No doubt while on a Dominican beach you are going to want some snacks and cold drinks. At many of the beaches like Boca Chica, Sosua, and others there are vendors on the beach happy to serve you while you lay there. That can get a bit expensive though. The price of a beer or food is usually 50% to 100% higher than you will pay if you walk up the street a block and buy it at a colmado. So what do you do when you go to the beach in the States? Bring a cooler of course!

Now, that can be a bit tougher when you are on a vacation and everything you bring has to be able to pack into a suitcase, but not impossible! A good idea is to buy an insulated cooler bag or insulated grocery bag to use while you are at the beach. These tote bags can be folded flat and packed into a suitcase.

Here is an example of what to consider.

Insulated cooler bags and insulated grocery bags (often called insulated tote bags) don’t work quite as well as a Styrofoam cooler so you will need to buy ice a little more often. Usually though, if kept in the shade they should have no problem keeping things cold for half the day at which time you head back out, find a place to have lunch, restock and head back to the beach.