Punta Cana Day Trip: Santo Domingo Sightseeing Tour

Good trip! Takes a whole day but you can see a lot of Santo Domingo. Full walking tour in the old town.

I felt like we were rushed during this tour and mostly saw vendors rather than truly getting into the history of Santo Domingo and the Los Tres Ojos. I also didn't like that we were passed off to multiple tour guides.

My husband and I went in February. We stayed at an all inclusive resort, so getting out to see the Dominican Republic people and natural beauty was very important to us. The cultural and historic part was very informative and the visit to the caves was amazing.

I booked this tour because it offered the boat trip to the fourth lake at the Three Eyes. However, once we started the tour at the Three Eyes our guide informed us that we did not have time to take the boat trip to see the fourth lake. This was extremely disappointing for our party of four. Not sure if the boat trip to the fourth lake was never to be part of our excursion or if it was the result of time spent at the beginning of the tour approx. 30 minutes waiting for other guests to arrive or the first bathroom/coffee stop that lasted about 30 minutes. The trip to and from Santa Domingo is as advertised, about 2 hours each way which limits the time in Santa Domingo. The 4D film about the Battle of Santa Domingo was excellent and a very interesting experience. For the most part lunch was very good. The stop at Chinatown was a drive by of the archway leading into Chinatown and the stop at the Christopher Columbus Lighthouse not actually a lighthouse was for a picture only. The tour of the palace was very interesting. If you are considering this tour, be prepared for a long day with 4-5 hours of continuous bus ride with bathroom/coffee breaks each way. The bus was not a highway coach - seating for about 20 persons - with limited leg room and seat room. Also, if you are expecting to see the fourth lake at the Three Eyes you might want to confirm that up front, although, like us, what can you do when you get there and then find out that there wasn't enough time?

Although we were to have an English speaking tour director on February 6, 2017, our director spoke little English and most of it was was not understandable. As the only 2 English speakers on a bus of 9 individuals, we were not offered the courtesy of translations for many of his descriptions on the way to Santa Domingo. The bus driver and the director took time out of OUR day to stop at 2 different banks. It took almost 4 hours to arrive at our first scheduled stop on the trip. When we finally arrived in Santa Domingo, we went to the White House then directly to the restaurant. After eating, we were told that we only had time to shop in the store next door to the restaurant. In my opinion, time was wasted on driving to personal banking business, much to the detriment of our getting the options offered in the trip description. After that, we went to the Cathedral and museums. The director rarely offered any historical or cultural information without being prompted. I often asked questions thus getting him to offer some information on the sights. We then proceeded to the caves. Even though we PAID for the boat ride in the caves, we were told that that was not possible. Another tour with the boat rides had to be specifically purchased for participation in that activity. As I read on a previous review, the same problem occurred on their tour. Viator continues to sell this particular trip with incorrect or dated information on options. I feel that the driver, Sandy, was helpful, but complacent in spending OUR purchased time driving around to go to the various banks. We had a total of 15 minutes shopping time in only 1 small store. We did not get the boat ride in the caves. Both options were paid for to insure we had an informational and cultural excursion. We did not get either of these activities as described in the trip package! We were severely disappointed in this tour. By the leaders of this group and the company offering activities that did not occur.

Great trip. We really enjoyed our day and our guide was very knowledgeable! I would recommend this tour!

The tour was wonderful and we covered a lot of sites throughout the day. Lunch was delicious and I enjoyed seeing not only the city of Santo Domingo, but the countryside during the bus trip. One thing I was disappointed by is that I bought this specific tour because it says you will get to see the 4th lake in Tres Ojos, but we were not given the option to do that and nothing was even said about it. There was a lot of rain in the afternoon, but even though we all got wet while walking between stops, everything was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing the historical sites. Our tour guide was very friendly and shared helpful information with us and was able to communicate very clearly in both Spanish and English. I do wish that instead of being taken into one specific shop where the prices actually weren't that good, we would have had a little more time built in to stop at other shops along the main street we were on, walk around a few blocks, or even just sit in one of the parks and enjoy the city Overall, a great trip and I would recommend it to and Punta Cana travelers who want to see what DR is really like away from the resort and learn some of the country's history.