Things To Do in Punta Cana

For widescreen views of Punta Cana’s white beaches and green interior, you can’t beat a chopper flight. The helicopter company Heldiosa operate 15 different aircraft in Punta Cana. But they all have one thing in common – they’re all Ferrari-red. Depending on your budget you can take short 10-minute flights or longer 40-minute experiences.

You can make like James Bond from this sandy sweep, 20 minutes’ drive from Bavaro Beach – it’s home to the Bavaro speedboat ride. For something more sedate, stick to dry land. This is one of Punta Cana’s widest stretches of coast, which explains the name – it translates to ‘fat sand’.

Everyone from nervous newbies to mambo kings – and queens – can get their kicks at this event. Held at the Grand Palladium Palace Resort on Bavaro Beach, it’s a full-on celebration of salsa. As well as workshops where you can learn the basics or perfect your moves, there are first-rate performances from the Punta Cana Salsa Team, and late-night discos where you can strut your stuff until the early hours.

With its cobbled lanes, shuttered buildings and leafy squares, this place is like a little Italy. In fact, it’s a replica village, but you’d never know it. Along with its art galleries, workshops and al fresco cafés, you can visit its archaeological museum and the amphitheatre Frank Sinatra christened.

At first glance, this hillside village, an hour’s drive from Bavaro, looks like an heirloom from Medieval times. It’s all cobblestone streets, lantern lighting, and 16th-century architecture. But, Altos de Chavon was actually built in the Seventies by a Paramount Studios set designer. Wander around the streets and you’ll discover art galleries and restaurants inside the faux-crumbling buildings.

The waters around Punta Cana are prime fishing spots. Several world records have been broken here, including the catch of 850-pound Atlantic Blue Marlin. What’s in the water will depend on the season, but you could be reeling in anything from a toothy barracuda to a yellow tail snapper. It’s worth bringing a waterproof camera so you can take photographs of you with your catch.

Hailed as the island’s holy city, Higuey attracts thousands of Christians who come here on pilgrimages. The sky-soaring cathedral, the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Merced, is the hub of the religious activities. Its wishbone-shaped tower is visible from the entire city and thousands gather here on festival days to celebrate a painting of the Virgin that’s said to cure the sick.

These Stone Age caves can only be reached by abseiling down a 20-metre wall of rock. Once you’re safely down, you’ve got a 7-kilometre maze of cathedral-sized corridors and caverns to explore. You’ll head into coloured chambers, squeeze through spooky tunnels and pass towering stalactites and stalagmites. Plus, you’ll see a gallery of wall paintings created by Taino Indians.

Set off the south-east corner of the Dominican Republic, Isla Saona is an archetypal tropical paradise. It’s protected as a nature reserve so the talcum powder sands are the way nature intended. The waters here are great for snorkelling, too. Starfish are indigenous to the area and they can grow to sizes larger than a man’s hand.

Watch out Rio – Punta Cana offers some serious competition in the carnival stakes. The seafront turns into one giant party for this day-long event. Expect merengue rhythms blaring out from speakers, street stalls selling brightly coloured carnival masks, and ready-to-party crowds lining the streets. The main event is the Grand Procession, where the whole boulevard is filled with twirling dancers, marching bands and outlandish costumes – look out for the devils covered in mirrors, ribbons and bells.

Old and new collide head-on in the Dominican Republic’s capital city. On one hand, it’s the oldest continuously-inhabited settlement in the Americas, so it’s home to the oldest church and the first paved road in the New World. On the other hand, it’s the fastest-growing city in the Caribbean, so it’s bursting with nightclubs, a baseball stadium and shopping malls.

Drive a good hour from Bavaro and you’ll reach this crescent-shaped stretch of white sand. It started life as a fishing village, and still has a sleepy vibe. That said, there are plenty of places to grab a cold Presidenté. And if you’re here in the evening, you’ll find beach parties spilling out along the sand.

This event is celebrated all over the Dominican Republic. The festivities include street parades and performances from merengue bands, and locals dress up in devil masks and bright costumes.

For one day, the town of Higuey turns into a scene from the Wild West. Cattle farmers come from neighbouring towns and villages to show off their cattle herding skills. Women, meanwhile, parade statues of the Virgin Mary through the streets.

Take one look at Catalina Island and you’ll wonder why ship wreckers like Robinson Crusoe made such a fuss about being marooned. This place is protected as a natural park, so the beaches are wedding dress-white and topped with nothing but tilting palms. It's a snorkelling hotspot, as well. Keep your eyes peeled for toad fish, sea horses and lion fish.

Bavaro’s big draw is its coral reef. It’s just offshore, so snorkelling and scuba-diving are a doddle, and the kaleidoscopic trumpet and parrot fish are worth a closer look. Back on dry land, you’ve got a postcard-pretty stretch of white sand, and beach huts dishing up things like plates of fried plantain.

Play at Tarzan or Jane for the day on the zip lines, half-an-hour’s drive from Bavaro. These aerial assault courses are hidden inside the jungle. The zip lines let you fly above the treetops at speeds of up to 30 miles-per-hour, with nothing but a steel wire and a harness to keep you in the air. Some of the lines will take you as high as 300 feet above the ground.

Peace and quiet is easy to find at Uvero Alto. The scene here is one of footprint-free white sand, swishy palms and calm, shallow waters that hide a long coral reef. If you fancy a spot of slow-paced snorkelling, you’ll find sea sponges tucked in among the coral, and rays cruising past.

The Dominican Republic is chock-a-block with cottage industries. Everything from cocoa and coffee to coconut oil and vanilla products are produced in the country. To understand the production process, you can visit a plantation. If you’re interested in finding out how the Dominican Republic’s cigars are made, you can visit local villages to see the residents rolling them.

The Dominican Republic is an old pro at watersports. Snorkelling, scuba diving, sailing – you name it, it’s here. Fishing is big news, too, with giant billfish, mahi mahi and wahoo among the potential catches. The thing to really shout about in these parts, though, is the 39-kilometre reef. The Dominican Republic’s longest, it’s home to sharks, turtles and eagle rays.

The name of this beach translates as ‘fat sand’ because it’s one of the widest on the east coast. The wedge of sand comes with its fair share of restaurants and there’s a shipwreck off the coast for scuba divers to explore. The beach is a 15-minute drive north from Bavaro.

The Dominican Republic’s ‘cayos’ – or islands – live up to their Robinson Crusoe reputation, and Saona is no exception. Marooned off the coast of Bayahibe, this palm-fringed isle was once the backdrop for a Bounty ad. With white sands, coral gardens and giant red starfish, it’s certainly a taste of paradise. It’s got national park credentials, too. Behind the beach are palm-filled gardens with tropical birds – and butterflies that are almost as big.

From mid-January to the end of March, around 10,000 humpback whales travel to the Samana Peninsula, around an hour’s drive from La Romana. They come from as far away as Norway. Huge colonies come here to breed, using the bath-warm waters as a giant nursery. Jump on a whale-watching boat and you can see them at play – some get so close you can almost touch them.

Pack your board shorts – Macao Beach, around a 10-minute drive from Bavaro, is a surfer’s paradise. It’s got fantastic waves and a surf school on one side. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, get yourself a plate of fried fish with rice ‘n’ beans at one of the shacks on the sand track by the beach.