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Life is a Cabarete!

A review of Cabarete Domincan Republic. The second in a series of reviews submitted by TuesdaysTraveler reader Amy L. from South Africa.

Velero Beach Resort

We stayed at a great hotel (The Velero Beach Resort) – one of the nicer ones on the beach in Cabarete. The accommodation was wonderfull, we had a full kitchen so we did not have to eat out every meal – well priced for what they offer.

We spent the first night resting after a long drive from Santiago – the roads in the Dominican Republic are crazy. Everybody does pretty much what they want to. The funniest thing that we saw on the way from Santiago was a motorbike with a driver and a small washing machine on the back!!

Highlights of Cabarete

Day1

We woke up around 8am and went downstairs for coffee – the restaurant is almost on the beach. We met a few of the other guests that were staying in the hotel, a family that lives in Santo Domingo but come to Cabarete on weekends. Monday was a public holiday – as we found out, Dominicans loves to go to the beach on holidays! The beach was packed with families that brought their coolers and food. The beach was full of Dominican children swimming and running around the beach! Day 1 highlight was watching all the people on the beach – most were families that came from other towns and cities to spend the day swimming at the beach.

Day 2

Beautiful Cabarete Beach

The beach looked so different today! This morning we woke up and took a stroll down the beach – it was like a ghost town. Everybody from yesterday had gone home. Some of the restaurants were open early, their employees were raking the sand on the beach side and wetting it down. We had breakfast at a restaurant called Clara’s around the corner from Velero Hotel, a small restaurant that has wonderful food. We met with a few of the locals and they invited us to go surfing with them the next morning at 5am at the local surfing beach – Encuentro.

Day 3

Surfing! The water is so warm here. We arrived at the beach (Encuentro) at 5:15am while it was still dark and got ready to go surfing. A small surf school (forgotten the name of it but it’s the only surfing school there) rented us long boards. As un-experienced surfers – this beach is perfect! The waves were not too big and not too small. More people showed up and I ended up watching some of the other guys surfing – there are a few really good surfers out there!

Day 4

Dinner at Papi’s was definitely the hightlight of day 4. We spent the day on the beach, then showered and got ready for dinner at one of the bech restaurants that was recommended by the family that we met from Santo Domingo. The restaurant is right in the middle of Cabarete Bay – it’s called Papi’s or La Casita, depending on who you speak to. The dinner was phenomenal. We had a huge wok-type pan full of garlic shrimp that melts in your mouth! We ended up soaking up the sauce that was left in the pan with the bread that the waiter brought to the table – the best dinner so far.

Day 5

The quaint village...

I don’t like the road side in Cabarete much, the beach side is much better – that’s what’s nice about the town … you can pick where you want to walk, however, we had to tackle the road which is busy with lots of motorbikes and shops and small bars and restaurants. We went shopping at a grocery store called Janets which was right around the corner from the hotel. The selection is limited but there are lots of fresh fruits at a small fruit and vegetables store next to Janets. We cooked dinner the the hotel that night – even the vegetables taste better here! They’re so fresh and full of flavour! I don’t eat a lot of meat to begin with so good vegetables and fruit are both very important to me. Highlight of Day 5 was the home-cooked meal!

Day 6

Off to Valverde Mao today so we went to rent a car from Alex rent a car, which was recommended by a taxi driver that helped us in Sosua. They brought the car to the hotel and we signed the paperwork right there and off we go – 9am. We were very well prepared for our drive to Mao, with about 4 different maps and a Spanish/English dictionary. The drive usually takes about 2 hours but we found a few places to stop by along the way.

Read the next review on Mao! :-)

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