Punta Cana

Currency

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 & cards

Use Banco Popular, BanReservas or Scotiabank machines inside branches or resorts. Dominican ATMs charge a fixed fee of around 250 DOP and cap withdrawals fairly low. Always decline conversion.

Dominican ATMs charge a fixed fee around 250 DOP and cap withdrawals low. Withdraw pesos, never dollars, and decline conversion.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety

Resort areas are heavily policed and comfortable. Do not walk unlit beaches after dark, use only authorised taxis, and treat organised excursions as safer than unlicensed boat operators.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa

Health & emergencies

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present

Worth having

• Hepatitis A
• Typhoid
• Tetanus up to date

Getting treated

Private clinics in Punta Cana and Santo Domingo are used to treating tourists and are competent, but expensive and quick to require payment up front. Public hospitals are poorly resourced.

Do not drink the tap water. Dengue is present year-round.

Orientation, not medical advice. Entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history and where you have been — check with a travel clinic or your national health service four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

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.

Getting around

• Resort shuttle — most visitors never need anything else
• Taxi — fixed zone pricing, agree the fare before getting in, they are expensive by local standards
• Guagua — local minibuses along the main roads, very cheap and very informal
• Rental car — useful for Bavaro and the east coast, though road discipline is loose
• Airport: Punta Cana International is 20-30 minutes from most Bavaro hotels

Must-see

Things to do

• Spend a day on Bavaro Beach
• Catamaran trip to Saona Island
• Swim in the Hoyo Azul cenote
• Take a buggy tour to Macao Beach
• Snorkel the offshore reef
• Day trip to Isla Catalina

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Spanish (Latin American)

• HelloHolaOH-la
• PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
• Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
• Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
• Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
• How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
• The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
• Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD

The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.

Religion

Catholic

Catholic by constitution and tradition, with Evangelical churches growing quickly.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Greet before asking anything — buenos días first, question second
• Tip 10% on top of the service charge already added
• Dress up a little for evenings out; presentation matters
• Learn a few words of Spanish; English fluency drops fast outside resorts

Don't

• Do not drink the tap water
• Do not photograph people without asking, especially in poorer neighbourhoods
• Do not haggle in shops with marked prices, only with street vendors
• Do not confuse the Dominican Republic with Dominica, or with Haiti