Las Terrenas blends European sophistication with Caribbean warmth on the stunning Samaná Peninsula. French-Dominican culinary fusion, pristine beaches like Playa Bonita and Playa Cosón, and the thundering El Limón waterfall create an experience unlike anywhere else in the Caribbean.
A dedicated concierge, daily household staff, and a kitchen provisioned to your preferences before you arrive. Dining, excursions, and transport are arranged through trusted providers. One person knows the house and your party throughout the stay.
January - June
Calle 27 de Febrero, Pueblo de los Pescadores, Las Terrenas 32000
On the sand in the Pueblo de los Pescadores, French and Mediterranean cooking through a Caribbean lens, built around fresh fish with house-made sauces. White and turquoise, opening straight onto the beach, and one of the longest-standing rooms in the pueblo. Reserve in high season.
Playa Bonita, Las Terrenas, Samaná
An open-air room on the sand at Playa Bonita under a Peruvian chef: ceviches, local seafood, artisan pizza and pasta, with a thatched beach bar alongside for sunset. Non-residents may use the bar. The house also arranges private yoga, surf lessons, paddleboards and massages on the beach, which makes it a workable base for a day at Playa Bonita.
Playa Portillo, Las Terrenas
A beachfront room serving Peruvian-influenced Caribbean cooking: ceviche and raw fish, local seafood, wood-fired pizza, and a separate brunch at weekends. Full bar, with its own wine and cocktail lists, and a beach bar alongside.
Calle Alberto Caamaño Deña #11B, Las Terrenas 32000
A cocktail bar above the Art Bar in the Pueblo de los Pescadores, with its own food and wine lists and live music below. An aperitif address rather than a dinner anchor. Reservations by WhatsApp.
Cosón, Las Terrenas
A Dominican fish shack serving Playa Cosón, where you choose from the day's catch and it is cooked to order. Whole fried fish, red snapper, lambí, and juice served in the fruit. Plastic chairs and no pretension. Worth taking on its own terms rather than as a smart lunch.
Cosón, Las Terrenas
A long, largely undeveloped stretch of white sand fifteen minutes west of town, where the jungle meets the beach and a river runs into the sea. Almost nothing is built on it beyond a handful of fish shacks. Usually near-empty midweek.
Near Las Galeras, Samaná
Three kilometres of sand at the foot of Cape Cabrón, backed by coconut palms, with a cold freshwater stream at the eastern end. Regularly counted among the finest beaches in the Caribbean. Reached from Las Galeras either by yola around the headland in fifteen to twenty minutes, or by a half-hour drive over a road that turns rough after rain. Mornings are glassy and near-empty. We arrange the boat, and settle the price and the pickup time before departure.
Playa Bonita, Las Terrenas
A wide beach about ten minutes west of town over the headland, calm at one end and gently surfed at the other, with room enough to find shade away from anyone. Surf, paddleboard and kite activity work off the sand.
Las Terrenas
Roughly a mile and a half of soft golden sand running west from the town, named for two offshore rocks said to resemble whales. Shallow and calm, with snorkelling around the rocks. The most walkable of the town beaches and the one most guests use without thinking about it.
Calle Emilio Prudhomme, Las Terrenas 32000
An independent spa in the town centre with published rates and advance booking, which makes it straightforward to arrange treatments in the villa or at the spa before arrival.
Plaza Kanesh, Calle Duarte, Las Terrenas
A Turkish bath in the town, with classic, honey and ghassoul, and cocoa hammams, sugar and salt gommage, and a full massage list including four-hand and Vichy. Booking by WhatsApp.
Samaná town dock
From mid-January to the end of March, some three thousand North Atlantic humpbacks use Samaná Bay to calve and mate. Trips run from the town dock with a naturalist aboard, and the season is regulated and permit-limited. Outside those ten weeks there is nothing to see, so plan the stay around it rather than hoping.
Southern shore of Samaná Bay, by boat
Sixteen hundred square kilometres of jungle-covered limestone domes, mangrove channels and sea caves along the southern shore of Samaná Bay, reached only by boat. The run goes through the mangroves and into caves holding pre-Columbian Taíno pictographs, with frigatebird and pelican colonies overhead. A licensed park guide is required. We charter privately; the scheduled departures share the water with cruise excursions.
Cacao Beach anchorage, Las Terrenas
Two boats chartered whole, with captain and crew, leaving the Cacao Beach anchorage just past the Pueblo de los Pescadores. The catamaran runs to the uninhabited Playa Jackson, or slowly around the Ballenas islands with a stop off Playa Escondida. The panga reaches further, to Ermitaño and Cabo Cabrón National Park. Fuel, crew, water, ice and a cooler are included, and the villa chef's hamper is welcome aboard. Diving and underwater scooters can be added.
El Limón, Samaná
A single-drop waterfall in the hills above El Limón, about twenty-five minutes from town, falling into a pool at its base. The approach is on foot or on horseback from one of the licensed ranchos at the trailhead, thirty to forty-five minutes each way over a steep and rooted trail that is considerably worse after rain. Swimming is permitted. Bring water shoes. We arrange a private guide and a specific rancho rather than arriving unannounced.
Calle Principal, Plaza Taína, Las Terrenas
The town's French bakery, run since January 2022 by Pascal and Muriel, who came from the French Alps. Viennoiseries, baguettes and country breads, quiches, croque-monsieur and cakes, with a covered café on the street. The standing morning order for a villa breakfast.
Calle Duarte, Plaza Rosada, Las Terrenas
The French market, and the single most useful address in town for a villa kitchen. A butcher's counter, a cheese counter, an in-house bakery and pâtisserie, charcuterie, produce, and a cellar carrying several hundred French and international references. Open every day of the year, and it delivers to the house at no charge.