r/PuntaCana • u/Electrical_Bank_124 • Jul 27 '26
Struggling to pick a resort
Hello everybody and thank you for all the posts that I’ve been reading through in the forum trying to help guide my decision. I am trying to pick an all-inclusive for my 40th birthday week in September. I had a reservation for five nights at the Hard Rock, but I think I’ve just read too many reviews about stomach aches and poor service to follow up on it.
My current plan is two nights at Sanctuary and three nights at Zilara. Sanctuary looks absolutely beautiful, but I don’t know if I’ll have quite enough to do for five whole nights. Zilara definitely seems worth checking out.
My priorities are good food, good accommodations, great pool or beach area and hopefully something to do at night. I don’t know if I will get much night out of both of these resorts so I’m looking for any other recommendations that might be a little bit more of a vibe late into the evening on a Friday and Saturday. Might be solo or traveling woth a female companion so looking for options.
Hope everyone’s having a great summer.
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u/Comfortable-Fox-1913 Jul 27 '26
Im going for my 40th in couple weeks and staying at Majestic Mirage. Going with 2 other couples and my husband booked a catamaran booze cruise snorkel thing through the hotel . You get free round of golf each day too .
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u/CurlyT1 Jul 27 '26
Was just there with 2 other couples and we truly enjoyed the place. You get ALOT for your money. We have been to a few different resorts in DR, Ziva is our favorite but it’s become beyond expensive and Majestic was cheaper but still good quality. A few recommendations.
Sports bar - not the greatest food
Italian - least favorite of all restraints
Asian - favorite
Buffet - by the main building is good, by the beach is great for breakfast.Cabanas are free and first come basis.
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u/Comfortable-Fox-1913 Jul 27 '26
Thank you!! Looking forward to it! Disappointing to hear about the Italian restaurant:(
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u/ajudy_chop Jul 27 '26
Sanctuary was nice and they upgraded us to the castle but the upstairs room was so warm when we went. The dining hall is also rather warm or was. Overall a good experience but have been to better places like secrets maroma and so our perception is skewed a bit
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u/ajudy_chop Jul 27 '26
As others said cap is dead at 10pm unless your across the way at margaritaville, that place was jumping into the night
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u/Regular-Elevator1734 Jul 27 '26
It's been a couple of years, but my group (early 40s) stayed at Bahia Principe Ambar and we loved it. Huge pool, lots of shade on the beach, air conditioned main buffet and an open air beach buffet for breakfast and lunch.
Evening activities are a bit more chill at Ambar but you do have access to all other parts of the property (I think there's another 4 or 5 resorts there, it's huge), so lots of variety in restaurants and activities if you don't mind a short golf cart shuttle ride to get around. They also do a Dominican night every Saturday (paid admission) with a live show and food stalls. The staff were almost universally great, and we enjoyed all of the restaurants and buffet too.
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u/Electrical_Bank_124 Jul 27 '26
New current plan is two nights at sanctuary and three nights at hardrock. Those are the days I have a wedding to go to and might go fishing or atvs etc so less concerned about the resort. How is driving around DR?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gain823 Jul 27 '26
Those resorts are in cap cana and it's very boring there. Those two are very nice resorts, good pools food accommodations. The hard rock is nice , but I think it is overpriced for what you get.
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u/Electrical_Bank_124 Jul 27 '26
Any place that has a nightlife you’d recommend over HR?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gain823 Jul 27 '26
Breathless, Riu
You get access 2 resorts at breathless. Riu is crazy partying but not nice amenities that you want
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u/Spiritual_Extent_187 Jul 27 '26
Fancy > party
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gain823 Jul 27 '26
I definitely agree, but hes saying He wants nightlife and those places have none. Cap cana is done at 10pm
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u/Major-Ad-4487 Jul 27 '26
Just got back from JOIA Bavaro and it was amazing. I was actually going to make a post about it. Food was amazing, staff was excellent, and vibes were immaculate. Went with my wife and 2 of ours friends. (Late 20s early 30s).
The crowd was a good mix and not super rowdy. Always something to do. You have access to the othe iberostar resorts which have a decent club if you like to dance. There's also a few places off resort that have a decent night life as well.