Beach Hotel (Lagoon-like shallow bay)

*RULE: No toilet paper permitted to be flushed down the toilets!!!! use waste basket--same rule as in Costa Rica. **Pro: beach is beautiful, minimal waves! Food and drinks. Security. Friendly. Hairbraided for good price. Punta Cana Airport and near the airport is Starbucks, Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC. ***Con: Canadian Dollars NOT accepted in DR (vendors want their pesos or USD only) - so everything is very expensive, front desk is slow service and many don't speak/understand Englis [... read more]h, choking toxic fumes from boats/motorized rec vehicles, vendors along the beach that come up to your lounge chair non-stop, rooms have poor flushing toilets, restaurants around the area are loud with kids staying up really late at night. ****Comparing with Cuba----For this 3.5 stars, the cost of the trip was the most expensive one so far @ $2000 pp 2 weeks). Cuba 2025 Summer was $1300 for 5 star Grand Muthu Almirante (Emerald in English) Beach Hotel. Food tasted much better at Whala Boca Chica DR than any Cuban Hotel I've stayed at. Dominicans add spices and herbs.

Waiting for Cuba so this is the alternative!

Comparing with Cuba's standard of service and nature. Pros: Beach is lagoon-like, so shallow and crystal clear for a long distance. You have an opportunity to visit Saona Island where some scenes for The Blue Lagoon were filmed. The buffet is better than Cuba's 3.5 star hotels - more variety. Wifi is available at the beach. Two beaches to enjoy with a beach-front private restaurant and public road (locals on motorcycles use) that leads to a dock for boats and jets you can rent. Lots of private  [... read more]beach front restaurants to see along you walk on the shore. Tourist police patrol on motorcycle a few times a day and foot patrol by local police. Local grocery stores in a walking distance (Ole de Boca Chica is great). Burger King and Little Caesars. Cons: Airport is in Punta Cana so 2 hour, white-knuckle drive in a mini-bus. 12-minutes ride to Santo Domingo Internation Airport!!!!! This hotel has inconsistent service - bar, buffet and room cleaning. Can't relax --- "looky looky" aka view the merch (DR themed bracelets, t-shirts, towels), coconut/cashew brittle, flat bread deep fried, red candied coconut balls, corn on the cob, ice cream, Lots of construction all over the narrow streeted Boca Chica beach front town. Lots of litter in the ditches and left by the locals or Dominican weekend warriors. Drinking in the water in the day and evening.

Poor, uneven walkways. Dangerous to anyone with balance or walking issues. not well lit at night.

Food was good there were cockroaches in the couch in the room wait time to check in was very long--over 2 hours the maid service was good the buffet was loud the music was too loud the beach vendors were very aggressive

Don't waste your money!

One of the worst resorts in DR. Poor food, horrible weak coffee, loud only Spanish music playing everywhere and most staff don't understand English. Pay a little more and stay at a name brand, newer hotel!

Disappointing stay

Quite disappointing for a 4 star resort. We like smaller resorts because we enjoy getting to know the people who work there. Although I have some ability to speak Spanish, this was not possible because we did not meet any staff that could speak English. The food was not what we expected. We found the selection limited and many of the choices were stewed meats and vegetables. There was also a foul smell emanating from the toilets near the pool at the center of the resort and bar. On the [... read more] positive side, we enjoyed our room. It was comfortable and maintained quite well. The location also allowed us to get a glimpse of life in the Dominican Republic.

Whala! This is what you get at a 3*

Wonderful beach, 5 pools,ample lounge chairs with plenty of shady spots, extremely comfy beds, very clean resort and warm weather.Balconies for every room, Food repetitive. No water in our room for 2 1/2 days, Unable to shower or flush the toilet. When the water did come on it was only tepid for 1 day. When we showered the bathroom floor was soaked causing the water to run into the bedroom area. Bottled water is to be replaced daily, we had to wait 2 days even after asking for it. The TV con [... read more]tinually timed off in 15-20 minutes. The sky pool was off limits twice during our stay for private events. Lots of flies at the buffet. To mitigate this we tried to sit under a ceiling fan. The room door would not open or close without using brutal force. We had to point this out to the staff and it is beyond me why they were not aware of it. The street in front of the hotel continually floods with stinky sewer water that often covered the side walks. The street was not absent of this malodorous water during our 2 week stay. The floors and walkways are SLIPPERY when wet. This includes not only when it rains, but the staff continually wet mop the hallway floors. I fell 3 times even when walking very slowly. I observed 3 staff almost fall, one female staff did and required medical attention. Similar price for a comparable 3* hotel in Punta Cana Dominican, in future we will pick the other resort. I would only recommend Whala to friends if the price was extremely reasonable i.e. half of what is posted currently on Trip Central for January or February 2020

Amazing Staff, but Resort could use some work

The staff at this resort are absolutely amazing. We also had a good room, but that depends on what building you are in. The food was often cold and had two food stations, but both had the same selections. There was one other station where you could get pasta etc. Lots of fruit and desserts to chose from. Not a lot of entertainment there and can walk into small village but not much there. At the time of our stay, road was flooded most of the week due to heavy rains.

Super Resort!

Staff are unbelievably friendly, very approachable. Our room was perfect and spotless. located right by the beach and has five different pools. Service at the snack bar was slow and difficult to get the attention of the worker but other than that there were no faults! Would definitely stay here again.

Whala Bavaro

Very nice resort for the price. Staff very friendly. Variety of food. 5 swimming pools with plenty of lounge chairs. Always able to find a place in the shade.3 bars included. A few minutes walk to the beach which had ample lounge chairs. Rooms clean, bed very comfortable. We would definitely return here.

Was far from amazing.

The picture here are the upgraded rooms and not where we stayed. False advertising right there. The room was a 2 and the water ran out in the middle of a shower. Just sheets on the bed, never got a blanket until the 3rd night in. Air conditioner leaks in room, fridge not working. View from the balcony was an apartment building and can see inside the apartment build as it was really close.The balcony door did not lock and screen door always fell off. Some of the people were friendly and helpful  [... read more]but most where rude and would not helpful. Did not know what time we would be picked up to be taken back to hotel. Front desk was not helpful in that at all. had to ask the excursion rep to find out. The road to the hotel had big pot holes and felt like you where going into the ghetto of town.Climbing 3 flights of stairs all the time was hard as my husband had 3 back surgeries.The beach was not cleaned up from seaweed. It was not a nice beach at all. Not enough umbrellas for shade. Had to use the same bottle of water to fill up water to drink. Not enough water is available or more bottled water available. Limit is 2 bottles put in the room. That was a hit and miss. One pool was green the second one was off colour. Took a whole week for one pool to be cleaned and 2 days for the second one. While the one in the picture above was always good as it was in the upgraded area. Really felt separated from that area.

Fantastic

Resort is spotless, food is great and varied. Beach is s bit cramped but you can walk up and down to other areas. Staff are so nice with no pressure to tip. We had a suite which was so nice. Hard to find coffee however.

Whala Bavaro

What did I think? Hmm well the proximity to the ocean was nice and close. The staff were very friendly. The downside was the food, not the best, plus not a ton of choices. Also I was not informed of the a la carte by staff upon arrival, I found out half way through my stay from a couple whom was staying there as well which left time for 1 out of 2 meals which are included in your package. As for entertainment, there is only one night a week at this resort which was disappointing.

Do your research before going!!!

The hotel had a lot of hidden things we were unaware of when we arrived. We went down as a group of 5females. We requested a joint room that didn't happen. Bottle waters were not left in our room daily. I love travelling going to different places and I was very disappointed. Even to get a blanket was an altercation. Some of the staff there does not have a clue how to customer service and be polite. Front desk people were very rude and not approachable. The purchased wifi only worked well in the  [... read more]lobby didn't work in my room. The bar closed at 11pm opened at 10am. We went to party and enjoy we were restricted. The food was not accessible either 24hrs no snack bar or anything. Overall the first experience was not enjoyable for me at this resort. I would not recommend it to anyone.

Got what we paid for

We traveled to Whala Bavaro Feb 19-26 at a decent price....got what we paid for. The resort is dated but clean. Had a couple of issues but when dicsussed with the front desk staff, were quickly addressed. Had to change rooms the first night as our room basically bordered on the street in front of the motel and was very noisy. Food was good, plentiful and a good variety. Beach was disappointing. Very narrow and people were packed in like sardines. Staff friendly and helpful.

Loved it.

i loved my trip this year. i had the best room I've ever had anywhere. the grounds were beautiful and everything kept clean. staff were always helpful if you needed anything. the pools were great and i loved the beach. it was what i wanted -a quiet trip. get a jr. suite if possible if not get rooms in the 1000 things that people might not like- beach was small not much room there was no activities if you are looking for excitement have to pay for your drinks after 11:00 p.m

An okay, no frills hotel.

Well we had a wonderful time because the weather was awesome but the Whala was very basic and just okay. It was clean and staff are great. Buffet is the usual... blah after about day 2. Ala carte restaurant - only once. Food was so salty was almost inedible so never went back. The beach bar is the only evening "entertainment" and after 11:00 pm you have to pay for drinks! Have never seen that before and have done lots of all inclusives. Very quiet and laid back place... no night shows and no day [... read more]time pool entertainment. Within walking distance of a few bars so that was nice to get out once in a while. Felt safe walking there. There are no ATMs close by at all. They exchange US to pesos at the desk but you can't buy any currency. Most places don't take credit card. We did a snorkelling excursion to Catalina island and stopped at a gas station on the way where I was finally able to get some pesos. Direct flight was awesome but we arrived very late in the day (9:00 pm) on arrival (so didn't use the facilities really at all) and were departing late in the day on the final day but we had to pay an extra US $40 for late (5:00 pm) check out. Water bottles are plentiful and free which was nice. Tiny little cups at the bar so bring a go cup. Beach is way too small. We only got to spend one day there... no chairs and if there were, you are stacked together like sardines.

Fun Resort

Had a good time at Whala Bavaro Resort , room overlooking pool was quite spacious with nice balcony overlooking pool, food was just ok nothing special, negatives were morning coffee absolutely undrinkable as well as coffee machine often not functioning and not enough loungers around the pool , 10 to 12 loungers around each pool is just not enough, no complaints about staff they were all very friendly and eager to please. Beach front leaves a lot to be desired, very small space compared to most r [... read more]esorts in the area, barely enough room for 1 row of chairs.

Good Resort

We had a good time.We had a superior room which was clean and roomy.The food was average with a good varietyThe staff was very friendly. Had a issue with the one pool not being clean and they sent somebody out right away and it was resolved.I would recommend that you book a junior suite when booking.For a 3* it was a pretty good resort.

Would not return

Customer service Roberto and Jose very helpful and efficient Grounds clean and need .Room Maids very hard working. Buffet average. Coffee the was the worst we ever had in any Bavaro Resort we will not return to this Resort

Good value for money spent

The resort is small and well kept ,the rooms were clean and comfortable ,the buffet served 3 meals a day and the selection was great , prepared and presented well.They also have a snack bar at the beach ,hotdogs, burgers, and fries all good. The staff was friendly. For me the important part of my holiday was access to Bavaro beach, it is a beautiful coral sand beach that goes for miles. I was very happy with my holiday.