Anybody been to the Dominican Republic

[kevera]

I decided to bring the wife to Puerto Plata,Dominican for our anniversary.I've been on tripadvisor,and there were mixed reviews.So,I figured I trust the opinions of fellow GenVibers more.I am hoping someone can give me ideas on what to do,eat,day trips and things to do.Thanks

[Sputnik]

Haven't been there, but know lots of people who have. The reviews from them are mixed too! Mostly I've heard concerns with the drinking water. But I heard this about Cuba when we went there as well, but we stayed at a 5 star resort, so it wasn't an issue for us. Depends on which resort you end up at I guess.

[djb383]

Nope, couple of Caribbean crusies though.

[Whelan]

I went there with my fience about 3 years ago. We went to Punta Cana on the tip South Side. We stayed at the LTI Beach Resort which was mainly a German, British, French place. The island is mostly a European hot spot but is incredibly beautiful. The food was really good as well but I would bring some pepto or similar cause my fience got wicked sick the third day. The last day I got slightly queasy but not bad. Be careful of the time of year you go, we went in August and it was well over 95 all day, we spent most of it either in the pool or in the water which is well over 80 degrees itself. We didn't go into the island but there were plenty of fun spots to shop along the beach, that and the day trip for snorkeling. We got on a boat early morning, the two guys were feeding us rum and coke (domincan rum is fantastic!!). We picked up some people from the other resorts down the way and hit up two spots, then to a fenced in cage in the middle of a lagoon that had a bunch of sharks in it, you can swim right up to the fence underwater it was so cool. Finally we stopped in a lagoon that was just over waist deep, about 90 degrees or so warm and they served us drinks in the water. Got home around sunset, what a day!The locals and workers are incredibly nice and go out of their way to please you. Don't drink the water! we had two fresh gallon jugs of water for our teeth and what not in the room each day given to us. OK to shower in, but don't swallow. Our trip was all inclusive for about $800, great deal!Haiti is close by and is in a civil war itself and they do not get along well with Dominicans so don't do the Haiti day tour. (think colombian tourists on buses)Get yourself some Dominican cigars, yes you can get cubans there too. But try one of each, try a Dominican Cohiba and a Cuban one, the Dominican is far better and you can get them in the states. But I would def. get some Cubans just for the heck of it.All in all a fantastic trip, the runway at the airport is fairly short and the airport itself is a bunch of thatch frond roofs, yes you walk off the runway. Good times, great people, beautiful island!Here is where we stayed http://www.ltibeachresort.com/