Beautiful resort

grounds are lovely and well kept. the beach is beautiful but there were not enough beach chairs . the dining was excellent and the service was excellent. Junior Sanchez and Ysabel Payano of the Gourmet resto were very welcoming and knowledgeable. not enough pools.

Beautiful Samana

After a very smooth check in and friendly greeting from the staff we anxiously made our way to bldg 10 to have a look at the junior suite we had booked. We were pleasantly surprised, our home for the next 7 days was bright, spacious and beautiful. We overlooked the quiet pool and surrounding gardens. Although wanting to get unpacked we couldn't wait to tour around and get our bearings. The lobby at El Portillo is at the back of the resort, closer to the ocean as opposed to the entrance of the re [... read more]sort, we loved this layou, so nice enjoying a cocktail at the piano bar, in the lounge or enjoying a delicious meal on the outdoor patio at the buffet. We would highly recommend Grand Bahia Principe El Portillo to anyone whether travelling as a couple or as a family.

Very pleased with the whole resort

especially great food at the buffet especially great service at the Gourmet Restaurant from Junior Sanchez and Ysabel. The food in all the A la Carte restaurants was amazing. all the facilities were first class.

Great small resort

Easy to access all areas. Rooms very clean. Older sections need upgrading. All employees friendly and very accomodating. Resort is growing with two new buildings this year and two more planned for 2016. This makes for crowding at the pool and buffet. We are assured that they will take this into account this coming year. More chairs needed at pool and beach areas. Food is really great and lots of it.

Great resort but getting too busy.

Our third visit....great location, beautiful quite beaches to explore. Excellent restaurants with a wide variety of well prepared and tasty dishes....you will gain weight! We love the many trees that provide shade at the beach and pool. The resort added rooms this year and it is noticeably busier making it hard to find a lounge chair at the beach or pool. The resort added a sheltered seating area and patio areas providing extra space to enjoy an evening cocktail. We heard there are more expansio [... read more]n plans and hope the plans include an additional pool (an adults only pool would be nice!) and dining areas. We continue to recommend this resort but suggest you keep an eye on future reviews.

Will go back again

Our stay for one week was wonderful. The rooms are clean and large, the food in the buffets and ala carte restaurants is very good, better then we have experienced at other resorts. Make sure you book the ala carte restaurants when you arrive, they are worth it. The waiters are terrific, very friendly and helpful especially Ariel, Ruben, Jose, Pedro...great guys in the beach restaurant. The beach is a little overcrowded and you need to hold your chairs by 6:30 or 7:00am or you may not get any. D [... read more]on't leave just the hotel towel on a chair to hold it, you need to put personal items on the chair as well, such as sandals, bag, your own towel, etc. The massages off property are amazing and well worth the price. We didn't book the massage in the resort due to price. Quite a few vendors on the beach with jewellery, scarves, etc to sell, but not pushy. The water is great, and the snorkelling terrific. Some of the reef is close to shore and can be walked to with fish very visible, however, if the day is windy, the bottom gets stirred up quickly and visibility is less. Best time to check out the fish is early in the morning. Off property excursions seemed to be priced high, we didn't do any, however, people who went whale watching said it was amazing. We would recommend this resort and will go back.

Good but not amazing

The resort is OK, the food was good, service nice, room good. However the resort was overcrowded and to get a chair had to get up at 6 AM. The pool was packed with kids that are jumping and splashing around. The lobby is missing some natural flowers and vegetation; I was amazed to see that all flower are made of plastic and the central piece consist of palms made of metal. The beach is nice, long and just right for long walks. The trip to and from the airport was fast and very well organized. Th [... read more]e fact that we had to pay extra for a safe in the room isn't exactly what we expected since this is a all inclusive resort and you need to put your valuables somewhere. Overall, I cannot say that this was a bad experience but next time I will try something else for sure.

Fantastic destination

From the airport shuttle to the check in process everything was smooth. Quick simple check in and off to nice room. Ample sized with a nice bathroom and balcony. Only small issue with the room is pillows were flat and hard. The resort itself is beautiful. Very well maintained and kept spotless. Buffet and a la carte's also, all great! There's no shortage of food abd even the pickiest eater would be able to happily fill their plates. Must try the Brazilian a la carte...amazing! Pool is warm and [... read more] perfect. Hard to find chairs during the day but always plenty of chairs at the beach. Beach is beautiful. It stretches endlessly on both sides of the resort for nice walks. Sand is powdery and lovely and the water calm and lovely. If you like to snorkel there's plenty of reef right at your toes, literally! Some areas are covered in coral reef....others just lovely sand. There's plenty of areas for R&R and plenty of activities planned by the animation team. Really, they go out of their way to make sure their guest are happy. Bars a plenty and great service from bar staff and wait staff alike. Although tipping seems to make no difference in the level of service, a smile and kindness on the other hand goes a long way. All in all, a fantastic resort and location. We loved our stay here and although we never go to the same place twice, we would here. Tips.... Massage on the beach just off the beaten path, a must! $25-30 USD and you will be thankful. Book excursions with Manuel at the scuba shack. We did whale watching (nice big boat) saw tons of whales! Also went on the catamaran snorkelling tour which was quite lovely. Not a booze cruise if that's what you desire. More subdued but a great day on the water. Thank you Jennifer at trip central for helping with our booking. We are very pleased with El Portilllo!!

THE BEST EVER

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL, LOVE THE LONG BEACH, THE STAFF WAS VERY ACCOMODATING. THE ALA CART RESTAURANTS WERE EXCELLENT!!! WOULD HAVE LIKED THE POOL AEROBICS IN THE MORNING IN THE POOL! PLENTY OF SHADE AND VERY CLEAN!!!

Great Resort

Great People and service ..Excellent Location..Very Clean..Good food..Very nice beach..Euclides at the beach bar is the best bartender i've ever encountered. Would definitely go again and recommend to all. Don't miss the whale watching when there in season..End of Jan through March.

Quiet and Relaxing Stay

This resort is a nice size - not too big and not too small. Restaurants were nice, good selection and quality of food. Rooms were spacious, clean and close to everything. Plenty of seating areas to relax in the lobby and around the courtyards. Pool area is small and seating very limited. Beach was nice soft sand, great for snorkeling and walking, lots of shade, chairs hard to find. Piano bar/Lobby entertainment was good. Resort entertainment/nightly shows were poor - setting in Pueblo Principe s [... read more]quare not ideal. The Theatre was not used once during our week stay?

Beautiful beach!!!

The resort is situated on what seems to be a never ending beach. Lots of palapas & trees when you need to get out of the sun, lounges always available and drinks not far away at the beach & pool bars. The resort is clean and well maintained. Staff are gracious, attentive & friendly, although I sense a change of management from last year...perhaps fewer staff available in the dining room and sometimes stretched a little thin?? The food at the buffet although a bit repetitious is good, and we real [... read more]ly enjoyed our dinners at Portofino & El Pescador restaurants. The extra $ for the lobster dinner was worth it. Anyway this was our second visit, and we were a little disappointed that we weren't informed of the construction going on at the former beach bar/snack bar. (It seems that Bahia is painting everything white too which makes even a casual bar/snack bar look a little too formal for me). From early morning til evening there was plenty of construction noise at the "quiet" beach and since our room was nearby we had to endure it whenever we were on our balcony. Too much like being in the city! On good days, snorkelling among the reefs off shore is wonderful! Although when the water isn't clear your can bump into the reefs before you know they're there...so be careful.

Problems with sevice.

This was our second stay at this hotel.Last year we were very impressed with perfect service.The grounds and beach are very beautiful.But this time the hotel was overcrowded and administration seemed to have a hard time coping. At arrival the room assigned to us was already occupied when arriving late at night.This resulted in a frantic search for another room,which we found inferior. We had to beg and plead the following day for other accommodation and were finally able to move mid afternoon,lo [... read more]osing part of the enjoyment of our first vacation day. We had to ask for towels in our room several times and one night and part of a day we had no running water.Toilette could not be flushed. House phones did not work either. We were very disappointed.

Beautiful beach

I went to this hotel with 2 of my adults daughters as we were looking for a week of rest and relaxation: the objective was attained ! The property is very clean and the beach is easily accessible. We took a long walk one day and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was fine and I would recommend the Orquidea.

Quiet Getaway

Our 2nd visit to this resort and first with our young daughter (4 yrs). The beach is lovely with soft white sand and great for long walks that can go for miles. The ocean in front of the resort is gentle and great for kids due to the reef not far from shore. The new splash park with a lifeguard for the kids was a wonderful new addition since our last visit. As with most Bahia resorts, the food in the buffet is of good quality and enough variation as to not get boring for a weeks stay. The staff [... read more] in the buffet were always attentive and pleasant. The rooms are simple with not a lot of "fancy" features but always cleaned well. Mattress was firm with plenty of pillows and clean sheets. My only complaint would be that you had to pay an additional fee for the room safe ($4 a day) which should be included in your package so you didn't have the additional hassle at check in. Lots of construction going on with the addition of more rooms but didn't adversely affect our stay in any way. This quiet location won't be our secret too much longer...

Fantastic Getaway

This is THEE perfect getaway! It was a quiet resort located on a beautiful stretch of sandy beach. Our room location was great, as it was close to the main pool, beach, and most restaurants. The beach is public, so there were sellers walking up and down in blue shirts. They left you alone when you said "no gracias." The grounds of the resort are beautiful. You can tell how much pride they take in them. It rained once our entire trip (late night, so we were in bed) and in the morning they had som [... read more]eone shot-vacing the roadways by reception! The selection of food was more than I imagined (and it had flavour!). There was no shortage of it, either. The staff were anxious to please. We found they understood French a bit more than English, though. Unfortunately we had to make a trip to the doctor, as I got a fever that wouldn't go away (cold-related). The doctor on staff (Tony) is wonderful. There was lots of paperwork to fill out, but I was feeling better and back on the beach within a couple hours of seeing him. You have to purchase internet (if you want it). We found we used it in our rooms at night when we were winding down. The cost was reasonable for 7 days. You also should purchase a safe (in fact, they highly recommend it). It gave us peace of mind knowing our passports, tablets, etc were locked up in our room when we weren't in it (which was hardly ever). We did one excursion through our tour operator. It was nice to get off the resort for the day. The hotel sells excursions, but it's best to go through your tour operator. On Tuesdays they put a bar in the ocean for the afternoon! It was nice not having to walk back to the main bars to get drinks! Snorkeling is free, but you can only reserve equipment for a 1/2 hr per day. Make sure to bring lots of $1 USD bills. It's good for tipping. We never had a problem finding beach chairs, although the ones under umbrellas were always gone first. It gets so hot by 10-11am that it's best to find a chair close to some kind of shade. Our chairs were never stolen either. We'd go for lunch and leave our towels (hotel-provided...new ones every day) and books on them. All in all we loved this resort and we would go back in a heartbeat.

Beautiful, clean, amazing resort

This hotel had the best drinks, the best buffet, and a beautiful beach with a lot of snorkeling. The servers were very nice, but could not communicate very well with us because they only speak Spanish.

Great Honeymoon

Great Honeymoon. Food and staff were wonderful. Beach was great! Did not get bothered for time shares. The only thing that could be improved was the night life. We are not night life kind of people so did not really mind. It was a fabulous vacation !

Dream vacation

Well I just simply liked everything. I've been on several Caribbean and Europe resorts but never been on a place where incredible nature, amazing people and awesome services are so well balanced. And not to forget Mamma Juana. :) I just dream to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary at Grand Bahia Principe El Portillo. Thank you.

Fantastic resort

The food was really good. Lots of variety and it changes every night. The rooms were spacious but the beds were really hard. None of the rooms have ocean view but are not far from the beach. The staff was very friendly and the resort was kept sparkly clean. I woulf definitely recommend and definitely will go again.