La Romana and Bayahíbe

Overview

The southeast corner of the country faces the Caribbean Sea, and that changes the beach. The water off Bayahíbe and Dominicus is usually flat, clear and warm, with reefs and wrecks a short boat ride away. It is also the jumping-off point for Isla Saona and Isla Catalina, the two most popular boat trips in the Dominican Republic.

The region has three distinct pieces. La Romana is a working sugar town of a few hundred thousand people, built around one of the largest sugar mills in the Caribbean. Casa de Campo, on the town's eastern edge, is a huge private resort with famous golf, a marina and the stone village of Altos de Chavón. Bayahíbe, about 15 miles (24 km) further east, is a former fishing village that turned into the region's dive and boat hub, with the resort beach of Dominicus next door.

Many Americans see this area only on a long excursion day from Punta Cana. Staying two or three nights in Bayahíbe gets you on the first boats to Saona, the best diving in the country and evenings on a real Dominican waterfront.

Getting there

By air

La Romana International Airport (LRM), also called Casa de Campo International, sits right beside the resort and the town, so you can be at your villa minutes after landing. US service is limited: American Airlines flies from Miami, and other routes come and go by season, so check current schedules. Many charter flights from Canada and Europe also land here in winter. Most Americans fly into Punta Cana (PUJ), about 1 hour 15 minutes from Bayahíbe on the Autovía del Coral, or Santo Domingo (SDQ), about 1 hour 30 minutes from La Romana. See flights.

By road

The toll highway from Santo Domingo runs east past Boca Chica, Juan Dolio and San Pedro de Macorís to La Romana. From Punta Cana, the newer Autovía del Coral connects through Higüey. Both are good, fast roads; carry pesos for the tolls. Uber from Bayahíbe to Punta Cana runs about $50 on UberX when you can get one, and coverage around Bayahíbe is often limited to Uber Select. Buses and guaguas (minibuses) link La Romana with Santo Domingo, Higüey and Bayahíbe all day; see getting around.

By cruise ship

La Romana has its own cruise terminal at the mouth of the river on the edge of town, a short ride from Casa de Campo and Altos de Chavón. Some lines also use Isla Catalina as a beach day. If you are docking here, a shore excursion to Saona is possible but tight, so book with an operator that guarantees your return to the ship. See cruises for doing a port day on your own.

Casa de Campo

Casa de Campo is one of the largest resorts in the Caribbean: a gated community of about 7,000 acres with a hotel, hundreds of private villas, three golf courses, a marina, a polo field, an equestrian center, a sporting clays and shooting center, tennis and its own beach at Minitas. Many celebrities and wealthy Dominican families have houses here. It is expensive $$$$, and the hotel rooms are usually sold with meals included, while villas come with staff and a golf cart.

The big draw for many Americans is golf. Teeth of the Dog, designed by Pete Dye with seven holes along the sea, is regularly ranked the best course in the Caribbean. Dye Fore runs along the cliffs above the Chavón River gorge, and The Links is the inland course. Non-guests can sometimes book tee times, but guests get priority and better rates. See golf.

The Marina Casa de Campo has a strip of shops, restaurants and a place to arrange fishing charters, and boats to Catalina leave from here. Casa de Campo's own staff and golf carts make getting around easy inside; outside the gates, you are in a normal Dominican town.

Altos de Chavón

Perched on a cliff high above the Chavón River, Altos de Chavón looks like a 16th-century Mediterranean village of coral stone, cobbled lanes and wrought-iron lamps. It was actually built from the late 1970s on, inside Casa de Campo, by craftsmen working with Italian designers. The view down to the river and the sea is the main reason to go.

• St. Stanislaus Church, consecrated in 1979, holds Catholic Mass and many weddings. Visitors can step in on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• The Amphitheater seats 5,000 and opened in 1982 with a Frank Sinatra concert; it still hosts major Latin and international acts.
• The Archaeological Regional Museum holds more than 3,000 Taíno and pre-Taíno objects. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Shops, galleries and the Altos de Chavón School of Design, a respected art and design school, keep the village from being a pure stage set. A crafts market runs on the last Saturday of each month.
• Restaurants include La Piazzetta for Italian and Chilango, a taquería looking over the plaza and the church.

Bayahíbe and Dominicus

Bayahíbe is a small village on a half-moon bay where wooden fishing boats share the water with the speedboats and catamarans that go to Saona. In the morning the waterfront is chaos as tour buses unload thousands of visitors. By late afternoon the boats are back, the buses gone, and the village is calm again, with kids swimming off the dock and colmados (corner stores) playing bachata.

The national flower, the pink-flowered Bayahíbe rose (rosa de Bayahíbe, a rare cactus), grows wild in the dry forest here and nowhere else in the world.

The beaches

The village has a small public beach next to the boat dock, busy with Dominican families on weekends. Just east, Playa Dominicus is a long stretch of soft sand with calm, very clear water, lined with mid-range all-inclusive resorts $$–$$$. There is public access at the end of the resort strip, and vendors rent loungers and sell drinks there.

Diving and snorkeling

Bayahíbe is the dive capital of the Dominican Republic. Within a short boat ride are coral walls, the deliberately sunk wrecks of the St. George and the Atlantic Princess, and reef sites inside Cotubanamá National Park. Off Catalina Island, the wreck of Captain Kidd's ship, the Quedagh Merchant, lies in shallow water as an underwater "living museum." Several PADI dive shops in the village offer courses, two-tank dives and Saona combinations. See outdoors.

Where to stay

Bayahíbe village has small hotels, guesthouses and apartments $–$$, many run by Italian and French expatriates who arrived in the 1990s, and you can walk to everything. Dominicus has all-inclusives and condos. Casa de Campo is the luxury option. See where to stay.

Eating

Waterfront restaurants in Bayahíbe serve grilled fish, lobster in season and pasta, mostly priced in pesos and cheaper than Punta Cana's beach restaurants. For a cheaper lunch, try the small comedores in the village for la bandera (rice, beans and stewed meat), often RD$250–400 (about $4–7). See Dominican food.

Isla Saona

Isla Saona is the largest island off the Dominican coast, about 42 square miles (110 km²) of coconut palms, mangroves and white beaches, with a couple of small fishing settlements, such as Mano Juan. It is part of Parque Nacional Cotubanamá (formerly Parque Nacional del Este, renamed in 2014), and it is the most visited protected area in the country: more than 800,000 people went in 2024, nearly all of them foreigners.

How the standard trip works

1. A bus collects you at your hotel. From Bávaro and Punta Cana, pickup is often around 6:30–7 a.m. and the drive to Bayahíbe takes about 1 hour 15 minutes or more. From Bayahíbe or Dominicus, you simply walk to the dock.
2. Boats leave Bayahíbe mostly between 8 and 10 a.m. A typical day goes out by speedboat and returns by catamaran, or the reverse.
3. Most trips stop at the piscina natural (natural pool), a shallow sandbar in the middle of the sea where the water is waist-deep and starfish live on the sand.
4. You spend the middle of the day on a Saona beach, usually near Mano Juan or Canto de la Playa, with a buffet lunch, rum drinks and time to swim.
5. Back on the mainland by mid to late afternoon, and in Punta Cana by evening.

What it costs

Prices vary widely by where you start and what boat you take. Packages sold in Punta Cana include the long transfer and so cost noticeably more than the same trip bought in Bayahíbe, where boat-only tours start well under $100 per person. Private speedboat charters for a family or group cost more but let you leave early, before the crowds, and choose quieter beaches.

The national park entry fee is normally bundled into the tour price. If you buy from a local boat owner, ask directly whether the park fee is included; the Ministry of Environment sets it, and it has changed over the years, so check this season's fee at the park office or with your operator.

Beyond the standard trip

Cotubanamá National Park also covers a large chunk of mainland, starting about 4 miles (6 km) from Bayahíbe. The Padre Nuestro trail, about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) through dry forest, passes caves with freshwater pools once used by the Taíno; guides in Bayahíbe can take you, or you can go by horseback. Other caves in the park hold Taíno rock art. Some boat operators also offer trips to the mangroves and the Catuano channel between Saona and the mainland.

Isla Catalina

Isla Catalina is a small, low island about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) off the coast west of La Romana, protected as a natural monument. It is closer to shore and calmer than Saona, with excellent snorkeling at the Aquarium reef and a steep coral drop-off known as the Wall, popular with divers. Catamarans leave from La Romana, the Casa de Campo marina and Bayahíbe, and some cruise lines anchor off the island for a beach day.

Choose Catalina if you want the snorkeling and fewer crowds, or if you have small children, since the boat ride is shorter. Choose Saona if you want the long empty beaches and the natural pool.

La Romana town

Few tourists spend time in La Romana itself, a busy, flat town of motorbikes, schools, churches and baseball. That is its appeal. The Central Romana sugar mill dominates the local economy, and in the harvest months you will see cane trucks and smell the molasses in the air. The parque central (main square) and the market are lively in the morning.

La Romana is also a baseball town. The Toros del Este play winter league games at the Estadio Francisco Micheli from October to January, a fun, loud night out. See baseball for tickets and the season.

When to go

December to April is the dry, busy season, with the highest hotel prices around Christmas, New Year and spring break. The Caribbean coast is usually hotter and drier than Punta Cana and gets less sargassum in most years, though it is not immune. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with peak risk from August to October; boat trips are canceled when seas are rough. Saona is busiest on weekdays in winter because of the Punta Cana tours, and on Dominican holiday weekends, when locals take their own boats. See when to go.

Staying safe

The region is one of the calmer parts of the country for visitors, and the main risks are on the water and on the road. The US State Department rates the Dominican Republic at Level 2, "Exercise Increased Caution," because of crime; see safety.

• Book boats with licensed operators, and check for life jackets and a working radio before you board.
• Go easy on the rum on the boat: the sun, the heat and the speedboat ride back make a bad combination.
• Use reef-safe sunscreen and reapply it; the reflection off white sand burns fast.
• Avoid driving the highways at night, when motorbikes without lights are common.
• Call 911 in an emergency.

A three-night stay

1. Day 1

   Arrive in Bayahíbe

   Fly into PUJ or SDQ, drive or transfer to Bayahíbe, swim off Dominicus in the afternoon and eat grilled fish on the waterfront.

2. Day 2

   Saona

   Take the earliest boat to Saona, stop at the natural pool, spend the day on the beach and be back in the village by late afternoon.

3. Day 3

   Under the sea or into the forest

   A two-tank dive or a Catalina snorkel trip in the morning, then the Padre Nuestro caves. If you have arranged access, finish with sunset at Altos de Chavón.

4. Day 4

   Move on

   Head west to Santo Domingo and the Zona Colonial, or east to Punta Cana.