Прекрасный отдых! Great vacation!

The Dominican Republic is a fabulous country! It's fun there, everyone is happy to see you, there are no problems, you are happy, the climate is wonderful, the nature is exotic, the weather is beautiful, everyone dances and sings!! ! What else does? ! We went from "Natalie Tours", we were not at all disappointed in this agency, I advise everyone. Before leaving, I shoveled the entire Internet in search of reviews about the hotel, but did not find it. Just before leaving, a review appeared on this site, after reading which I was slightly disappointed, but then my husband and I tuned in positively to rest. I will make a reservation right away that I do not agree with the negative reviews about the country and this hotel in particular. The hotel is small (by the standards of the Dominican Republic), consists of several three-story buildings, located on the very shore of the Atlantic Ocean. The rooms are very decent, quite spacious (at least 18-20 sq. m), the furniture is new, all the equipment is in working order. They wrote in the reviews that the hotel is undergoing reconstruction, so the rooms have old, wretched furniture, we did not notice this. We were first settled on the 1st floor, it rained at night, in the morning we found a huge beetle in the bathroom, and since I am afraid of insects to the point of fainting and stupefied, they asked us to change the room (through the representative of the meeting party Dasha). The number was changed to us on the same day without clarifying the reasons and bickering. We photographed both numbers, so judge for yourself. Towels were changed every day, without reminders, bed linen is changed every 2-3 days. They cleaned our room well. The beach is wonderful, the sand is fabulous, not hot at all, the ocean is magical! In front of the hotel's beach there are coral reefs that dampen huge ocean waves, algae sometimes floated, but this is not a nasty slippery something, but flat, long, narrow leaves that are not at all annoying. The beach is clean (no matter what they write! ), There were plenty of sun loungers, there was enough for everyone. Regarding protective creams: everyone writes that it is necessary to buy with a protective factor of 50, I purchased - 30, I think that this was too much. In my opinion, it is optimally 20 - at the beginning and 10 - at the end, because until 10.30 in the morning I sunbathed in the second half of the rest without any cream at all. Well, there, think for yourself who has what kind of skin. The heat was not felt at all, although every day it was 31 -33 degrees, because the wind was constantly blowing from the ocean, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. I will not write about restaurants, they have already been written about. The food is amazing (in the main restaurant), an abundance of everything: meat, fish, seafood, fruits, sweets, in the morning natural juices are prepared in front of you from 4-5 types of fruits (! ). The food is masterfully prepared, it is not as heavy and greasy as in Turkey and Egypt, very tasty and healthy. I thought that I would recover terribly, because I overate as always on vacation, it turned out that I even lost 2 kg, although I became insolent and did not go in for sports, I never went to the gym. The animation is very decent, although we went only 4 times, it is held in Spanish and English. For children, everything is clear and without knowledge of languages, very funny contests and funny dances are held. We got to the performance of some circus group, and they were really professional artists, and not some kind of sharashka office, amazingly beautiful music sounded, very beautiful costumes, interesting numbers. We also watched a shadow theater performance, which was also very interesting. Animation by the animators of the hotel is also not bad, because funny contests were held, not at all vulgar. Tours are quite expensive. We were on 4. A sightseeing tour of Santo Domingo ($ 95 per person) was not very impressive, mostly because of the guide Irina, who carried the same extraordinary nonsense with extraordinary aplomb, led us to insanely expensive shops and terribly tired to end of the tour with your presence. An amazing excursion to Catalina Island and the city of artists Altos de Chavon ($135 per person), I highly recommend it. Very fun, a lot of impressions. In addition, if you decide to buy amber and larimar jewelry, I highly recommend doing it in Altos de Chavon, where the prices are decent (be sure to bargain) and the design of the products is something to see, certificates are issued. The only bad thing is that we were given only 40 minutes for a walk in this city (although it is small), which is very short, because the city is stunningly beautiful, located on a steep, steep bank, it is already breathtaking. I really liked the excursion to the Samana Peninsula, the island of Cayo Levantado (the so-called Bacardi island) and the Salto Limon waterfall ($ 275 per person), there was a flight on a 10-seater plane, and a horseback ride through the subtropical forest, and a boat trip The waterfall is breathtakingly picturesque. A visit to the Lame Octopus restaurant is also positioned as an excursion ($80 per person). This is a sea restaurant on the ocean, and the transfer is not included in the price of the "excursion", a taxi back and forth cost us $ 45. As if our plates were supposed to be bursting with huge lobsters and other seafood. Everything was very modest and not worth it. There is no romance either, so I personally do not advise, but then decide for yourself. My advice, before leaving, buy Thomas Cook's guide to the Dominican Republic (in Biblioglobus in Moscow), an amazingly informative and interesting book. A Russian-Spanish phrase book (a wonderful and useful thing) will not hurt yet. Tune in positively to rest, do not pay attention to the inevitable minor flaws, relax and enjoy yourselves!