Buffets are ubiquitous, and each resort also has at least a couple of sit-down restaurants. Most include a casual restaurant option on or near the beach. A nightly show is standard, as are organized activities like beach volleyball during the day.
Those basic similarities cover most of the major bases. But that's not to say that every resort is the same. The differences are in the details.
Picking a Property
Because I wanted to test a different resort every night, I booked airfare and resorts separately. The planning was an exercise in frustration. Just finding a Web address or phone number was often a challenge. One resort cut me off during phone transfers six times in a row. The seventh time I actually got a reservations agent and asked if they had rooms available for a given night. "Yes," he answered, and hung up.
Everyone involved in the Punta Cana tourism industry is quite familiar with the packaged tourist, and totally flummoxed by the independent traveler who just wants to rent a room. So do yourself a favor and contact a travel agent or tour operator.
Start, though, by narrowing down the choices before picking up a phone or a mouse. Use the chart on this page to help you decide which of the many similar-seeming resorts you want to include in your package, and ask yourself the following questions:
• Do I want the intimacy and familiarity of a smaller resort -- small in this context means less than 400 rooms -- or the advantages of size that come from a place with 1,000-plus rooms? (The biggest resorts will have more pools and restaurants to choose from, but you lose a sense of intimacy, and getting from the lobby to the beach to your room will mean a longer hike.)
• How much extra do I want to pay to improve the room substantially, the food marginally, and the drinks and beach experience not at all?
• Do I want calm surf? If so, choose from resorts on the southern part of the Punta Cana area. If boogie-boarding or body-surfing is important, head to the north, where the Atlantic holds sway on the island surrounded by Atlantic and Caribbean waters.
• Am I satisfied with beach and swimming pools, or is tennis, a gym, golf or a casino essential?
Once you've zeroed in on a few choices, hone in on the details. Our chart lists Web sites that offer pictures and descriptions. For the tiny details -- down to whether they put flowers on the washcloths -- visit a Web site I unfortunately stumbled over late in my planning process, www.debbiesdominicantravel.com. You can probably find all you need to know at one of the online review sites that take on the world. At www.tripadvisor.com, for example, you'll find more than 100 reviews of Punta Cana. But Debbie's Dominican Republic focuses on that island alone and has more than 4,000 reviews.
The site is an amazing exercise in the democratic review process. Thousands of people who've stayed in Punta Cana want to share the nitty-gritty of their experience, and Debbie lets them rip.
