Bahia Principe Grand Punta Cana is on a huge site! And I mean huge!!! There are dozens of buildings, each with around 20 or so rooms, surrounding a long, palm tree lined walkway from lobby to beach. There’s a big pool roughly mid-way along it, plus another pool right on the beachfront, though the beachfront pool was unfortunately being refurbished when we were there. All those palm trees and traditional style buildings give a real tropical, Caribbean vibe as you walk around, which was brilliant – perfect for a chilled out vacation! We were pleasantly surprised at the land trains that zipped up and down the walkway constantly – it’s such a big site that they were definitely a welcome relief, particularly when the heat got a bit much!
Our rooms were lovely – the kids were impressed with the four poster beds, while Mr Different and I loved the marble bathroom with “rain” showerhead! We nearly all fitted into a junior suite, which had 2 double beds and a smaller single bed, as well as a small table and chairs. (It would have been perfect had the kids been a tiny bit younger! But having teens and tweens, we were glad to be able to spread out to a regular room too!)
The location was great, with direct access to a lovely stretch of powder sand beach and clean, turquoise water. The kids snorkelled, and even managed to see a few fish just off the beach! And there were plenty of sunloungers available – not that we did much sitting around!
There was a handy beach shower right as you came off the sand, with both regular height showers and low down “foot” showers – brilliant when you don’t want little ones to traipse half the beach back to your room!!! And it was right next to a land-train stop, so getting back to your room with buckets, spades, inflatables and all the other beach gear was a doddle! Don’t worry about towels either – Bahia Principe have you covered! There was a towel hut near the entrance to the beach and another right next to the pool. Simply exchange your cards for towels, then swap the towels back for the cards once you’re done! So much easier than lugging wet towels around!
The pool was lovely – very spacious, with a separated, shallow area for tots. Plus there was a fab swim-up bar! There were plenty of sunloungers again, not to mention lots of cute, thatched shade umbrellas, and several staff wandering around taking drink orders, so you didn’t even need to swim over to the bar if you didn’t want to!!! If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll likely know from other posts that our kids are huge pool aficionados, and they all gave it a big thumbs up! They particularly liked it in the morning, when it was surprisingly quiet during our stay, which gave them extra splashing room!
The buffet restaurant was lovely, and the food delicious! The kids were super chuffed with pancakes and French toast for breakfast every day! Numerous varieties of pizza were a staple at every lunch and dinner, as were burgers and fries (good to know if you’ve got picky eaters!) and there was a great range of other options too. We all liked the grill/carvery section, where there was some sort of barbecued meat and fish at each sitting. There were different “theme” nights – while we were there we had Chinese night, Spanish night and American night! And of course there was the usual continental buffet offerings of assorted cold meats, cheeses and fruit available at every sitting.
If you’re taking teeny ones, you’ll definitely want a lightweight pushchair with you to save their legs when getting around the site! (Or your arms, when they ask to be carried for the millionth time!) We couldn’t get over how much walking we did – even though we used the land train as often as we could! The whole site was lovely and well maintained, with friendly staff, and was just perfect for tropical sun-lovers! We had a fab, chilled out, family beach holiday – if you’re wanting a week or two of relaxing on the beach and sitting around the pool with your kids, check them out!
Our family of 5 (kids 16, 13 and 9) stayed in June 2023.
For current availability and prices, see their website here.
A Different Way To Go 