Las Galeras – Dominican Republic’s hidden gem

I’ve heard varying opinions about Dominican Republic from friends and acquaintances.  From what I gauged, the beaches are good, the attractions so-so and it is completely unsafe at night. For this reason, it was low on my list of places to go.  However, I needed a place close enough and one I have not explored before.  A picture of Samana popped up from my office computer (default wallpaper in my computer are picturesque photos around the world) and just like that I knew, it’s the place I was looking for.

We only had 3 full days in Las Galeras (excluding travel days) and there was SO MUCH I wanted to do. The planning was made harder by the fact that it is rainy season in September and a lot of the activities I planned rely on good, sunny, weather.  So for the first time, I didn’t pre-book everything except our flight and lodging (shocking, I know!).

The nearest airport to Samana is Samaná El Catey International Airport (AZS). The flight from DCA to AZS is crazy expensive – about $300 more per person than if we fly to Santo Domingo (about 3-4 hours away by car). This is a no-brainer for cost conscious travelers like me.  We arrived in Santo Domingo around 2pm after a short layover in Atlanta and took a cab from the airport to the Caribe tours bus stop at the airport ( I will write a separate note for tips and tricks for this trip). The cab is about $15 – $20 – we paid $20. Don’t pay more than that. It is really close but not walkable because there is no pedestrian lane and at that time, it was very humid.

The bus took 2.5 hours to get to Samana.  It was very comfortable, almost empty (you won’t run out of seats), and cheap.  It only costs 325 Pesos ($6.5) per person compared to renting a car to Samana which costs upwards of $150.

Las Galeras is another 30-minute drive from Samana (caribe buses only goes to Samana). Since we arrived past 7pm, there were no more gua-gua’s to take us (pick-up trucks, vans, converted to public transportation much like colectivos in Cuba). We were surprised to find a cab driver waiting for us courtesy of our host, Dario (we highly recommend him and his place!). Dario contracted the taxi for us and told us how much we should pay the cab ($10 lower than what everyone says in tripadvisor).

When I was researching for our accommodations, I originally booked a room at the place that attracted me to Las Galeras in the first place – El Cabito  (the picture from my computer’s wallpaper) The restaurant owner also rents some rooms within his property.  The restaurant itself is perched on a cliff and right beside it is where adventurous tourists and adrenaline junkies jump 50 ft to crystal clear waters.  I looked at the reviews though and the comments about the animal noises and smell, and lack of air conditioning in the room we wanted to book made me look at other options and that is how we found Villa La Caleta.

Villa La Caleta is less than a mile from El Cabito and while it doesn’t have the cliff views, it is situated within walking distance to the Grand Paradise beach and a bit further from town (which we loved!). It is secluded and the sounds at night are just crickets, rain and wind (it was raining at night) and waves – in short, perfect!  This is our view from the balcony.

It is managed by Dario and his wife, Sabrina. Dario speaks italian, french, spanish and english and our most valuable resource in this trip. He hooked us up with discounts for our adventure tours and cabs, provided us tips for food, rented us snorkeling masks for free, and served us amazing food throughout our stay. Villa La Caleta has its own restaurant which is convenient for us since the town is a bit of a walk. The prices are reasonable, the time dinner (or breakfast!) is served flexible and the food delicious!

Since we arrived late and most restaurants were already closed, Dario prepared some spaghetti bolognese for us (the yummiest bolognese I had so far!).  We also met Dario’s Luna – the friendliest, cutest, rottweiler ever!

The next day over breakfast at Cafe del Mar,  we decided to go do the horse-back trekking to El Limon waterfalls.  Dario delivered and got us a deal with one of the tour companies he works with.  The tour company picked us up from our villa and took us for a 45-minute drive to El Limon.  The  hike to El Limon waterfalls is a combination of horseback riding and a short hike down to the waterfalls.  There is an option to forego the horses but since it is rainy season, the trail is too muddy and wet to trudge.

The area surrounding the waterfalls is mostly agricultural – we passed by plantations of banana, cacao, coffee and coconut. The waterfalls is about 40 meters tall and falls into a refreshing, natural pool of cool waters great for swimming. There is a small cave near the base of the waterfalls where we swam and frolicked (kidding, I was actually so busy standing on a rock and resting before we swam back lol)

One of the benefits of traveling with your boyfriend is you get an instant photographer (lol).

We were deposited back to our villa around 3pm, perfect for an afternoon nap before we head to the nearby beach for a quick dip. The walk to the beach took only 10 minutes (it was that close). The waters may not be as clear as Playa Rincon or as picturesque as Playa Fronton but it was secluded, quiet, and very lowkey. We really couldn’t ask for more.

On our second full day, we decided it’s a good day to just hang out at the beach, chill, snorkel and read our books and we did just that! Dario dropped us off at the Las Galeras main road where we grabbed a quick  dinner, ordered a baguette and some croissants to go from L’isa chris boulangerie patisserie (spoiler alert: the french bakery beside it – Aux Delices de France is 100X better!) and made our way to the first beach on our list – La Playita.  There is less sea grass here than the one closer to our villa, although less fishes in shallow waters.   We laid our blanket under the tree, ate our baguette and read our books in between swimming.

After lunch, we started looking for boats that will take us to Playa Fronton. After much researching, we realized there is a scuba/snorkeling tour company right beside the only restaurant by the beach (i know right?! we should’ve just walked around!). The boat to Playa Fronton costs $30 per person – I assume we could’ve negotiated a cheaper fare if we had more people going to the island.

Playa Fronton is accessible by boat and land. However, the hike could be dangerous from what I heard and frankly, it’s quite far and taxing.  Now Playa Fronton was the deciding factor for why I chose Las Galeras – I am the world’s OKAYEST rock climber and I heard so many  good things about the rocks and routes in this shore (plus the view!) so there was no way I was skipping this island tour.

Unfortunately for me, currently there is no tour company that offers rock climbing in Playa Fronton. There are bolts on the rock and the routes have been graded but apparently, when climbers go there they bring their own rope (too heavy) and climb on their own (my boyfriend is not belay-certified 😦 ). But hey, I cannot NOT climb it when the footholds and grips were so good so I did a bit of bouldering! (I would say this is an easy V2).

Armed with our dive fins and snorkeling masks, we took to the waters.  While there were certainly more to see here than the beaches we have been, it’s not exactly a good snorkeling area.  There’s a lot of corals but they were mostly bare and less colorful than what I was used to seeing in Palawan, SOME fishes (but maybe that’s because the tide was crazy and it has been raining) and nothing else.

However, the waters of Playa Fronton are so clear, the rocks and the cave heavenly and best of all, NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE. We literally had it all to ourselves!

When we returned to our villa we mentioned our trip to Dario and how our snorkeling expedition went.  He commented that there were turtles in shallow waters in the beach nearby.  I must admit I was so excited that our goal for our remaining days (1 and a half)  was to go back to the beach and hopefully see the turtles before we head back.

Finally, it was time for our tour to Los Haitises National Park tour.  “Los Haitises” translates as “highlands” in Taíno. It is home to rainforest, mangroves, over 200 species of birds, multiple caves, and some of the highest numbers of Taíno petroglyphs and pictographs in the country.  The boat went around the scores of mangroves and we hopped off to explore one of the caves – Cueva de la Línea.  The cave is a short hike from the water and sits in darkness, save for a large opening in the ceiling filling the cavern with natural light. The first wide section is full of pictographs scrawled across its numerous walls.

The tour package includes a lunch at Cayo Levantado, easily the best beach on this side of the Dominican Republic.

Cayo Levantado is a tiny island of about only 3 square kilometers in size. The island has a public beach (which was where we went) and one that is private and accessible only for the guests of the Gran Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado hotel.

There was no other time to visit El Cabito and watch the sunset but this day so as soon as we returned from the tour,  we walked a few minutes to the restaurant.  From our villa, the walk was quick and easy but everyone we talked to warned us about walking at night. If you are planning to walk like we did, make sure you don’t carry any jewelry, hide your phone (or don’t bring it at all) and bring only cash you are willing to lose. Lastly, Dario emphasized that in case we were unlucky, we should NOT FIGHT or we might lose a limb or worse, our lives.  Nevertheless, we walked carrying sticks and rocks (lol).

The view was definitely worth it… the $10 mojito, not so much. I also felt a different vibe from our short conversation with the owner. Considering I originally thought to book our accommodations in this place, I was really glad I switched to Villa la Caleta instead.

The waters were calm, the light was perfect and we were ready to jump! We asked the owner and he told us the boat left around 5pm. Apparently, you aren’t allowed to jump unless the boat is anchored (a safety net in case any accidents happen). I researched this a lot and only heard it for the first time when we got there. Even Dario didn’t say anything about it.

It was our last night in Las Galeras so what better way to spend it than to relax at our balcony! We ordered our food to-go, opened the rum we bought at the groceries, prepared our coffee, and lit our cigars. Best.night.ever.

Since we need to leave around 11am to catch our afternoon flight from Santo Domingo, we woke up early to prepare our coffee, some bread and decided to take our breakfast by the beach. I really wanted to swim with some turtles before this trip is over and luckily, not only did we see two turtles we also saw several schools of fishes!

(Blurred because we basically just put my iphone underwater – not recommended!)

Instead of taking the taxi to Samana, bus to Santo Domingo and then another cab to the airport, we took a private car back to the airport. Not only did this allow us more flexibility in terms of time, I was able to take a much needed nap on the way back! The usual taxi fare from Las Galeras to Santo Domingo is $190 – $200. We were able to book one for just $155.

In my many trips before, solo and otherwise, I always felt like I was crossing off items on my checklist – rock climb here, visit there, eat at that restaurant. This is the first trip where I can say I TRULY had a vacation.  I think in the end, there is less pressure to do something because there isn’t really a lot to do in that secluded part of the country anyway.  Maybe I should do more slightly spontaneous trips like this — in between my planned, structured trips!