Exploring the Dominican Republic: July 2013

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Flor Cafe: an awesome new garden restaurant in Cabrera

On our drive from Cabarete to Hotel La Catalina near Cabrera, we passed the nursery/cafe below. Wow, what a discovery! The American expat owner has lived in DR for 30 years, and opened this restaurant and nursery just two weeks ago. She makes her own cheese and milk from an attached dairy, and the restaurant is situated among an immaculately manicured garden of orchids and exotic plants. The furnishings are top notch, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more relaxing and classy experience on the entire north coast. We had breakfast, and can absolutely recommend the florito sandwich, the "mangu" (a mash of local root vegetables), and the homemade Greek yogurt with spices. Oh, and don't miss the coffee!

Playa Caleton

Playa Caleton is a well-known beach located on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. It has a perfect combination of beautiful water, a calm bay atmosphere, beach shack restaurants, and tree cover for shade. The downsides of this beach are: it's difficult to find and it gets extremely crowded on weekends and Dominican national holidays. And by crowded, I mean that on a Dominican holiday I would say without exaggeration that a thousand people might be on this beach! The beach access road is a dirt road off of the main road just east of Cabrera. You have to watch very carefully for the sign on the left, and expect only a very small dirt road. Note that four wheel drive is not necessarily required by the road is very rough and uneven.

Day trip from Santo Domingo to Casa de Campo

Casa de Campo is definitely a feasible day trip from Santo Domingo. The drive follows one main highway, and takes about 2 hours. The highway from Santo Domingo to Casa de Campo is still under construction, so part of the way (near La Romana) involves a clearly-marked detour over a temporary highway. Tourists should note that along this highway will be at least one police check point. Either every car will be pulled over, or only certain cars will be selected for inspection. The police inspect the vehicle's paperwork and make sure passengers have valid visas.

The entrance fee for those not staying at Casa de Campo is US$ 25 per day per person. This only covers entrance. There is also a package whereby US$75 will get you the entrance fee, lunch at the beachfront restaurant, and use of a beach chair and umbrella. The beach at Casa de Campo is just okay. By Dominican standards, it is really nothing special. But if you're staying at Casa de Campo, the beach will serve you just fine as a place to relax and get some relief from the heat.

The main attractions in Casa de Campo are: driving around looking at mansions, visiting the shops and restaurants at the marina, playing golf, and visiting the shops and restaurants at Altos de Chavon. The Altos de Chavon is a fake Medieval village that is quite interesting. There are some very reasonably priced restaurants (I saw fajitas for US$10) and stores selling souvenirs as well as clothes. Apparently this area is really crowded during the high season around Christmas. We went in July and had the place to ourselves (although all establishments were open).

We had a wonderful buffet lunch at Lago Grill (US$ 45 per person). I'm told by a friend that they also have a very nice breakfast. We had unlimited lobster and assorted seafood, plus all of the types of food you might expect at a large lunch buffet. The ceviche and caprese salad were especially memorable. The view is quite beautiful as you peer over the rolling golf course as it meets the sea.

If the US$ 400+ room rate at Casa de Campo is not in your budget, I suggest either renting a condo through a rental-by-owner site, or staying at one of the nearby resorts in Bayahibe (we stayed in Cadaques Caribe Resort). The drive between Bayahibe and Casa de Campo is an easy 20 minutes.