The Best Hotel in Southeast Coast, Dominican Republic

La Romana is on the southeast coast, about an hour and a half drive from Santo Domingo and 45 minutes southwest of Punta Cana, now that the road has been improved. An international airport here has nonstop service from the United States. Casa de Campo's Marina Chavón, with its Mediterranean design, impressive yacht club, and villa complex, is as fine a marina facility as can be found anywhere. The shops and restaurants are a big draw for all tourists to the area, as is Altos de Chavón, the re-created 16th-century Mediterranean town on the grounds of Casa de Campo. The resorts in nearby Bayahibe Bay, which has an idyllic, horseshoe-shape beach and a real fishing village, have always been popular with capitaleños and Europeans. But North Americans are also checking in here and leaving satisfied. Often, when guests want to party down, they buy an inexpensive night pass to the Viva Wyndham, allowing them entry to the resort's discos along with dinner and drinks. The actual town of La Romana is not pretty or quaint, although it has a lovely central park and a couple of recommendable restaurants, and is a real slice of Dominican life. One way to sample the wares at Casa de Campo, if you can't afford to stay there, is to buy the resort's day pass ($75 for adults, $45 for children 4–12 years). It will give you a place in the sun at Minitas Beach, towels, nonmotorized water sports, lunch at the Beach Club by Le Cirque, and entrance to Altos de Chavon.