Samana Holidays

Samana holidays tackle a bunch of wish-list items in a single hit. Trademark white sands, exotic islands and whale watching are all in a day’s work.

Scenic and sleepy

The slow motion button’s been stuck down for years in Samana. This finger-like peninsula, on the Dominican Republic’s east coast, is a sure thing for chill-seekers. Tropical greenery’s spread thick across the landscape, with fishing villages and hamlet-sized hotel resorts decorating the edges.

Stellar sands

The beaches here look like someone’s taken a postcard, and copy and pasted the picture into real life. Lengthy scoops of pina colada-coloured sand cling to the coastline, with a couple of Blue Flag numbers among them. On the north side, Las Terrenas has become a bit of a fashionista, while peaceful Las Galeras is all about lazy days. Palm trees and turquoise waters come as standard.

Big on boat trips

A sailing stint’s the ideal intermission for time on the beach here. The island of Cayo Levantado’s like a little wedge of paradise, with powder-soft beaches that give Samana’s selection a run for their money. It’s nicknamed Bacardi Island, after getting the nod to host one of the rum company’s tropical adverts. Wildlife-watchers, meanwhile, head a little further out to try to clap eyes on the humpback whales that leap around in these waters.