Travel Guide: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Hi everyone! Happy Sunday! Today I'm sharing a recap of our recent trip to the Dominican Republic! It was such a fun trip & we will definitely be back!
So for this trip Nick and I wanted to go somewhere warm and tropical and we wanted to go somewhere that was all inclusive. We really didn't know where we were going to go and it finally came to the point where it was a month before the day we were planning on leaving, and we hopped on Cheap Caribbean and found what we thought was the best deal.
We decided to travel to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. I had never been to the Dominican Republic before so I was so excited about this trip. I was also excited for 6 days of total relaxation allllll the drinks! Lol.
We arrived in the Dominican on December 26 and we were greeted with warm weather right away - the best feeling ever! We started out at the Be Live Marien Collection in Puerto Plata. We had a great first day there and we were awoken the next day by a phone call from one of the staff members there. He asked us if we wanted to go to another resort for a free breakfast. Of course, us being the suckers that we are, we said yes! Lol.
So we spent our second day in the Dominican at the Lifestyle Holidays Vacations Collection Resort. This place was absolutely beautiful! We were offered a tour of the resort and on this tour we were able to see all of the different types of rooms offered there. Long story short, we ended up moving out of the Be Live Resort and moving into the Lifestyles Resort.
Alright now for the rest of the post I'll break it down by category - food, nightlife, beaches, pools, etc.
ROOMS!
They have a tonnnn of different room options available. We went on the tour of the resort and we were amazed by all of the options. They have everything from a one bedroom hotel room to a Villa with 6-7 bedrooms! I'll insert a picture below of the view from one of the villas - amazing!
Anyway, we stayed in the Presidential Suites on this trip and we were amazed by the beauty of it. I unfortunately didn't get any footage or photos of our room (too caught up in the moment! lol) but we had a whole kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom with a king bed. We also had two bathrooms and a huge balcony with a hammock, table, and other seating arrangements. Our room was amazing and really exceeded our expectations.
But anyway, there are so many different types of rooms to choose from. We obviously didn't need such a big kitchen/living room for the two of us but we were upgraded so we cherished every minute of it! Lol.
FOOD!
I must preface this part of the post by saying that Nick and I are both very picky eaters. Its one reason why we work so well together lol. But that being said, we're not food critics and we like what we like. We're not the type to go out of our comfort zone and try new/different types of food. Let's just say we weren't expecting much out of the food and that it really doesn't take much to make us happy.
Breakfast:
I'll admit we did not eat a lot of breakfast on this trip. They do have a breakfast buffet each morning that seemed to have enough options for everyone!
Lunch:
We had lunch at the beach pretty much everyday. We either ordered from our lounge chairs (they had servers that would come check on you pretty often!) or went to the closest spot to the beach. I ended up getting chips and salsa most days and snacking on Pringles (lol). A couple of days I had the buffalo chicken sandwich which was actually quite good! Nick had the same thing a few days too. He also tried the turkey and cheese panini. His verdict was that it was pretty dry but ended up being good when he added ketchup!
Another thing they had near the beach is a popcorn machine. This was a nice surprise for me because I loooove me some popcorn. It was a great option to snack on and it was also an easy option.
Dinner:
One reason we were sold on this resort is because there were SO many different restaurant options. They have an abundant amount of restaurants to choose from. Some of these restaurants are for VIP members only (which we were/are) but a lot of them are for all guests.
Our first night there we ate at a restaurant called Azul. This restaurant was great! I ordered a chicken dish and Nick ordered a beef dish. We were both satisfied with our meals. I even ordered dessert because they flambayed crepes right in front of you! The one downfall about this restaurant (in my opinion) was their drink options. I guess that comes with all inclusive, high end restaurants - they have to limit their options somewhere, right? I ended up trying a mojito and loved it, though!
I actually forget the name of the second restaurant that we ate at but it was in the VIP World so it was for VIP guests only. Nick and I both ordered tomato soup for an appetizer and we both agree that this was probably our favorite meal of the trip! You'll see in the vlog how much we enjoyed it :-). We even considered ordering another serving for dessert! Lol. We both also ordered a chicken dish for dinner and we thought it was average.
Our third night we ended up at a Brazilian restaurant and it was a really cool experience. They cut all of the meat for you right in front of you! I can't say that I was too much of a fan of the food (I enjoyed the turkey the most! lol) but it was still a really cool experience!
Our fourth night Nick and I were really excited for because we were eating at an Italian restaurant! If you know us at all, you know that's our favoriteeee. This restaurant was called Bellini. We ordered pizzas for our appetizer and Nick got chicken parm for his meal and I got penne a la vodka for mine. It was definitely not like Italian food at home but it was great for the DR lol. We enjoyed it very much at that point. This restaurant had A LOT of cats in the surrounding area just an FYI. Me, being a cat lover, loved this aspect of it! Lol.
Our last night was probably my favorite! It was the New Years Eve party that everyone had been talking about since we got there! There was a HUGE buffet set up (see more in the vlog!) with alll different types of food from each of the restaurants! Nick really went all out with this one and got food from basically every station! I, on the other hand, stuck to what i knew and grabbed a few of my favorite things for dinner!
Dessert:
They had a really cute (really small) ice cream shop by the beach which we actually surprisingly only went to once!
BARS
We were also told that there were tons of bars on the resort and we were really excited about this! We spent a lot of our time laying by the beach and grabbing a drink every hour or so lol.
There are bars by every beach that you can either walk up to and order or that the servers will bring you drinks from. We did a little bit of both. We spent the majority of our time at the VIP Beach and the bar located there. Our drink of choice each day was a Miami Vice. Nick got me hooked on those and mannnn, are they good!
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Miami Vices!
There are also bars by every pool at the resort. There are also some swim up bars that you can just chill in the pool and grab a drink and stay cool while you're there.
The only thing we kind of had trouble with (until the end of the trip) was finding a bar to hang out at before grabbing dinner. Most of our dinner reservations were at 8 o'clock so we wanted to grab a drink beforehand. By the end of the trip we did find a few bars that we could go to before dinner so that was great! One was at our own part of the resort (the Presidential Suites) and then one was by the Brazilian restaurant we ate at!
We ended most of our nights at the Kviar Casino. This was one of the bars that was open after dinner and that stayed open late. We were actually so tired by the end of each day that we told ourselves we had to stay out until 10:00 and that would be our bedtime lol.
You'll find a bar wherever you go and they'll all be great!
BEACHES
There are so many great beaches to choose from! We started our trip at Harmony Beach and it was great. They have lounge "beds" basically. They are SO comfortable. There is always someone there to bring you towels. Also, if you're not a fan of the sun, they have options that hide the sun from you!
Next door to Harmony Beach is the VIP Beach. We spent pretty much everyday on this beach. Nick of course became friends with all of the people who worked there and they all got to know us. We really loved the people who worked at this beach and the bar there. They were super friendly and always accommodating.
While these beaches aren't directly on the beach, they're a short walk down to the water. The tide gets so high on these beaches that they had to build upward and sort of overlook the ocean, rather than be right there. You still get the beach feel and like I said, you're a quick walk down to the water.
The other beach that we went to was Serenity Beach. We didn't love this beach as much because there wasn't really anywhere to sit in the sun (alot of palm trees in the area) and it was very low key. We liked the VIP Beach best because of the music playing and just the general atmosphere.
There are also a few beaches that we were not allowed at because they were for Chairmen's Club Members only. We also didn't make it to every beach because we felt content at the beach we were at. All of the beaches that we walked by seemed to have super comfortable seating and they all had a bar and food options.
NIGHTLIFE
Ok to be honest, we did not take advantage of the nightlife at all lol. Like I said before, it took a lot for us to stay out until 10pm. But anyway, there are a few options for what to do at night at this resort.
There is the Colosseum which offers some sort of show each night. I remember one night when we were there there was going to be a Michael Jackson show which probably would've been really cool! But they did have a different show each night! Next time we go back, we'll have to make it there one night! Lol. The Colosseum is an outdoor venue.
Another option is the Ice Nightclub. To be honest, I had no idea this even existed when we were there. I can't tell you too much info about this nightclub because we never went but its great to know it's an option!
They also have the Lights, Camera, Action theatre. We also never saw this or went to this so again, I can't really tell you much about it! Lol. I do know that it is an indoor venue.
There is also the Kviar Casino. I mentioend earlier that we spent most of our nights after dinner there. It was super close to where we stayed (the Presidential Suites) and it was a small casino with a bar inside. There were also tons of TVS with games on (crucial during football season lol!). Even though it was a small casino,. the tables and slots were never really full so you won't have a problem getting involved in the gambling scene.
EXTRAS!
We did a lot of relaxing and laying around on this trip but on our next trip we will probably do some sort of water activity or excursion. They offer a bunch of different options when it comes to this.
There are also tennis courts and basketball courts on site. And you can't forget the beach volleyball court! If you're the type of person who likes to get a workout in on vacation, they have 2 gyms for you to get your fix!
One thing that we did indulge in on this trip was a massage. We did the "Always in Love" package which was amazing. We experienced a deep tissue massage with hot stones. It was so relaxing and truly felt amazing. I highly recommend getting a massage if you go!
SAFETY!
A bunch of you asked me if we felt safe on our resort. My answer is YES. There were security guards in all necessary places and there are gates to get on and off of the actual resort.
As for the safety outside of the resort, we were told not to leave the resort because the area surrounding was not the safest. That being said, that didn't change how safe we felt inside the resort. I've heard that a lot of Caribbean islands are like this - safe inside resorts and not so safe outside of the resorts.
MY OUTFITS!
I'm going to share all of the outfits I wore on the trip here :-)
Luggage || Sweater || Leggings || Tee || Shoes
Dress || Earrings || Similar Shoes
Coverup || Sandals || Sunglasses
Alright that pretty much sums it up! I'm sure I left a ton of info out so if you have any questions after reading this very long post, let me know!! Overall, we had so much fun and we LOVED where we stayed.
Check out our vlog below to see a bit more of our trip :-)
Thank you SO much for reading!
XO, Lauren