Punta Cana Mid-range
Leave the resort at least once. La Bandera — rice, beans and stewed meat — is the national plate and costs a fraction of hotel prices. Try fresh fish at the beach shacks in El Cortecito.
Dominican Republic travel tips
Budget travel in Dominican Republic
What a visitor's money does in Dominican Republic: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Mid-range average across 1 guide · 5 is very cheap
Money
Dominican Peso (DOP) · 1 EUR = 67.4 DOP · 1 USD = 58.8 DOP
US dollars are accepted at resorts but always at a poor rate — pay in pesos wherever you can. Exchange at a bank or an official casa de cambio rather than at the hotel desk.
ATMs
Avoid: resort lobby machines, ATMs inside the Hotel Zone shops
Use: Banco Popular, BanReservas, Scotiabank
Dominican ATMs charge a fixed fee around 250 DOP and cap withdrawals low. Withdraw pesos, never dollars, and decline conversion.
Getting around
A short ride in Punta Cana: RD$200–450 across town — cheap
From the airport: Punta Cana airport to Bávaro $25–40 — the resort strip is taxi-union ground
Much cheaper in the cities. At the resort airports the union sets the price and the apps cannot pick up at the terminal.
City by city, cheapest first
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
