Cabarete

Take time to walk the beach from the main community west to where most of the kite surfers are flying. 4 K round trip. It will be interesting to hear what condition the beach is in. There was beach erosion under way there 5 years ago.

It is beautiful. You can walk forever. Lots and lots of kites and boards. The water stays shallow for a decent distance out. BUT if the Red flags are up, the undertow is stong so be very careful.

Big Kahuna's is a good place to park yourself on the beach. Decent drinks, bathrooms, rental chairs. Crazy Moose has a Dominican plate special every day.

There are a lot of beach vendors. They are somewhat aggressive. Just be nice, make eye contact, and say no thank you if you are not interested. I always pick out one I like, and then tell them to come back about 1/2 hour before I plan to leave. That is when I buy stuff. The better shops are on the back / street side.

We love Cabarete Beach.

Quick thoughts...

Driving from Santo Domingo to Cabarete was a nightmare - traffic and all
Cabarete beaches were pretty small
Food was very good
Lot more Americans and older than I was expecting

Yup traffic is bad!

Cabarete beach is small?  Really?

How many days were you there? Only in Cabarete?   Which restaurants did you try?

Are you sure you were in Cabarete? The beach is huge! Lol

Kinda what I thought.  Like comared.to what?

I saw massive beach erosion there in 2014 over the course of one month....

The beach is a more then a couple miles long isnt it?

Yep. At least it was in December.

Well width was big but from water to hotel property was not. Maybe just where I was staying.

3 days in Cabarete then one+ in Santiago.

For dinner
Restaurant Tuva - Excellent
Bliss - Very good but not as good as Tuva

For breakfast
Cafe Claro - Excellent
Cabrette Coffee Company - Average

Stayed in Ultravioleta Boutique Residencies in Cabarete.

My wife and I will be staying in the area this May, we're renting a condo across the road from the Ocean Sands Casino just to the east of town. We visited Las Terrenas back in 2018 so this is our second trip to the DR and we decided to try the Cabarete area on this trip. Our plan is pretty much for a laid back kind of vacation for the most part, my wife wants to do some snorkeling, I plan on doing some fishing including one offshore charter and of course hitting some of the local restaurants.
The one thing I haven't been able to find is any place that rents bicycles, we aren't avid cyclists by any stretch of the imagination but we both like to use our bikes as a way to get around so if anyone knows of a place I would greatly appreciate any info.

Les

I don't know about bike shops out there, but "Real bike shop" in Las Terrenas is a good place to rent a real bike, or even a guided mountain bike day trip. they can do longer excursions too. Louis is a great guy, tell him Josh sent you. real bike shop las terrenas  Dutch, English, Spanish. His wife, Raiza speaks better English, but don't tell him I said so!

I’m current in Cabarete/Sosua and am unaware of any bike rental in the area.  Did a search and none came up. 

I’d be really careful trying to ride a bike or even a motorcycle/scooter around this area.  Drivers are notoriously bad and the simple rules and courtesies you expect in most of The civilized world do not exist here. 

In fact some signals used in much of the world mean exactly the opposite here. For instance, someone flashing their lights at you in the US means “come ahead I’ll wait”.  Here it means “get the hell out of my way!”   

You’re far safer in a car, taxi or a Gua-Gua

I second the motion. There are no bike rental shops for a reason. It is too dangerous to ride. Walk-carefully and defensively, or call a driver. I can PM you a great driver contact if you like.