Top Things to do in La Romana
10 Things to Do in La Romana That You Shouldn't Miss
The ideal destination for families, honeymooners, divers and golfers alike, La Romana is home to the famous Casa de Campo resort, internationally renowned golf courses, a world-class marina and Altos de Chavón, a beautiful replica of a 16th-century artisan village. Nearby, the Bayahibe area offers picturesque beaches, chic accommodations, desirable attractions and splendid opportunities for ecotourism. Visitors can enjoy stunning Saona Island, Cotubanamá National Park and more.
Restaurants in La Romana
1. Altos de Chavon
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1 reviews
Altos de Chavon, is an architectural wonder, a 16th century replica of a Mediterranean village perched high above the Chavón River. The village was designed by Dominican architect Jose Antonio Caro, and created by Italian master designer and cinematographer Roberto Coppa. Dominican artisans handcrafted the stone pathways, decorative ironwork, furniture and enchanting buildings, reviving almost forgotten crafts of metal work and stone carving. Under Coppa's direction, each stone was hand cut, each wooden door frame was handcrafted and each wrought-iron detail hand-forged. Construction of the village began in 1976 and the village was inaugurated in 1982 with the concert of Frank Sinatra at the Amphitheater. Altos de Chavon was built as a center of culture for the Dominican people.
Reviewed By WorldTravelerTWD - Washington DC, District of Columbia
I visited Altos de Chavon as part of an all day tour that also went to Catalina Island. It is an interesting place to spend a couple hours. The views from the Terrace over the river are very nice. I visited a bit early in the day before the restaurants were open. However, there a couple nice museums.
2. Wild Ranch Zipline Canopy
Overall Ratings
5 based on 21 reviews
Wild Ranch Zipline Canopy is located right on the Chavon River, few minutes from Bayahibe and La Romana Port . Surrounded by exuberant tropical vegetation , Wild Ranch is a “sanctuary” for endemic species and rescue animals. Experience the amazing adventure of our Zipline Canopy, 7 lines built with double certified cable in the complete respect of the environment. 100% safety rate. With the Zipline tour will get the Chavon River Kayaks bonus .
Reviewed By Amin333 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
We like to be spontaneous when we travel.
When we got off our Carnival Cruise at the La Romana port, we decided to go Zip Lining. We called 4 different zip lining companies, and when they found out we were from Carnival, we were told they couldn't sell to us because they were under contracts (talk about unfair business practices!!)
I read a review about Wild Ranch Zipline Canopy, and decided to call.
From the moment I spoke to Rosella, I felt completely comfortable and instinctively knew I could trust her.
We took a taxi from the cruise port ($60 USD return) - it was about 25 minutes to the main town of Santa Cruz de Gato). Here, we were dropped off and then Rosella sent a driver in a heavy duty truck fo take us to the ranch - due to really rough terrain (The kids loved it!).
About 15 minutes, and we were at the Ranch. We were met personally by the lovely Rosella, and offered juice and fresh ice cold water.
We were then quickly outfitted, and our personal belongings were safely locked up.
Carlos and Frank conducted a short safety briefing and took us through our journey over 7 ziplines. Along the way, we walked through lush rainforest and they pointed out various interesting plants and trees.
Once complete, we got to spend some time on the balancing course, and also got to kayak down the river nearby!
Rosella arranged an amazing lunch of local fare, before taking us back to the town to meet our taxi driver.
An amazing facility, great for families with younger children (9 and 7) - surpassed only by the gracious hospitality of Rosella and her crew.
3. Rio Chavon
Overall Ratings
4 based on 268 reviews
Reviewed By Jenny W - Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Our boat ride with lunch was part of a day long excursion from Punta Cana. The boat ride was relaxing with lovely scenery along the way. The lunch was very good; started with a conch salad and yuca croquette followed by grilled shrimp, rice, yuca with carrots, bell pepper and onion. There is an option of chicken for those who cannot eat seafood. In the right season, the meal is lobster instead of shrimp. The trip includes (seemingly) unlimited drinks. I chose white wine (very good), my husband had the Presidente beer, others in our group chose rum and Coke; bottled water is also provided. On the return trip, the music is turned up and dancing is encouraged; tour guides, drivers and waitresses are the encouraging partners. There is a porta - potty on the barge.
4. Catalina Island
Overall Ratings
4 based on 471 reviews
Reviewed By Carly W - New York
A visit to Catalina is nice, especially if you are looking for a change of scenery from wherever you are staying. However, it is not anything special. The staff on the island are very aggressive trying to get you to buy things, and while visiting the island is "free" (it's a national park), they will try to upsell you for everything from chairs and towels to lobster lunches. The beach looks nice but there are a lot of rock/coral formations that make it tough to swim, plus there are constantly boats shuttling around almost hitting people. There are a lot of trees that provide good shade, but unfortunately biting flies usually accompany the shade.
5. Crazy Wheels
Overall Ratings
4 based on 118 reviews
Reviewed By PurplePumpkin1951 - Portland, Maine, United States
I went with a large group of people and I have to say, I had a great time. We traveled through the sugarcane fields in buggies and through parts of a local town or two. I really enjoyed seeing how people live and would recommend this excursion to others.
Some things I think you should know about this excursion:
Safety isn't really a top priority for this company. They care, but they could definitely care more.
3 of the group's buggies didn't have brakes. The buggies stopped, they just didn't stop by use of brakes. The rest of us had brakes.
Goggles (at the very least) are not provided by the company. You must bring your own, or wear sunglasses. Sunglasses are not sufficient enough to keep dirt and dust away from your eyes.
Bandanas are not provided by the company. You must bring your own or buy one on site. As a tip to the company I would suggest buying buff-style bandanas in a massive bulk, to save on price, and then selling everyone their own souvenir bandana within the ticket price for this excursion. It is a necessity to wear something over your mouth and nose to prevent inhaling all the dust and dirt you'll encounter on this excursion.
Water was not offered. Not once. The company doesn't seem to understand that many of its patrons are from cooler climates. The Dominican Republic, even on its most average (and even coolest) of days is still much warmer than the average temperature days for its patrons. Water should be offered at the start of the event, because we travel quite a distance to get to the starting location. Water should be offered in the middle of the event, and any stopping points during the event. And water should be offered at the end of the event and as we get on the bus to depart the excursion.
The excursion was advertised as specifically ... bringing us to see sugarcane fields and to travel through them on the farming roads within the fields, and that we would be stopping at "an authentic" local's house where we would be offered local fruits and chocolate, and have an authentic cultural experience with local residents within their family home. This was ... absolutely not what happened. At all. I cannot stress this enough. We were brought to a large outdoor-type 'building'. It was a framed building but it had no walls. It had a palm tree leaves roof, and was authentic to the region, but it was an outdoor market. Not a residence. No one lived here. There was fruit, but it wasn't a cultural experience, there was no chocolate, there were no family members here ... this whole trip was to sell us local artwork and carvings, not to bring us to experience local culture. I will tell you that the description is why some of us actually signed up. We're from a rural state and we ATV all the time. We didn't go for the buggies or the 4 wheelers, we went for the sugarcane fields and the cultural experience. So be aware of that. Also, the bathrooms at this location were ... ok. There are 2, but 1 would not flush. So we had a super large group, and another pretty large group was already there before us... and 1 of the 2 toilets wouldn't flush. In addition to this, when we were done "shopping" at this outdoor market we went to return to our buggies and the group that arrived before us - which were on 4 Wheelers, not buggies - got into our buggies at the instruction of their guide, and our group was left standing there without a ride back to where we started. It was very awkward. It was remedied, but it was just a really strange thing to happen. Why we all couldn't just get back into the buggies we arrived in was somewhat of a mystery. The problem isn't the buggies, it's that our helmets had been sized for our heads. Our seatbelts had been sized for our bodies... and some of us needed help to get these things situated because they're so used they can't be adjusted without assistance of the guides. It's not a complaint about the equipment, it's just a heads up to the company that this is why people were kind of put off. And then 3 of the buggy drivers in our group wound up with buggies that didn't have brakes. Their original buggies had brakes. The ones they wound up in, because the 4 Wheeler drivers took off on our buggies... didn't have brakes. It was kind of a disaster. But, I will say the tour guides managed to keep things calm and, eventually, we all made out ok.
Communication, as a whole, everywhere in the Dominican Republic, is an issue. It’s not just here at Crazy Wheels, but it was evident here, as well. A fine example would be the one I wrote just above - where the 4 Wheeler group took our buggies and left, leaving the original buggy drivers having no idea what was going on. No one told us that would be happening. No one told us what was happening *when* it was happening. All we could do was stand there and watch people get into our buggies and drive off. We didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t know if we still had helmets, because they took those, too.
When I say “communication” is lacking I don’t mean that they speak another language and it’s a language barrier, or language gap. That’s not what it is. It’s that - as an example - we didn’t know there was no water on site. Someone should have told us that before we arrived, and when we arrived. We didn’t know there would be children asking for money in the sugarcane fields and we should bring them pens and pencils and school items. We didn’t know the ATV drivers would be switching to buggies and we might lose our buggies and helmets. We were told we would be going to a local resident’s home to experience the local culture, but this is not at all what was scheduled for us to experience. See what I mean? It’s not a language gap. It’s a failure to communicate effectively.
Photography/Videography - There is a guy on a motorcycle who speeds up ahead of all the buggies so he can capture everyone smiling and waving with his camera/go pro. But honestly, how many times do we want to see ourselves smiling and waving? And then midway through the excursion when we’re at the marketplace hut building he comes up to everyone and asks for, I think it was $50? For whatever he was selling. We couldn’t really understand him, but he tried hard to explain it. We didn’t want it because it was impractical. We’re waving in one picture. We’re waving in another picture. We’re waving in the same buggy we were in, in both photos before, again in this photo. So we weren’t going to buy a photo/video package. And when we told him that he immediately lowered the price to, I think it was $30. And we thanked him but still let him know it wasn’t for us. Then he lowered it again to $17. Still. No thank you. He was disappointed, but what can we do. And then when we got back to the starting point he sold a few photos, I think it was 5, to people for (I think it was) $13. The main problem with the purchase is we didn’t know what we were being sold. Photos? Video? And what does it look like? He wanted us to commit at the halfway point and we didn’t know what we were buying, nor had we seen any examples of what we would be buying. If it was video, was it coming with background music? Was it coming on a thumb drive? An SD card? In what format? In what video resolution? Communication… it needs to be better.
Some Great Things About This Excursion
Hugo, the main tour guide, was amazing. He spoke 5 different languages and he had a clear grasp of English, there was no doubt. He had a great sense of humor and was really in touch with the group he was leading. As opposed to one of the other guides, who was nice enough, but who communicated, to my husband, not to use his left foot for the brake while using his right foot for the gas, by walking up to him, using a stern tone and smacking his left leg off the gas pedal. We laughed at his communication style, but do you see the difference? Hugo spoke English. If there was an emergency (3 buggies had no brakes, remember? and we drove through towns with children eagerly running out to wave at us, as an example of how things could go wrong quite quickly) Hugo would have been able to communicate effectively. The others? I’m not so confident.
Sugarcane Fields - the sugar cane experience was excellent! Thank you for fresh sugar cane! It was so tasty and the presentation was wonderful. Hand cutting it with a machete and letting us hold it while you cut it? That was fantastic! I would love to experience that again.
Driving us through the town was incredible. I am deeply appreciative of this experience. Thank you so much. We enjoyed seeing the houses people live in and the streets they live on. We enjoyed getting out into the community. It was the best part of the day.
There were many guides with us so I felt safe and had a feeling if someone tried to separate us, for some reason, or take advantage of our group, for some reason, that there would always be someone from the company there to make sure we were protected from danger. This is very important and this company did a super fine job at making sure we were all kept together and between them at all times. They flanked us on the sides, in front and behind, at all possible times. They blocked traffic from running into us when we crossed the roads, as well. As far as “safety” goes, in this arena they were excellent and I encourage them to please keep up the good work. It is important for your customers to feel safe, above everything else.
It was fun. That’s the biggest take-away from this experience. Yes, we expected a thing or two which we didn’t get to do, but overall? We had a great time and would absolutely recommend this excursion to others.
6. Altos de Chavon School of Design
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 49 reviews
Located in a small Mediterranean-style town, this school trains top Dominican artists in a wide array of fields.
Reviewed By FishFoodie1 - Boca Raton, Florida
Want to study art? It doesn't get any better. Wonderful 1976 stone reproduction of quaint Italian village. Get creative and get inspired!
7. Altos de Chavon Regional Museum of Archaeology
Overall Ratings
4 based on 44 reviews
Reviewed By retireeVancouver - Vancouver
This museum is behind the Catholic Church in the village of Altos de Chavon. It is very well air conditioned so staying a while to look at the displays and read the informative signs (in English and Spanish) is very doable. The museum is impressive in its appearance inside with museum quality display cases and signage. I found the display cases detailing the peopling of the island the most informative as my information in that area was lacking. Flints and stone tools, typical of ancient peoples were on display as well as a hollowed tree trunk used as a boat for their voyages. Even the more familiar story of the European explorers (like Columbus) who came to this island was interesting. Allow at least a half an hour if not more in order to read each information card and to examine the artifacts in display cases.
8. Playa Mariposa
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 24 reviews
Reviewed By raymondbeluga - Seattle, Washington
It`s nothing to Bragg about, it was use by Eco Nature Tours alliance,and Mariposa Tours whee the feed the fish,so they come to people to play with..It use by fisherman to clean their catch, and to get to it you must walk from Canto de la Playa,because is dangerous to maneuver the boat trough the reef, beside that their could be danger of unwanted visitors since is the very last place a tours can go to,and their is not one around in case of danger to report...Most of the boat captain hate it...The Mariposa name is a tour company and the owner is not please by calling the place Mariposa even that they discovered just because liability ,This Piece of beach is not developed yet...
9. Multiplaza
Overall Ratings
4 based on 23 reviews
Reviewed By lalocadr19 - Hollywood, Florida
This place has movie theater, restaurant and shopping area. Great time to spend with the family. Food area Burger King, Chinese food and Dominican food.
Este lugar tiene un cine, resturante, y area para comprar Buen tiempo para estar con familia. Comida como burger, comida China y comida Dominicana
10. Art Gallery at Altos de Chavon
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 13 reviews
Reviewed By Darrell H - Montreal, Canada
If you're looking for calm and a relaxing time altos is the place for you. We went there as a secondary place after spending only 35-45 min in la Romana and wow it was like night and day calm chill a place where you can reflect on life and the reason you went on vacation in the first place. Up on top of the hill that givse a view that is post card ready. There is a guy there with a donkey to sit on and take pictures with very touristy. 2$ tip and you can snap away all you want. There are places to eat drink and pick up souvenirs. As you keep walking you will find locals in traditional DR gear ready for picture taking again 2$ will go a long way. If you're on the cruise ships I highly recommend this tour rather than la Romana!! I promise you wont regret it. Make sure you save space on that memory card for all the pictures!!!
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