Hotel Costa Las Ballenas

It was beautiful. The grounds and rooms feel like paradise. The staff is friendly. There is Wi-Fi access in rooms and central locations. The restaurant on site is Italian. The food is very high quality and quite reasonable. Other resort restaurants are within walking distance. The beach right in front of the resort is beautiful, but a bit steep and big waves... good for boogie boarding and a little surfing. 10 minutes walk down the beach is a much quieter spot... good for swimming and lounging.

Costa Las Ballenas met all my expectations. Great staff and service, beautiful natural setting, great breakfast and dinner, beautiful beach with soft sand and 2-3 surf schools for renting surf or paddle boards if the waves are right. Expect nature sounds. My husband and I picked playa Bonita for the body boarding and found it challenging for him and walked all the way to the right where there is a sand bar for me. We got a great day of waves. Thanks Elena and team!

The beach and the grounds are amazing. No complaints there. Stayed there 3 days but they never changed the towels in the room or brought in new bottled water. Not great but I can deal with that. My big issue was the cockroach I found in the bathroom floor. After that, I never felt comfortable. If you are there purely for beach, it is good but it is about 20-25 mins drive from the town where stores and restaurants are. Not much in the local area if you like to go out at night. The restaurant has decent food. Cocktails, so so.

This hotel just changed hands. It is apparently the oldest resort on the Samana strip and is undergoing some needed upgrading--nothing intrusive. However individual villa was full of rustic charm. Grounds & pool were well maintained. Staff were lovely. Mosquitoes are a problem along this stretch, but mosquito net in our room worked. No walking along the beach after dark I was advised. The local town in bigger than you expect and bustling. Full of poverty juxtaposed with good restaurants & nightclubs. Apparently a number of Europeans retire here giving it a sort of hippie charm.

Place is beautiful and staff excellent and friendly. Especially gate attendants who changed my flat tire on my rental car. Get the breakfast with your stay, very relaxing way to begin your day My only complaint was the tree frogs that kept us up most of the night with their loud peeping! Maybe it was the season Beach and pool also awesome!