All-Inclusive Santo Domingo Day Trip from Punta Cana

Its an all day tour have a good breakfast before you leave the resort, the trip consist of walking and climbing steps, the tour guide we had was very good.

We really enjoyed our day trip to Santo Domingo. It is a very long day and was tiring but so worth it. Our guide Papa Jose did an excellent job and we appreciated his hard work. The bus is very small and we wished we weren't quite so crammed in and yet we still rate it overall a 5. The stops on the tour were interesting and we were impressed with what we saw. Most of all we loved the Three Lakes but be aware it is a steep climb with many stairs. We managed it and thought it was the highlight of the tour. Our lunch in Santo Domingo was very good and overall a very interesting day.

Actually I am very frustrated with the company who is your representative in Punta Cana for this tour. First at all, my Expedia concierge in Grand Bahia Principe- Punta Cana called the company 5 days before the trip to confirm the tour, they said 7:00am, it was ok, so one day before I called to confirm again then they told me that they going to pick us up outside of the hotel, so I could not believe it, I said in the lobby , right?, he said outside of the hotel I asked why you are different, because for my understanding all tour buses wait for the clients in front of the lobby and not outside of the property. The problem was, that the first time call they did not say that, so they said only the time to pick it up and no more. The issue here is that the instructions were not clear, my question is, why this company wait for the clients outside of the hotel? that would happen if the client does not receive this information with the first call and waits in the lobby as is normal. When we left the hotel which is absurd, I asked the driver and he said that Grand Bahia Principe does not accept that his company enters their property, excuse? This is very confusing and not clear. What would have happened if I had not called a second time, would I lose our trip and our money?. Please try to solve this issue as soon as possible. Weak of communications and business. But let me say the good thing about the tour, we were 7 people 5 of us and another 2 people from another hotel the driver went inside to the hotel to take them. The tour was nice, it was good and very cultural day, so other of that the situation I mentioned above I recommend the tour if you would like to go away from the beach for one day!!.

They skipped the tres ojos which was the most exciting part of the tour description. Lunch was disgusting.

The guide was knowledgable and friendly, the driver safe, and the bus clean and comfortable. The tour was interesting and fun but about two hours shorter than the estimate. There was no stop at Los tres Ojos as promised in the itinerary. Also I expected that we would at least be able to get out and walk up to the Columbus lighthouse, but sadly no. The driver pulled over to the roadside and we were allowed only to take pictures from the bus, the same with the monument to the sugar cane workers. The walk through old Santo Domingo was interesting and pleasant. The lunch was tasty. Time for optional shopping does not mean that you will be allowed to browse in a group of shops but instead that you will be taken to a single shop. Finally the only site you will actually enter is the National Cathedral. Overall a pleasant day and a good overview of local history, but there would be much opportunity for improvement.

Long Day!
Our tour guide was awful!
He was in such a hurry we almost had to jog to keep up with him.
He talked so fast so he could move on that is was very hard to understand him.
Photo op's would have been nice, but no we had to keep moving.
Would have loved to have spent sometime seeing the city.

More about shopping and way too long a bus ride. Tour was not great either. Everything was rushed and we did not see much for the money we paid. It was a three hour bus ride from Punta Cana. The guy on the bus was not the tour guide.

We booked this new tour the day after it was first posted, and went the following week, so all the kinks probably weren't worked out. We asked Viatour to refund the difference between the price of the group tour and the private tour, because we ended up getting the group tour. They were more than generous, and we only asked once, via email.

Even in a bi-lingual group, the tour was still worth it. You should plan to go to Santo Domingo.

If you sign up for the private tour, call at least 3 days in advance to confirm pickup time. It took us a day to figure out how to find a valid phone number for the tour operator. Hint - there are two area codes in Dominican Republic, 809 and 829. Viator provided us with a phone number whose area code was wrong.

We definitely enjoyed the tour we got, which was a bi-lingual tour of 40 people. I'm not sure whether a private tou would have improved the experience that much. It was a good tour.