Restaurants
Bamboo at Tortuga Bay
Tortuga Bay, Puntacana Resort & Club
The dining room at Tortuga Bay, the hotel Oscar de la Renta designed, with his interiors. Locally sourced cooking with Mediterranean influence, and the vegetables grown in the resort's own gardens. Breakfast made to order, light lunch platters, and dinner. The most discreet room in the area.
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Jellyfish Beach Restaurant
Calle Chicago, Playa Bávaro, Punta Cana 23001
An independent two-storey room on the sand at Playa Bávaro, structurally separate from the all-inclusive strip around it. Relaxed by day, more formal at sunset. Large seafood platters are what it is known for. One of very few genuinely independent beachfront tables on this coast.
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La Yola
Puntacana Resort Marina, Punta Cana
Built over the water at the Puntacana Marina in the shape of a traditional Dominican yola, open on all sides. Local fish and seafood cooked between the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Dinner only.
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Brassa Grill
Puntacana Resort & Club, Punta Cana
A steakhouse at Puntacana Resort cooking cuts and seafood over charcoal, with a substantial wine list and cocktails built on local ingredients. There is a children's menu, which makes it workable for a family party.
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MARE
Puntacana Resort & Club, Punta Cana
Coastal Italian seafood set on the beach at Puntacana Resort, with a separate pizzeria service through the day. Lunch, dinner and pizza run on different clocks, so check the timing before you go.
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Playa Blanca
Puntacana Resort & Club, Punta Cana
A beachside restaurant and bar on the Caribbean at Puntacana Resort, with local seafood and grilled meats, and kite and windsurf rentals on the sand. One detail guests routinely miss: there is a consumable entrance of US$50 per adult and US$20 per child, which is a minimum spend to use the beach rather than a table charge.
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Beaches
Playa Macao
Playa Macao, Bávaro, La Altagracia
A free public beach on a peninsula about twenty minutes north of Bávaro, where the Caribbean meets Atlantic swell. This is the region's surf beach, with consistent waves and several schools working the sand. No resorts front it, so it is markedly less developed. There are no lifeguards and the shore break is strong, which makes it the wrong beach for small children. We send guests with a driver and a private instructor rather than alone.
Playa Bávaro
Playa Bávaro, Punta Cana, La Altagracia
The long white-sand beach that defines this coastline, with shallow turquoise water and a reef offshore, and Blue Flag certification. It is fronted almost continuously by large resorts, so it is the busiest stretch in the region. Guests may walk the shoreline freely between sections. For quiet, Juanillo is the better answer.
Excursions
Corales Golf Course
Corales, Puntacana Resort & Club
A Tom Fazio design opened in 2010, laid along cliffs, bays and ocean coves, with six oceanside holes and a closing three known as the Devil's Elbow, ending over the Bay of Corales. It hosts the Corales Puntacana Championship on the PGA Tour. Access is semi-private: members and their guests, and guests of Tortuga Bay and The Westin.
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Private charter to Isla Saona and Isla Catalina
Departs Bayahibe, or Marina Cap Cana for Catalina
Both islands sit within Cotubanamá National Park. Saona is the headline: sandbars, a natural pool, palm-backed beaches. Catalina is quieter, though it is a cruise call and crowded on ship days. The distinction that matters is the whole boat against a shared seat. Leaving around 07:00 puts a party at the natural pool first, often alone for the first three quarters of an hour. Saona charters depart Bayahibe, which adds a road transfer of an hour and a half to two hours.
Reserva Ecológica Ojos Indígenas
Puntacana Resort & Club, Punta Cana
A private reserve inside Puntacana Resort, run by the Puntacana Ecological Foundation, protecting freshwater lagoons fed by an underground aquifer within subtropical forest. Guided walks take in the lagoons, the endemic rhinoceros iguana, an aviary and the Hispaniolan hawk. Small groups, conservation led, and no coach traffic. Two slots a day, booked ahead.
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