The Dominican Republic is a great place to go for a tropical vacation. Living in NYC, sometimes we have the strong desire to get out of the busyness and escape to a slower paced place near the ocean. Our favorite place of the Dominican Republic is Samana, a peninsula on the east side of the island.

I know a lot of people aren’t traveling right now because of COVID-19, but I wanted to share this information with you now so hopefully you can use it at a future date when traveling becomes normalized again. We can all dream and plan for our next vacation, and this is one of my favorites, so I wanted to share. If you’re visiting Samana in the Dominican Republic and are looking for a great place to stay during your trip, I have the perfect hotel suggestion for you. Sublime Samaná Hotel & Residences took great care of us. We can’t wait to go back! I’ve written up a blog post all about this hotel accommodation, and why I think it is a great place to stay during your trip. I hope you enjoy!

The Staff

We fell in love with the staff when we stayed at Sublime Samana. From the moment we arrived, we felt welcome and cared for. They greeted us warmly and made us feel right at home. They led us to our suite, showing us around, and not leaving until all of our needs were met. Everyone that we came in contact with had a smile on their face and was ready to help us. When we went to the beach, the staff would welcome us and ask us where we wanted to sit. Then they would bring over a fresh chair cover and set up our station for us, making it as inviting as possible. Often times while at the beach, the staff would make smoothie samples and walk around offering them to the guests. The staff made us feel like royalty every time we sat down to eat at one of their restaurants. The service was always top notch. Some of the staff members speak English a little better than others, but they all tried their best, and working together, communication was not a problem.

The Suite

We loved everything about our suite at Sublime Samama. It had exactly what we needed for the perfect vacation. We stayed in a one bedroom suite with a one-and-a-half bath. It was perfect for the three of us. Jimmy slept on the couch in the living room while Nate and I took the king-size master.

At Sublime Samaná, they have several sizes and styles of suites to accommodate larger groups and different needs as well as detached duplexes/houses. To get in contact with this hotel you can visit the website that I linked above, however, since many of the units are independently owned, you can often find them on Airbnb. (We met at least one couple who owned a unit and live there for long periods of time throughout the year.) We found our suite on Airbnb and got a good deal. Some of the condos have outdoor hot tubs. Some are closer to the beach making them a little more expensive (although all units are fairly close to the beach). Different units can offer different layouts, so look around and see what works best for your family.

The kitchen was well equipped with everything that we needed for the week. There was a large size fridge, a microwave, pots, pans, toaster, everything you’d want to cook with. The only thing it was missing was an oven. We bought brownie mix at the store before inspecting the kitchen, not realizing that we didn’t have an oven, so we ended up getting creative and making the brownies on the stovetop! Not recommended, but it satisfied our sweet tooth that night. Also, there wasn’t a dishwasher, but with daily cleaning from the house cleaners, we didn’t really need one. I barely did any dishes the whole trip. They did our dishes everyday, and we would come back to a sparkling clean kitchen after a long day at the beach. Amazing! (We made sure to leave an extra tip for the housecleaner though.) There are a couple of grocery stores really close, about a 15-min drive away, if you're wanting to use your kitchen for cooking. The two grocery stores that I recommend are-

Supermercado Lindo, 8F74+QR Calle Duarte Las Terrenas 32000

Superercado Pola, 8F74+2C Calle Duarte Las Terrenas 32000

While staying at Sublime Semaná, you could choose to eat out for all of your meals or choose to cook at home for all of your meals. We did a mix, breakfast at home, lunch at the restaurant on the beach, and then dinner at home or at the other fancier restaurant. I enjoy shopping at grocery stores in other countries and seeing what new products I can find that I can’t normally find in the US. I loved the passion fruit that I found there, and would add it to a fresh fruit salad for breakfast and over vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream for dessert. Yum!

The master bedroom and bathroom was nice, clean, and perfectly put together for us. There was a big closet for storage so we could unpack for the week and feel more settled. The shower was nice with a rain water shower head that felt like a spa. The air conditioner worked great too which is a must for us. One of my favorite things about this suite is the outside deck area. There were lounge chairs set up for relaxing and a dining table set for eating. We ate many meals outside on the deck which made eating at home even more fun and memorable.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of things about our suite that weren’t ideal. The internet wasn’t the fastest. We wouldn’t have been able to take Zoom calls, etc. But it was sufficient for regular email, and we were able to connect a Firestick to stream Netflix, although with some buffering at times. Also, the shower took a long time to get hot. There would be times that it would finally get hot and be fine, but then there were other days that it would never get hot. I think it depended on the time of the day. That was a bit annoying and something that we didn’t expect at such a nice resort.

The Pools

The pool area was probably my favorite part of staying at Sublime Samaná. I mean look at it! Paradise. I could have stayed there and relaxed for months. I love the beds with the white canopies over the top. It gave the perfect amount of sun and shade. The water between the beds was shallow, so Jimmy loved wading through it on his way down to the big pool. This part of the resort was also great for picture taking. Make sure to bring your camera!

This pool pictured below was an adult only pool for 18 and up. This resort welcomes children and families, but this pool is the one spot of the resort where children are not welcome. It was a nice place to slip away and have some peace and quiet while Nate watched Jimmy. There was a family friendly pool as well on the other end of the resort near the beach that the three of us spent a lot of time at.

The Beach

The overall best thing about staying at Sublime Samamá is the direct beach access. In a short walk of only 5 minutes, we were at the beach. When we visited Sublime Samana, the resort wasn’t very busy. There were times when we felt like we had the whole beach to ourselves. It was paradise. The beach was absolutely gorgeous! The water was warm and the sand was velvety. We couldn’t have asked for a better beach to spend our vacation. Plus, with the restaurant and bar close by, you can easily order any tropical drink of your choice and they will deliver it to your lounge chair to enjoy while you’re sunbathing. Mai Tai anyone?

All of the guests staying at Sublime Samaná have access to this beach hut full of everything you need for the perfect beach day. They had life jackets (even Jimmy sized ones), boogie boards, bikes, paddle boards, and even a sailboat. We also loved that they had sand toys available for children, perfect for sandcastle building. It was so convenient to have everything that we would need right in one spot. No worries about bringing any of it with us from home!

The Restaurants

Sublime Samaná has two restaurant options on the resort property. We ate at both of them and would recommend them, especially if cooking isn’t your thing. The restaurant pictured below is right on the beach making it so convenient. We would spend a few hours at the beach and then when lunch time rolled around, we just walked a few steps over to this restaurant. You can’t get much better than that. And at the end of the meal, we charged it to our hotel tab to pay later. So easy and stress-free.

The food here was great. We loved their fresh guacamole with fried plantain chips. I could eat that everyday! Everything that we ate there we loved. Nate recommends the pumpkin hummus dish with steak. They also make fantastic tropical drinks, mojitos being my favorite. Don’t miss their special watermelon mojito. Heaven!

The Playground

As a mom, I appreciate a good playground for Jimmy to play at. Sublime Samaná has a playground at their resort that Jimmy loved. It was more like an obstacle course, with tunnels to climb through, and ropes to balance on. We would time Jimmy and see how fast he could finish it and then he would try and beat his time.

Besides the playground, Jimmy loved seeing all the snails that would come out at night. There were tons! They would be all over the bushes and the sidewalk. There were tons of stray cats that “lived” at the resort. Jimmy loved playing with them and feeding them his extra food scraps from dinner. One night we saw a giant frog hanging out on the sidewalk. Lots of fun critters around the resort for kids to play with.

I hope you enjoy your stay at Sublime Samaná. We loved it there, and I hope you do too. Let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below!