If you suspect you are ill, here are medical facilities within Punta Cana to contact. The Centro Medico Punta Cana is near Plaza Bavaro, with a multilingual staff and a pharmacy. Open till 9pm for patients, open 24/7 for emergencies. Their number is 1-809-552-1506. The Hospital Bavaro is near the airport, has a multilingual staff and is a fully equipped facility, available round the clock for emergencies. Their number is 1-809-686-1414.

Punta Cana Corales Golf Course View

Punta Espada Golf Course in Punta Cana

A water park where you will get an opportunity to snorkel with nurse sharks and sting rays. Some travelers have voiced concern that the animals seem caged in nets in a very small area to give the impression that people are swimming with them. But others call it a very enjoyable experience, including the dip in the waist-deep natural sea pool at the end.

Aquatic Tours

They supply you with your very own mini two-seater speed boat, blazing trails as you follow the leader along the beaches of Bavaro. The journey ends with a snorkeling experience, where you dive into the clear blue waters and see the underwater coral and the tropical fish. Snorkeling equipment and instruction are included.

Dolphin Island

It’s a short boat ride to Dolphin Island’s floating platform where visitors can see and interact with trained dolphins in the sea. The program includes 15 minutes of free time with them. Some tourists have mixed reviews of this excursion; saying they were just allowed to swim out, float with arms outstretched in the water, and wait for the dolphins to swim by them. They say they would have liked to do tricks or touch these intelligent creatures. And other tourists were annoyed that none of the guides spoke English. But many more tourists were pleased with their experience and said they would go again.

Seaquarium

At Seaquarium, you will stroll on the ocean floor, wearing an air-tight diving helmet allowing you to keep your hair in place and your prescription glasses on. The underwater tour includes examining a submarine wreck, observing fantastic tropical fish and the beauty of the coral reefs. There are even live sharks and stingrays. The tour lasts about 3 and half hours.

River Rafting

River rafting is available in the Cordillera Central mountains of the Dominican Republic on the country’s longest river, the Yaque del Norte. There are several rafting companies located in the town of Jarabacoa. A challenging course is the Mike Tyson, which is a 12-foot vertical drop. In all, there are 18 different waterfalls cascading between chasms in the rocks tumbling down to the rich, fertile earth. All the rafting companies provide life jackets, helmets and wet suits.

Helicopter Tours

Helicopter Tours present you with a panoramic view of Punta Cana from several feet up in the air. You can take photos of the impressive Punta Cana coastline, with its lush palm-studded beaches, huge golf courses and array of underwater and above ground shipwrecks.

Segway Tours

Segway Tours in Playa Blanca on the grounds of the Punta Cana Resort & Club offers rentals of an ecologically-friendly 2-wheeled, electric powered, self-balancing personal transporter. You simply stand on the platform and move it with a combination of slightly turning your body or the handlebars. The tour is about a five to six mile journey over beach and golf course paths. There are swim stops at the Tortuga Bay Villas beach and later, in the Indigenas Ojos, crystal clear, freshwater lagoons fed by underground springs.

Mike’s Dominican Adventure

Punta Cana Mike’s Dominican Adventure specializes in small groups, from 2 to 9 persons. Mike tailors each adventure to the customer’s desires. He calls his tours, reality because they include quiet remote beaches, eating freshly caught fish in a tiny remote fishing village, overnight stays in the mountains, sporting events and concerts, local shopping, quality Dominican cigars, and bargain priced rums.

A bit longer than a three hour drive from Punta Cana, is the capital of the Dominican Republic and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is one of the busiest and most populated Caribbean cities, combining modern sophistication and old world charm with the Latin lifestyle. This is where Christopher Columbus founded the first settlement in the Americas. It can boast of having the first cathedral in the Western Hemisphere, the first monastery, the first hospital, the first university and the first court of law. Known as the Colonial City it still has cobblestone streets and 16th-century buildings.

Altos de Chavon

A stunning replica of a Mediterranean village built overlooking the winding Chavon River in the 1970s at the behest of the late Charles Bludhorn, the enormously wealthy president of Gulf & Western Corporation, which owned Paramount Pictures. He had it designed and built as an extravagant birthday present for his daughter. As the years passed, Dominican and American artists flocked to the area around it to live, study and work. The village hosts three major art galleries with current works. The hillside cliff where the village sits is also home to a 5,000 seat amphitheater, an archeological museum, craft workshops, and several galleries and restaurants.

Bavaro Runners

Very popular safari excursion in a four-wheeler in Punta Cana. It offers tourists an opportunity to experience the real people, the scenery and life in the Dominican Republic. The trip includes a visit to an authentic sugarcane plantation, a horseback ride on a spectacular beach, a school visit, a stop to see how cigars are made, and the Maria House coffee and cocoa plantation, and a small Dominican lunch. For those that would rather, the Runners offer a full-day of zip lining.

Saona Island

Sits on the Southeastern tip of the Dominican Republic. This scenic, secluded island with a lovely beach is part of a government-protected nature reserve called the Parque Nacional del Este, known for its beauty. The blue waters surrounding the island are teeming with tons of marine life, especially the area’s indigenous starfish. And protective sandbars keep the sand sparkling white. Most tours sail here by catamaran, leaving from Bayahibe. Or, you can catch a tour bus from Punta Cana, about a 90-minute ride. Some tours make a stop at a natural pool and include lunch and beverages, for an extra fee.

Manati Park

For animal lovers. It features some local animals including iguanas, crocodiles and tropical birds, but there are also exotic fish, horses, parrots and the chance to swim with dolphins. A half-day tour includes a Taino cultural show, a horse show, and two others by dolphins and sea lions. Guests can strolling in the lush gardens will see the ducks roaming freely. You may want to snap photos of the beautiful orchids and tropical plants, or buy local crafts in the souvenir shops. Bring your swimsuit and a towel, and you can take a short swim or swim with a dolphin.

Next door to the Bamboo Restaurant in the Punta Cana Resort & Club in Higuely, within the Tortuga Bay area. This bar, open from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. offers a restful atmosphere where you can try some of the famous Dominican rums and other exotic cocktails. It also has a wide variety of worldwide coffees and teas. The toll-free telephone from the U.S. and Canada is 1-888-442-2262.

The Mangu Night Club

Called the happening place in Punta Cana. It’s located at the entrance of The Occidental Grand Punta Cana Resort, but everyone is welcome. The Mangu has two levels; a ground floor with a dance floor plays top 40 music. Upstairs it’s a techno music scene. The Mangu also has a bar. Occidental guests are admitted free, everyone else pays a modest fee. The club is open from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The hotel’s number is 1-809-221-8787.

Captain Cook Restaurant in Cortecito

This restaurant sits right on the beach, or the Playa El Cortecito, specializing in seafood. You can choose your meal right out of their barrels of freshly caught fish and they will prepare it in any way you like. Among their offerings, Captain Cook’s famous Lobster, Red Snapper, Spicy Mahi-Mahi, Langostinos Creole style, The Captain Cook flaming Agua Roll, Calamari, and Mussels. Some of the charm of Captain Cook’s is its huge open grill and its overstuffed platters of food. Not good to book this restaurant through your hotel, since you will pay double the restaurant’s actual prices, which are very reasonable. Instead, call the restaurant to make a reservation and they will arrange to have a water-taxi pick you up if it’s not too far away. Their telephone is 1-809-552-1061.

The High Wave Restaurant in Bavaro

The High Wave is a U.S.-style Sports Bar and Grill in the American Bavaro Shopping Center. It’s one of the few restaurants that offers comfortable air conditioning, state-of-the-art high definition TVs, and a great bar/lounge, as well as a swinging love seat on the front porch, and a terrace with tables for big groups. The restaurant serves hamburgers and Churrasco steak and potatoes. As the sun goes down, the music comes up, with both traditional Latin and Dominican as well as retro U.S. The number is 809-309-0500.

La Yola Restaurant

This restaurant’s name gives its secret away. Yola in Spanish means a small fishing boat. Set within the Punta Cana Resort Marina, it stretches out over the water, allowing diners to feel the gentle ocean breezes, and see the boats up close coming and going. The overhead shelter is made of thatched cane and there is a glass-floor viewing portal to watch the sea life below. The restaurant has a casual, beach atmosphere, but don’t be fooled. The meals are pricey and the furnishings are sophisticated. Seafood and fish are the main events, mixed in with beef and chicken selections. Appetizers include spicy tuna tartare with guacamole relish. Main plates include the catch of the day, usually red snapper, grouper, or mahi-mahi, or you might select the baked Chilean sea bass with clam and cherry tomato risotto. Reservations are a must and should be made well in advance. Their telephone is 1-809-0959-2262

Cafeteria Las Leñas II in Bavaro

This is a Spanish-style coffee shop, that locals call the best bakery in the area. They offer a variety of muffins, croissants and sandwiches to eat in or take out. They also have free Wi-Fi. Special occasion cakes are their specialty. Residents say their strawberry juice is awesome and that this is the best place to have breakfast in Punta Cana. Their telephone is 1-809-552-6776.

Riu Bambu

The all-inclusive Riu Bambu was renovated in the spring of 2010. It offers two swimming pools, one with an adjoining Jacuzzi, a third children’s pool, complimentary towels, umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beach. There’s RiuLand kids club and a children s playground. Free Wi-Fi is offered in the lobby, there is a gym, a sauna, a sun terrace, two lighted tennis courts and a multi-sport court. Restaurants include San Angelos, Hibachi, a Grill and Steakhouse and the Colonial Restaurant.

Riu Naiboa-Punta Cana

The Riu Naiboa Punta Cana has 362 rooms, all in four story buildings surrounded by vegetation. It’s a 5-minute walk to the beach, where the European tradition of going topless is permitted.

Riu Palace Macao

The Riu Palace Macao is a Colonial-style hotel that sits on the beach, surrounded by palm trees. Among its 365 rooms are several Jacuzzi suites. There’s free wireless Internet in the lobby. Amenities include casino gaming, water sports, and nightly entertainment including live music and theme shows. Children under 2 years stay and eat for free.

Riu Palace Punta Cana

Palm trees also surround the Hotel Riu Palace Punta Cana which is beach-based. Riu Palace has eight bars and restaurants, a casino and a 1,706 square foot swimming pool. The property offers 612 junior suites, each equipped with hydro-massage bathtubs. Enjoy water sports like windsurfing, sailing and kayaking. There is an entertainment program for children ages 4 to 12.

Riu Taino Punta Cana

The Riu Taino is a bungalow complex on the beach, surrounded by Palm trees. It was built to resumble a typical Dominican village, with its quiet, tropical ambiance. Restaurants are open until 2 a.m. daily. There are 620 bungalow-style guestrooms, each of which is equipped with a mini-bar and a liquor dispenser.

Zoetry Agua Resort and Spa

This is a luxury all-inclusive unlike any other. Set on the beach in Uvero Alto, on the northeast coast, it is a small property with 53 rooms. The buildings are traditional Dominican style, with natural stone, local hardwoods, cane thatched roofs and Asian details. The rooms are spacious, with interior ponds everywhere, creating a relaxing atmosphere. The hotel has 2 restaurants, 2 outdoor pools, and a kids’ club. The spa is truly spectacular with six rooms where the most advanced treatments and shower sensations are offered. Water sports include scuba diving, snorkeling, water skiing, wind surfing, kayaking and fishing.

Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro

Gran Bahía Príncipe Bávaro is on the Dominican Republic’s east coast. It sits above a wide expanse of white sand beach. All of the hotel’s 540 rooms come equipped with an oval hydro massage bath. Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro has a main restaurant, six specialty restaurants and many bars.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort

Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort is one of five hotels built in Bavaro by the Barcelo brothers, Sebastián and Gabriel Barceló and opened in 1985. They are all contained within a massive park, connected by a network of roads and bike trails. The hotels are similar; all the rooms have private verandas or terraces. The complex overall offers 14 restaurants, 13 bars, a casino, an 18-hole golf course, six outdoor pools, nine tennis courts, and all watersports.

Grand Oasis

The Grand Oasis sits on the east coast of the Dominican Republic in Punta Cana. Its beachfront is protected by a large coral reef, surrounded by big tropical gardens. The hotel has 460 rooms, and most have sea or pool views. There are four restaurants, a snack bar, a beach garden cafe and a splash bar. Grand Oasis has a spa, a gym with a variety of equipment, programs for both adults and children, water sports and a casino.

Dreams Punta Cana

Dreams Punta Cana, which used to be called Sunscape, The Beach Punta Cana, is on the beach in Uvero Alto. Perfect for families, offering a supervised Explorer’s Club for young children, and a Core Zone for teenagers. All ages will enjoy the long free-form pool that winds its way from the lobby down to the beach. There is a spa for children and adults, a work-out center, and a beauty salon.

Excellence Punta Cana

Excellence Punta Cana for adults only, sits on a 1.5-mile stretch of secluded white sand beach in Uvero Alto. The resort is covered with a lush canopy of coconut palms. It also has endless grasslands, a beautiful beach, and of course, the Caribbean Sea. The resort offers eight restaurants and 10 bars. There are 452 guest suites

Paradisus Palma Real

Located on Bávaro Beach, and 20 minutes from Punta Cana, Paradisus Palma Real Resort is travel guru Arthur Frommer’s pick for the best all-inclusive in the area. This hotel attracts a big Spanish clientele. It is furnished in an Iberian style, with sculptures throughout. It is known for its masses of flickering candles in public areas. There are five a la carte restaurants, two poolside buffet eateries, and nine bars. Paradisus Parma also has a casino and a golf course and offers activities like wine-tasting, salsa and merengue dance classes, massage lessons and more.

Paradisus Punta Cana

The Paradisus Punta Cana preceded the Palma Real, with the two resorts separated by about 2 miles. It’s rates are lower than its newer sister, but its offerings are more. These include tennis, golf, seven swimming pools, a casino, a full-service spa and health club, water sports, 12 restaurants, and 8 bars, a kid’s playground, and sushi-making and wine-tasting classes.

Majestic Elegance Hotel

The Majestic Elegance dubs itself a 5 star all-inclusive resort on the Arena Gordo beach within Punta Cana. This high-end luxury resort, which opened in 2008, is for adults only. A 400-meter swimming pool sits on the beach, both the fitness center and the spa are full-service and an all-day program of children’s supervised activities is offered for parents.

Majestic Colonial Hotel

Majestic Colonial Hotel is also quite new, built in January of 2006. It is also quite luxurious, with roomy quarters include jetted tubs, bathrobes, slippers, and a furnished balcony or terrace. There are nine bars, including a sport bar, pool and beach bars and a piano bar. There are even tattoo and hair-braiding parlors. The kids club is 9 to 5, and there is nightly entertainment, the disco or the casino.

Punta Cana Resort & Club

This resort that covers 25,000 acres of jungle and white sandy beaches is the only place where you can find a championship golf course, an ecological preserve, a marina, and three miles of gorgeous sandy beach. There are many accommodation choices, including a main hotel, the exclusive Tortuga Bay and real estate options. Famous homeowners include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta. This is a green resort, which grows organic vegetables and herbs for its restaurants.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

This is a brand new facility in the Punta Cana area. It is enormous, offering 12 outdoor pools, the largest casino in the Dominican Republic, with 900 slot machines and 40 card tables, the spa has 48 treatment rooms, there is an on-site 18 hole Jack Nicklaus Golf course, a choice of 11 restaurants, and the spacious rooms feature a private balcony, satellite TV and a double Jacuzzi. Also featured is a wide collection of Hard Rock’s authentic music memorabilia, of both international and local artists.

Melia Caribe Tropical

The Melia Caribe Tropical is a new blending of two Melia hotels; the Melia Caribe and the Melia Tropical, offering 1,044 rooms, surrounded by palm trees and green, lush vegetation. There are 9 bars, and 12 buffet-style and a la carte restaurants. The Melia Tropical offers 7 pools, 8 tennis courts, an 18-hole on-site golf course, and the Meliá Golf Academy, two big shows every night, two spas, one indoor, another outdoor, offering steam room, sauna, work-out room with machines, and classes. There are special clubs and entertainment for children and teens, Water sports that are not motorized are unlimited, or you can try kayaking, canoeing, windsurfing, water biking, snorkeling, sunfish sailing and even a diving lesson in the pool.

Club Med Punta Cana

You will find Club Med’s signature experiences of whimsy and camaraderie in force at this resort. And this family-friendly chain’s offer of its Kids Stay Free program is still in effect at Punta Cana. The facility was upgraded in 2008 to flat-screen TVs and new bathrooms in every room, along with a new spa with 10 treatment rooms and special palapas for oceanfront massages. The new Baby Club introduces interactive parent and infant learning workshops. At the teen center, a create-your-own-soda bar is a hit, and a new skate park gives boarders a venue to show off in. Cheery staffers offer yoga, merengue lessons, and circus programs.

There are items that you may see in local shops in Punta Cana that you probably should not buy. These include dried animals, like crabs, turtle shells and seashells, for a couple of reasons. One, it’s illegal, two, you won’t be permitted to bring them through customs, and three, you could get arrested for trying. Another reason for not buying items like these are it encourages the locals to kill and misuse these reef creatures.

Be ready for an adventure if you decide to go shopping away from the resort, in Punta Cana or in Bavaro. In those areas, you are likely to be mobbed by Dominicans trying to get you to go in the direction that they want. Dominicans are used to bartering to get to the price of an item that they want to pay or sell. So, you might have to expect that once in one of their stores, unless you’re an expert bargainer, you will have to play the game. It begins with a ridiculously expensive quote, which you will say is not workable. But then, the shopkeeper will argue with you, and in the process perhaps insult you for your stinginess. This can turn into an ordeal. Then again, sometimes a local shopkeeper will offer an item to you at a less expensive price than what you think it is worth, and you might wind up getting a great deal.

If you walk outside your resort to the city/area Internet cafes will also be half the price, yet still expensive by ordinary Dominican standards. For example, $8 per hour in the resort, $4 per hour in Punta Cana or Bavaro. In other parts of the DR, internet cafes are $2 per hour or less.

The Dominican Peso’s value fluctuates between 30 to 35 pesos per US dollar and 48 to 53 pesos per Euro. You can change any currency you arrive with into pesos, but it’s good to be aware that it may be difficult to change the pesos back into your original currency. It’s recommended that tourists exchange only small amounts of money at a time. If you take a trip outside your resort, like a day tour to Santo Domingo, you will notice that prices are much cheaper there than at the resort. If you’re planning to shop, eat or drink in a bar there, be sure to take enough Pesos, since it will be cheaper and easier to pay that way and there will be less opportunity for you to be taken advantage of.