Calypso Beach Hotel

The Calypso Hotel is a smaller hotel located about a 5-minute walk from Boca Chica’s beach. While walking to the beach from the hotel you walk down streets lined with some of the local artwork most of it having an island flavor to it and also quite good.

One of the advantages of having the hotel a little ways away from the beach is that it is also a little ways from the very noisy Calle Duarte (Duarte street) where most of the Boca Chica nightlife is centered around. It would be hard to call anywhere in the Dominican Republic “quiet” but the small distance from the particularly loud areas help.

One of the main highlights of this charming little hotel are the employees. We got to know several of them pretty well in our stay; all are friendly and do their best to make your stay enjoyable. If you stop by, say hi to Andreas, Rafael and Rosa for us! The staff also goes to great efforts to make sure that the hotel is clean at all times. The pool and the patio areas are well maintained and comfortable.
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Boca Chica Beach Sunset

Boca Chica beach is located on the southern coast of the island of Hispaniola. It’s a unique reef-protected lagoon of tranquil blue waters and powder-white sand. It is perfect for families with children as it is only waist deep even up to a mile from the shore and hardly ever there are waves. The crystal clear and shallow water are great for swimming and snorkeling, paddle boating, kayaking, especially around the coral reefs. Boca Chica has two small islands, Los Pinos and La Matica (later there maybe something more about those two islands).

Boca Chica has a many Hotels and all inclusive resorts within walking distance of the beach. For a list check out our Boca Chica Hotel Reviews.

Boca Chica is the most crowded beach of the Dominican Republic especially on weekends and holidays because it is only 19 miles away from the capital city – Santo Domingo. Only Monday morning the beach is empty and cleaned up of any trash left from the day before. It is so close to the capital that it pays off to go there even for one day. It is small and basically everywhere you can get on foot. You can always take a motoconcho for 10 pesos and they will take you whenever you want to. If anyone gets tired of the beach, it is also close to other places such as a small horseshoe bay that offers great boogie boarding or if you are interested in playing golf, there is San Andres Caribe Golf Club in the area.

People call it “shopping beach”, (more…)

Well, that’s pretty much standard for most foreign travel and the Dominican Republic is no exception to the rule. However it goes a little further than that. You likewise need to be careful with anything washed that you will be eating and don’t forget that the fancy drink you sip on the beach likely has ice in it. Here are a few tips to help keep you away from the local clinic.

Water: Most of the larger motels and all-inclusive resorts are well aware of tourist sensitivity to the water and they don’t want you sick. If you are in a heavy tourist area and the restaurant or hotel is a larger one that caters to tourists, then the ice you get in your Piña Colada, Rum and Coke, etc. is likely safe. If in doubt ask them if they use bottled water for their ice.

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Many people coming to the Dominican Republic choose to stay at one Hotel on one beach. Which is nice but you don’t get a very good feel of the island. If you have time (at least a couple weeks) it’s nice to explore the island some. You have two choices in doing this, one is to rent a car. This is pretty expensive and your nerves will be shot after a couple hours of trying to navigate through one of the cities. The second way is to use the public transportation.

This takes a little getting used to and a bit of knowledge beforehand really helps. There are several forms of transportation here Tour buses, Guaguas (public cars or vans), Motor conchos (guys on motor cycles) and Taxi’s.  (more…)