Punta Cana

The View

The Westin Punta Cana Resort has an incredible view of the water from the moment you walk into the lobby. Just beyond the pool and palm trees, the blue-blue sky meets the blue-green ocean with perfect, soft, and not-too-hot sand. There is a pier that greets you as a picture-perfect symbol that you are in paradise. Though not all the rooms directly look out at the ocean, you can still see a portion of this view from each balcony.

The sunsets and sunrises were also something to remember! The colors were unreal, and having the pier as an option for capturing these moments was a big perk. Though we had to get up pretty early in order to see the sunrises from their start, they were well worth it. 

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The Food

There are few things better in this world than incredible tacos and a pina colada delivered to you under a cabana while you read in a lounger on a beach. The Westin Punta Cana Resort  offered both beachside and poolside food service. The beach menu was tied to our go-to lunch spot, Arena Beach Club. The pool had more “bar food” options. There are a few restaurants on location: The Arena Beach Club , The Brassa Grille and Bao. The menu at the Arena Beach Club offered a lot of delicious options- from clubs and seafood to tacos. We enjoyed this often for lunch, as well as dinner with heavier fare on the menu in the evening. For dinner we also frequented Bao. Bao had delicious Asian food- from sushi and bao buns to kung pao chicken and garlic noodles. We always started with a bowl of spicy edamame, charred and seasoned to perfection. All the restaurants were accommodating to dietary restrictions (like changing the oil for French fries or using a different soy sauce) and most servers spoke multiple languages in order to meet those specifications. Overall meals range between 20-60 depending on what you order and if you get any cocktails or wine. Cocktails were delicious and ran around $12, wine was like $20 a glass(!!!!). 

Another star of the food-show at the Westin was the breakfast bar. I don't know about you, but I am used to hotel buffets being pretty sub-par. This was far from that. Every type of breakfast food you could think of seemed to be available, including local foods! I happen to adore plantains, local sausages, fresh juice, and lentils, so breakfast was a big highlight for me. I also discovered I could order a “café con leche de almendras y miel” from the bar. The barista and I became early morning friends as I grabbed a latte before walking on the beach. She said I was the first person to ask for miel in a latte and ended up trying it herself! Breakfast everyday is about $40/person when you go the “all-you-can-eat” route- oatmeal bar, breakfast meats, omelette bar, cereal bar, pastry bar, salad bar, local foods, local fruits, fresh squeezed juice, and to top it off, some very good coffee. I am not sure what the charges are for ordering individually but I saw families doing that as well. 

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The Accommodations

The bedding in the rooms was extremely comfortable- this is coming from a person who has high standards for what that means! The rooms were simple and comfortable. There were some pointed difficulties (noted below) but overall an affordable price given the location is only feet from a dreamy private beach. I am fairly certain every room has a balcony, a small coffee maker, small desk area and mini-fridge. Bottled water is provided in the room, and we used our post-its to ask for extra. Bottled water outside of the room cost around $5 so this move was super helpful and we ended up with an extra case of water!

The cabanas on the beach were free. This was a huge lifesaver for my January haven’t-seen-the-sun-skin! There were smaller and larger cabanas to accommodate different sizes of groups. The beach was private so it was very relaxing, other than the occasional sand-bar party boat. They keep it very clean so there is minimal seaweed compared to the other areas that surround the private beach. The pool was really large and also featured some cabanas to shade from the sun. There was a nice infinity pool, perfect for sitting in the water while reading. You could request as many towels as needed from the desk by the pool as well. We often shifted to the pool for late lunches or snacks because the nachos/guac were delightful! 

The resort had a few other perks, being a part of a gated community of resorts. There were several golf courses close by with incredible views, a spa, plenty of additional restaurants onsite at other resorts, and activities like kite surfing and paddle boarding just one beach over. There is a full-blown cigar bar and a kid’s play area with what seemed to be on-site babysitting in a little schoolhouse. There were also transportation options that you could schedule through the hotel to get to the different areas of the gated resort or a bus to take you into “town”. 

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The Cons

Airport transportation 

The hotel’s airport transportation didn’t start running until after our visit. If you decide to travel to The Westin Punta Cana Resort know that you might have to verify your airport transportation in advance. On our second visit this became incredibly easy with just a phone call and a short wait. 

**A side note: you have to complete travel documentation for coming and leaving from the Dominican Republic. You will need a QR code that is generated after you complete these documents. We experienced some glitches depending on the browser we used to complete them, that reloaded the page before the QR code could be screenshot. Take some time in advance to take care of this before your day of travel! 

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Room Details

A few notes on the rooms that were more annoying that off-putting. 

• There are no microwaves, which is a bummer for someone like me who would rather turn one meal into two portion-wise and not waste food. If only I liked cold Chinese! 
• There aren’t a lot of places to hang wet clothes and towels. I think most people just throw their towels on the floor and reuse new ones when needed, and we were able to dry our clothes outside. But, we definitely could have used more places to hang things. 
• There are only a few light controls, so we had to get creative on lighting the bathroom area at night so that we didn’t wake ourselves and the whole room up with the bright overhead lights. We took the lamp from the desk and plugged it in under the sink- worked perfect. 
• We brought a ROKU device both times and for some reason the TV volume goes to 100 and you cannot turn it down. Overall the TV volume was really annoying. I would recommend bringing a speaker, as you can connect alternative audio devices. On our second trip the TV offered limited Netflix and Prime streaming. 
• Room service food was just OK, but not as good as the restaurant food. I would recommend placing pickup orders from the restaurants instead. They are all connected to the hotel, so walking there to pick up food is not a hassle and the quality is loads better. 

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