The 2025 Ultimate Guide to Punta Cana

Welcome to the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips for moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• The 2025 Ultimate Guide to Punta Cana

• I’m Doing 1-on-1 Meetings (Here’s How and Why)

• The Best Conversation I’ve Had in Dominican Republic

If you’d like to jump on a one hour zoom with me for a personalized session about your move or investment in Dominican Republic, you can do so here. This is a paid consulting session and I have limited spaces available. More on this below!

Your 2025 Ultimate Guide to Punta Cana

Over the past 2 ½ years, I’ve been blessed to travel and experience LOTS of the Dominican Republic.

While I can speak to some experiences in Santo Domingo, Samana, Puerto Plata and Santiago - the majority of my time is spent where I live in Punta Cana.

Today I’m going to give you EVERYTHING you need to explore Punta Cana in 2025.

I’ll lay out the top 5 (in no particular order) across 6 different categories for those of you that are looking to move here, invest here or just visit here!

QUICK POINT: These are JUST my personal favorites and opinions and I make ZERO money from any of these brands or businesses. (Although one or two may comp me a drink or something if they see themselves on the list 😄 ). Just want you to know this is just my take with zero outside influence!

TOP 5 FAMILY FRIENDLY RESORTS

• Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana

• Grand Palladium Resorts

• Barcelo

• Melia Resorts

• Hard Rock Resorts

Honorable Mention: include Majestic Elegance, Dreams Resorts

The Skinny:

The Hyatt has the best food by far! Palladium is right on Cortecito so it’s close to some great restaurants and beach town vibes. Melia and Barcelo have access to Bavaro and along with Palladium, have passable food and good overall amenities. Hard Rock is really nice but far from it all.

TOP 5 ADULTS ONLY RESORTS

• Hyatt Zilara

• Secrets Resorts

• TRS

• Excellence

• Melia Beach Wellness

The Skinny:

Zilara will win on food again and it’s in Cap Cana. Secrets and TRS have multiple locations now. I’ve never stayed at Melia or Excellence myself but their reputations are really good.

TOP 5 RESTAURANTS

• Castaways Bistro (Corrales)

• Noah (Cap Cana)

• Jellyfish (Bavaro/Bibijagua)

• La Cava (Punta Cana Village)

• Market (BlueMall)

Honorable Mentions: Terra Negra, Bruja Chupadora, SBG, Barbudo, Herman 311.

The Skinny:

May as well call this a top 10 because it was REALLY hard to decide! Just go to all of them!

Castaways has amazing cajun style food and is walkable to Terra Negra, Bruja Chupadora and many others.

Noah and SBG are great high end date nights.

Market just has great food - everything including their pizza is fabulous.

Jellyfish is legendary and is right on the beach - great seafood.

La Cava is here because their food has gotten much better, the atmosphere is great, we love their service and it’s right in the village for people living or airbnb’ing here.

Barbudo and SBG have INCREDIBLE tres/cuatro leche desserts and atmospheres.

Herman 311 wins if you love steak or seafood with wine pairing.

Terra Negra mexican food and atmosphere is awesome and get the ribs for an appetizer at Bruja .. you’ll thank me later!

TOP 5 NEIGHBORHOODS FOR FAMILIES

• Punta Cana Village

• Ciudad La Palma

• Cocotal

• Ciudad Las Canas

• Vista Cana

Honorable mention: Costa Cana, Pueblo Bavaro, White Sands, Cana Bay

The Skinny:

If you talk to anyone in almost any community here that has kids, they’ll admit that if they could afford the village, they’d be in the village. It’s built for family, everything from Nacional to Blue Mall to 4 different schools, to great doctors, banks, restaurants, bars, breweries along with community fields and pools is in walking distance.

Ciudad La Palma is like the village in terms of kids running around, very family oriented and lively, but has 20% of the amenities. That said, it’s a short drive to the village.

Cocotal has families but it’s less lively but it’s right in the middle of everything and owners get access to Melia resorts.

Ciudad Las Canas is similar in that it’s less lively and you get access to Cap Cana. Heritage School is inside Las Canas so it’ll continue to grow into a family friendly spot.

Vista Cana is the future. If our kids were super little or we didn’t have them yet, I’d be all over Vista Cana because in 5-7 years I think it’s gonna be a HUGE family community.

Costa Cana, White Sands are lower cost but well done communities. Pueblo Bavaro is more Veron/Higuey like. Cana Bay is Hard Rock area, so it’s just far from everything and less active as a community.

TOP 5 OFF-RESORT ACTIVITIES

• Scape Park Cap Cana

• Dolphin Discovery

• Isla Saona

• Caribbean Lake Park

• Monkeyland

Honorable Mention: Higuey Tour, El Dorado

The Skinny:

Scape Park is a full day of fun and worth every penny!

Dolphin Discovery is more than the big fish - there’s a great water park and it’s very budget friendly.

Saona is a day trip by bus and then boat but worth doing once if you never have

Caribbean Lake Park is a cool water adventure land with zip lines, bouncy houses in the water, water skiing and much more.

Monkeyland I haven’t visited but good friends have and LOVED it

If you want to get into Higuey, see the Basilica and how cacao or sugar cane is processed it’s a fun tour. And El Dorado is a water park on steroids, but I recognize it’s pricier than most want to pay. We love it!

Pro tip - at Caribbean Lake Park and Dolphin Discovery, when they start with the foam party hold on to your small kids haha. They get lost in it quick!!

TOP 5 SPOTS WE SEE OTHER LOCALS

• Las Galerias

• Funlandia

• Cana Club

• Maralia/API Beach

• Any beaches

Honorable Mention: Blue Mall, Downtown Mall, El Dorado, Dolphin Discovery, Caribbean Lake Park, Punta Cana Soccer Club, any local restaurant

The Skinny:

Free beaches to get to include Cabeza De Toro, Corrales, Cortecito, Bibijagua. Beaches you need to pay to access are Juanillo, Playa Blanca and API Beach. When you pay at the gate that money is credit at the restaurant, so as long as you eat it, you’re just pre-paying for your meal essentially.

Las Galerias is the public part of Punta Cana Village - a walking mall with tons of stuff and familiy activiees

Funlandia is a birthday party hot spot as a trampoline park and indoor playground.

Cana Club inside Punta Cana Resorts is fun to relax at on a Saturday

Maralia/API Beach inside Cap Cana is a place you spend the whole day lounging by the pool, going into the ocean and eating and drinking for a few hours.

If you’d like even more on this including areas to invest, even more things to do and more stay tuned for a comprehensive free PDF I’m putting together for you!

I’m Doing 1-on-1 Meetings (Here’s How and Why)

Multiple times a week I get asked if I’d be willing to jump on a call or get coffee.

As I’m sure you can appreciate, there’s no way I can honor this and still strike a balance as a husband father and business owner .. plus enjoy my own down time.

So my standard response is ‘no’ - of course with gratitude.

That said, there’s a growing number of people who seem to be seriously considering investing or moving here and they have been asking if I’d be willing to do a paid consultation call.

I had declined this as well, but I’m realizing that there are people that TRULY need a discussion to get advice and build confidence in their dream of owning in or moving to Dominican Republic.

With that in mind, I’m going to offer up some time for consultations.

• A one hour consultation can be booked here

• The consultation is $500 for the hour

• I’m asking for comprehensive questions/topics in advance so I can maximize the value of our time together for you

Some people have messaged me that my price is ‘steep’. Understood! I have PLENTY of free content out there that hopefully gives a TON of value to anyone watching.

However, having coached before for up to $2000/hour, here’s what those that would book a call understand.

• You’re not paying for an hour of my time, you’re paying for nearly 3 years of on the ground experience

• It’s not a cost of $500, it’s an investment to avoid financial or time losses

• The value is not talking to me, the value is leveraging my connections and knowledge (along with the knowledge of those around me) to get answers you need

Lastly, I can spend 60-90 minutes making a YouTube video and make $500-$1000 on Google AdSense and sponsors. It makes no financial sense for me to make any less than $500 for an hour of work.

That’s not to be flippant or egocentric, just simply the economics of it.

Last last — when I pay for something I take it seriously and the best thing that can come out of these conversations is significant movement toward your goal.

What I would ask, however, is please don’t book time to pitch me.

Anyway - if no one books time, that’s fine.

If one person does, great! It’s really not my business model to do individual calls but I wanted to at least honor the volume of requests and provide the space for those who would value it!

It’s funny - I’m trying to honor the diverse minds that consume my content by explaining this process but I’m sure some of you are saying ‘dude, no explanation needed - makes perfect sense’ while others are saying ‘how could it possibly be worth $500 to get on a call?’ haha.

If we end up talking, I look forward to it!

The BEST Conversation I’ve Had in Dominican Republic

Manny Cruz is one of the biggest stars in the entire country. I was blessed to sit down with him in Zona Colonial at Hasta La Tambora for an in depth conversation on life, music, failure and success.

In addition, check out the exclusive concert he gave at the end with the legendary Henry Jiminez and Aramis Camilo!

I’m sure there’s some spots I left of my 2025 Top Spots lists above!! Let me know what you think and thanks for following along!