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I’m considering the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, during the school summer holidays (very disorganised with holidays this year). Will be travelling with the Mr and 2 littlies, age 5 and almost 4.
What’s it like weather wise? Is it a bad time of year to travel there?
If it’s okay to travel in the summer months without getting rained on every day, does anyone have experience staying at the Bahia Principe Fantasia there? We’ve stayed at the Tenerife Fantasia and loved it.
TIA
It will be very very hot and very very humid. But likely a bargain. There will be some rain, but generally short showers.
If you’re going to have access to lots of water and air conditioning it should be bearable. Be prepared to stay in the shade with the littlies quite a lot! Have a plan for indoor activities during the hottest part of the day. Pack lots of sunscreen and insect repellent!
I’m in the Caribbean just now loving the weather and wondering how I coped with the summer 5 years running while my son was at high school 😂
*Also bear in mind it’s hurricane season and the weather is getting more and more unpredictable these days. Resorts should have contingency plans in place but make sure you know what you’d do if you were caught up in an event like this.
Thank you. The littlies will hate the excessive heat and humidity. I think I’ll look for somewhere else ……….Centre Parcs 🤣
Gosh holidaying with children is a whole different ball game, throw the school hols into the mix and I don’t know how anyone does it. We haven’t made it out of Europe with them yet, longest flight time has been just over 4 hours so far.
It’s not so much going on holiday as looking after your kids somewhere different. I didn’t get a decent tan for about 10 years because my son had no interest in letting me lie on a sun lounger all day with a book 😂
Seriously though, this is when you make the memories you can look back on fondly when they’re older and not so keen on spending time with you!
*If you do decide to stay in the U.K., my son and his cousin absolutely loved the 2 holidays we took at Haven sites in Dorset (not a cheap option, but less painful than Center Parcs), and also a Eurocamps place in the south of France.
Along the lines of @NorthernLass the Summer is low season due to it being hurricane season. Though any time of year it will be 30 degrees Celsius plus during the day.
Though if you do consider it, may I suggest Finest Punta Canada, which is a little further up the Coast from the resorts in Bavaro. More of an a la carte all-inclusive and has a really good kids club. Plus, it has a loyalty scheme of sorts which is the Excellence Collection Rewards. More of a discount scheme with additional benefits than a scheme like Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt etc.
@Tilly – we have visited Dominican Republic several times, our last visit was on the 1st September 2023, at Secrets cap Cana resort and spa, in Punta Cana for 2 weeks, this was a free return due to being evacuated when the hotel took a direct hit from hurricane Fiona on the 19th September 2022, the hotel was badly damaged,
we had to be evacuated the next morning, when it was safe to leave our rooms, we were transferred to secrets royal beach, a sister property, so yes you do stand a chance of experiencing adverse weather at that time of year!
We did not get any sleep that night, and do not wish to experience anything like that again! There was still repair work being carried out on our return, a year later, that’s how bad the damage was, the hotel was running on generators for a month after the hurricane struck.
We have never really been bothered by humidity, and found on our visits the humidity has been bearable.
But children will feel it, the rains if any, usually fall late afternoon or during the evening, and they are mostly quick showers.One of the best properties we have stayed at, just after the build was completed during Covid, and I would recommend, is Hyatt Ziva/Zilara Punta Cana, it’s next door to secrets we stayed at, sharing the vast fantastic beach.
PUJ is one of the few airports around the world, with a lounge that has a swimming pool overlooking the runway!
@NorthernLass thank you. You’re so right a oit making memories. I do keep reminding myself the children don’t care (at the moment) where we go and what class we fly (although they’ve not flown in economy yet 🤭), for them it’s just having fun together as a family. I’m just feeling a bit at a loss of where to go this summer as it’s the first school summer hols for us with eldest now in reception. We got some winter sun in the canaries over Feb half term.
@dundj thanks for the recommendation.
@Gordon gosh that sounds awfully stressful. I definitely want to avoid that. Thanks for the recommendation.I think I’ll look at Dom Rep for maybe Feb half term next year when hopefully weather is better and take a look at your recommendations for resorts.
@Tilly, ha! We took our son on an easyJet flight to Tenerife when he was 7 and he asked very loudly why we had to pay for food 🤦🏻♀️😂
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