January – March
Whales in the bay
Thousands of humpbacks come into the Bahía de Samaná to calve. Boats go out from Santa Bárbara de Samaná; it is one of the most reliable whale sightings anywhere.
Samaná
The green finger on the north-east coast
A peninsula of jungle-covered hills between the Atlantic and the Bahía de Samaná. Less built than the south, wetter, greener, and considerably quieter.
Getting here
Closer than it looks
El Catey (AZS) is the peninsula’s own airport, with seasonal direct flights from Europe and North America. Santo Domingo (SDQ) and Punta Cana (PUJ) are the year-round alternatives, roughly two and a half and four hours away by road.
- Las Terrenas
- 10 min
- Playa El Anclón
- 8 min
- Playa Bonita
- 15 min
- Salto El Limón
- 20 min
- El Catey airport (AZS)
- 50 min
- Las Galeras
- 1 hr 15 min
Restaurants, market, beach town
Quiet cove, almost always empty
Wide sand, surf school, sunsets
50-metre waterfall in the jungle
Direct flights from Europe & North America
Playa Rincón, end of the peninsula
Nearby
Worth leaving the terrace for
All year
Salto El Limón
A fifty-metre waterfall about twenty minutes away, reached on foot or on horseback through the hills behind us.
All year
Playa Rincón
Past Las Galeras at the tip of the peninsula. Regularly listed among the best beaches in the Caribbean, and still mostly empty.
All year
Las Terrenas
Ten minutes down the hill. A fishing town that turned into a French, Italian and Dominican mix — bakeries, a fish market, and dinner on the sand.
