afternoon so we could not get a good view from the lookout point at the top! We walked through the tropical forest and gardens at the top and we loved it! The guide gave us a lecture on the flora over there. There is a restaurant at the top where we had coffee and snacks!