Iberostar Costa Dorada

dominican's best all inclusive

by andy&lynne about iberostar costa dorada

this hotel was on the beach and has well kept amenities, pool is very large and is no deeper that 4'6' entertainment through the day for all ages, and excellent shows of an evening with nightclub on sight.buffet restaruante brilliant everybody can eat well.
we will be going back but can not go anyother hotel as you get spoilt so anywhere else will be a dissapointmnent.
friendly staff do everything for you. veiws outstanding throughout day and night.
4 restaruantes
5 bars
you can get something to eat 24 hrs
all you need to do is get yourself there no need for towels or even toiletries they are all provided.
excellent for couples,family's and even elderly as it is flat.
childrens club all day (very good)

Hot Dominican Men

by A TripAdvisor Member

WOW! I just came back from staying a week at the Iberostar Costa Dorada. My friends and I had the most amazing time. We actually shed a tear as we boarded the bus which will take us to the airport to catch our return flight back home. I am very much impressed with the resort. I loved the food, rooms, facilities and especially the STAR FRIENDS. All the STAR FRIENDS are BEAUTIFUL in there own special way. They made us feel important. They went out of there ways to make our vacation amazing. Every person we met on the resort who worked on the resort always had a SMILE on there face and had something nice to say.I would like to give PROPS to all the staff especially Dark Angel, Felix Fernando PichyCocky, Quimo, Bictor, Danina, Marila, Mama Maria, Eduardo and Braids. You all deserve a HUGE RAISE. You all do a WONDERFUL JOB. Always happy and full of energy. You made our stay at the resort memorable. We've made many friends and can't wait to go back for a visit.Before I leave would just like to say to all the single ladies out there. If you're looking for a resort where there's HOT DOMINICAN MEN. Go to IBEROSTAR COSTA DORADA. The STAR FRIENDS are very MOI CALANTE(HOT). I would go back to the DOMINICAN in a second.KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! THE STAFF here at the RESORT are the BEST!!!!

Fantastic hol, have booked again!!!

by TripAdvisor Member destiny22

We visited the Iberostar Costa Dorada on 5th May for 2 weeks and had a great time. We had read lots of reviews about this resort & on the whole it seemed a good hotel with a fantastic pool, the only down side being the beach, bearing this in mind we went not expecting to spend much time on the beach, choosing the pool to relax. The flight from Birmingham is not recommended, as more often than not you have to fly to Manchester to pick up extra fuel, this delayed out flight by 2 1/2 hrs (sat on the plane). After a 11 1/2 hr flight we arrived in Puerto Plata to lovely weather & only a 20 minute transfer. All moans about the flight were soon forgotten when we arrived to a lovely hotel, the first impression was the beautiful reception with turtles & Flamingos in seperate ponds, very relaxing. Unfortunately our room did not have a pool or sea view, apparently you have to request this, we were advised the next day we could move but we decided to stay put. We were very impressed with the entertainment, there was always something going right through the day & evening if you so desired. The staff were very friendly & helpful, always service with a smile. The rooms were kept immaculate with special touches to make your stay memorable. We can honestly say we never once had upset tummies although we did speak to several people who had been poorly, some longer than others, perhaps we were just lucky! The food was excellent, wide choice, as one restuarant finishes another starts, food always available & the ala carte restaurants were impressive. We had 14 days of sunshine, sometimes too hot, around the pool the temperature hit the 50's. The pool is lovely but we were never lucky enough to get a bed beside the pool as we are not 7:00 am risers when on holiday. We spent all our days down on the beach & found it to be very pleasant. There was a lovely breeze in the morning on the beach although can be a bit windy in the afternoons. If we are honest there is a bit of seaweed but the stafbout this?? This was our first time in Dominican Republic, we had our reservations having heard some really bad things about this country and had been spoilt visiting the Maldives the year before. When comparing with the Maldives I would say the Iberostar has more to offer, the beach in the Maldives was beautiful which you expect but the Maldives lacked entertainment, the food & hygeine was not as good.Overall a fantastic lazy holiday which we enjoyed so much, we have already booked to go back next May with some friends!

Happy in Puerto Plata

by A TripAdvisor Member

Just returned from the greatest vacation at the Iberostar Costa Dorado. We have done many cruises before this, but this was the best of all our vacations. The hotel is magnificent, the staff outstanding. Not much room for improvement.I wanta go back today. Help!!!! Back to reality is no fun.

very nice

by A TripAdvisor Member

Just came back from Iberostar. I was there with my wife and we had a wonderfull time! The best in this resort is their service and people who works there. They will try their best to make you happy. A lot of good food, good entertainment, good water sports activities. Nice pool, beach is nice too, the ocean is a little weedy, but I like it anyway.

Total in love in Ibuerostar!

by A TripAdvisor Member

The minute you arrive it is beautiful, Marble floors, in the lobby with Turtles swimming in a pond, big beautiful statues of Horses all the surroundings have straw roofs, the pool is paradise. I found the grounds and my room to be very clean, I was totally happy with my trip, I had so much fun that I came home and booked with another Iberostar hotel in Punta Cana. Iberostar is tops! The Room was the best, I never heard any neighbors ever great air conditioning with a ceiling fan, our view was very nice on the 3rd floor, over looking the pool and grounds, even with the flamingos and the peacocks walking around it was great! The food is average if you enjoy fish you will love this place! The food is good but not the best! Casa Dorada is a golden apple went through apple vacations, which I thought was really good as describing this vacation. Plan on returning next year! would recomend Paradise Island tour only! Did not care for the rest of them!! any questions send me mail thanks!

Resort very Nice, but better beaches in DR

by A TripAdvisor Member

The Iberostar resort is great, but having traveled throughtout the Dominican Republic, the beach, Playa Dorada, is mediocre compared to the other beaches in the Dominican Republic. If you aren't from the carribean (my parents are Dominican) or have never visited am sure you will find the beach very nice. The resort however was great, the staff friendly and had great nightlife. If you want a spectalular, amazing beach, best bet is Punta Cana, Bavaro Beach....best beach I have been to yet, but the food was so-so in the resort I visited visited in Punta Cana ... Melia Caribe Tropical and I didn't find as many activities as in Iberostar. And to the person who said watch your teenage girls, I would agree there are some bad apples, but had an experience when I went to Mexico and a staffer tried to flirt with my 13 yr old. So watch your kids anywhere you go....sheeps in wolves clothing exist everywhere, Though I thankfully did not have that experience at Iberostar with my daughter. I would rate the resort a 5, the beach a 3, so OVERALL a 4. P.S. Remember to always haggle when shopping. Ex: If they ask for 300 pesos for an item you can probably get for 150 to 200 pesos. Walk away if they get stubborn on a price and notice how fast the price goes down. Hope this comment helps and Enjoy your stay!!

Iberostar Costa Dorado, Puerto Plata DR

by Excaper

"Wonderful Resort"

We arrived around 10:00 at night. Puerto Plata airport was surprisingly large and modern compared to other Caribbean airports we have seen. The whole process moved very efficiently until we hit the baggage carousel. We found out why on our way home. Anyway, it wasn’t too bad, we were just anxious to start our vacation! No one bothered us outside the airport to take our bags. The World of Vacations rep was easy to find and she directed us to the correct bus (there are many) which would take us to the Iberostar Costa Dorada Resort. The trip took about 20 minutes and we were thankfully the first stop.

The resort creates a wonderful first impression. The lobby area is large and beautifully decorated. It is open-air with reception to the right and a beautiful bar area to the left. The show area was just beyond the bar and the evening show was just getting underway. Since there were only two couples from our flight staying at the ICD, check-in was incredibly painless and we were in our room within 15 minutes. I was very familiar with the room since I had been looking at previous vacationers’ on-line photos for months before our arrival so there was not much of a surprise. I was surprised however, that all of our requests had been met. I had requested at the time of booking that our room be on an upper level, be oceanview, and have a king bed instead of two doubles. It was all of this! I had thought that we would be lucky to get two of our three requests so I was thrilled when we opened the door and surveyed the result. My husband had been suffering from a fever of over 102 since the day before so it was straight to bed with some flu medication and a chest covered with Vicks rub. This was my chance to check out the TV. There were two ESPN channels, Showtime, TNT, Disney, CNN, BBC America, a German-speaking station, RAI International and several Spanish-speaking stations. There didn’t seem to be any adult stations (although I can’t say I searched for any).

On our arrival the night before, we had been transported, along with our luggage, in a golf cart along a path on the outside perimeter of the resort. We had not seen the beautiful interior area of the resort. The gardens are perfectly manicured with fountains and flowers, peacocks and flamingos, and a gorgeous courtyard filled with bistro tables and chairs. The pool is large with various sections. There is a section with a volleyball net, another with basketball nets and a large section with a jacuzzi in the middle. Most of the daytime activities take place in one of the first two sections described but the rest of the pool can’t be described as “quiet” by any means. There is also a small pool about a foot deep for very small children. The jacuzzi in the middle of the pool is surrounded by talk white columns and really completes the picture. The buildings that house the rooms are all painted in a yellow tone with white trim. The part connecting the buildings is painted the Iberostar purplish-blue. The contrast is striking.

"Wonderful Dining"

Breakfast is served from 7am to 10am in the main buffet restaurant and a continental breakfast is served in the Tropical restaurant from 10am to 12pm for late risers. Whether you like a full breakfast with bacon, eggs, pancakes and waffles or a healthy fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt, they have it! There are also some interesting Dominican style dishes served for all meals if you want to try something different. The restaurant is very large with ample seating for all size parties including couples. We have been at resorts in the past where you would have to wait for a table-for-two while many tables-for-four went unused.

Lunch is served in both the Tropical Restaurant and the buffet restaurant. The buffet restaurant has a much larger selection but the Tropical restaurant is much more convenient for lunch because it is located is close proximity to both the pool area and the beach. Also the dress code is easier at the Tropical at lunch. You may not wear bathing suites and flip-flops in the buffet but in the Tropical restaurant you just need to wear any type of footwear and cover-up with a t-shirt or shorts or a wrap for women. Lunch at the Tropical restaurant included a salad bar including cold-cuts and cheeses as well as pastas, hot-dogs, hamburgers and pizza. Again, there is usually no problem with seating. The Tropical restaurant continues to serve salads and sandwiches until 4pm.

Dinner is served in four restaurants. You can show up at the buffet restaurant at any time and find a seat. It opens at 6:00 and closes at 10:00. There are three seatings at each specialty restaurant each evening for which you must make reservations. You can make reservations up to five days in advance at Guest Services in the lobby. Guest Services is staffed from 9am but be there early to line-up for dinner reservations if it is important to you. We were not able to get reservations at Tropical restaurant, as the only available time was 9:15, which is a little late for us. Also, they do not seat all tables in each specialty restaurant for each seating to allow for faster turnover between seatings.

The Tropical restaurant is transformed into a specialty restaurant at night. Although I cannot comment on the food, it did look beautiful at night with only some of the seating set with white linen and candlelight.

The buffet restaurant has an excellent variety and all the food is well prepared and appetizing. There is always a good selection of breads, cheeses, cold-cuts, pate, soup and pasta and potato salads. There is also always a standard salad bar. There are also various stations for beef, poultry, pork and fish. In the far corner is the Dominican station, which turned out to be my favourite. There was always something here that was absolutely outstanding, if not always identifiable.

The Mexican restaurant was very good. I love Mexican food and this easily satisfied me. It was not what you would find in a real Mexican restaurant in Mexico but still very well prepared. You are first greeted with a welcome Margarita and then you serve yourself appetizers and order entrees from the menu.

The Brazilian restaurant was excellent. Again, a welcome drink (yikes!), you serve yourself appetizers, but this time the menu is set. You are served a baked potato and a vegetable mix. Then, servers come to you table and carve seven different kinds of meats onto your plate. Mercifully, they only carve each type of meat once unless more is requested. It is not as gluttonous as many Brazilian restaurants but if you are hungry after dinner here, you didn’t try!!

Sandwiches are also served after the show at night around 11pm in the lobby bar. Although we never quite made it, there are all-night snacks served in the Mexican restaurant from midnight until 5am. You cannot go hungry at this resort!

"Wonderful Trip!!!"

The beach is not the white sand typical of the Caribbean mainly because you are not one the Caribbean Sea – you are on the Atlantic Ocean. The sand is golden but the beach is nonetheless beautiful. There are lots of trees for lounging in the shade and lots of spots to sunbathe. There is no lack of lounges although many people go early in the morning to situate their lounge in the exact location they want. You do not have to do this as you will find lounge chairs at any time of the day and can always find a spot in the shade or the sun as you prefer. The beach is a perfect walking or running beach as the sand is hard-packed at the water’s edge. You can walk as far as you want in either direction and is lined with palms and other trees all the way along. You are about a 15-minute walk from the Playa Dorado complex by beach and you can enter the complex via the Playa Naco Resort. Apparently, the other resorts do not allow “through traffic”. From time to time there is seaweed on the beach but I cannot believe that anyone would be bothered by it. While there are various sections of dead coral, there are lots of areas to enter the water. There is no need to bring water-shoes as there is much more sand than coral. The waves can get high but certainly not to a dangerous level. We saw lots of small children playing in the waves without the assistance of their parents.

The pool is gorgeous and is the centre-point of most photos you will see. There is only one area that I saw that has steps that go to the bottom of the pool floor. Most steps leave you a couple of feet from the bottom. I mention this only because it may be an issue for older people or for people with very limited flexibility. I did not actually see anyone who had problems getting in or out of the pool. There are always lots of chairs around the pool although the ones in the shade of a palapa fill up faster than those in the sun. People began “saving” chairs around 7am. The practise is discouraged but tolerated.

Service – The service in every aspect of this resort was outstanding. I don’t think you can do better than this resort on the Dorado strip!! That said, we did see some of the other resorts in the Playa Dorado complex and would not have been very happy to stay at any of them.

Day trips – We spent a day in Puerto Plata and Visited an interesting old fort and the Amber Museum as well as a local bar patio and a few shops. Overall, we had a good day in Puerto Plata but I would not recommend this trip. Puerto Plata is a dirty town with almost no restaurants and no neat little places to hang out. There are many other places in the DR that would be more pleasing as a tourist.

daveyboy69's Puerto Plata Page

by daveyboy69

Hello everyone!!... I have put this website up in order to showcase our trip to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. This included my lil sis Heather, her best friend Reagan, the love of my life Shannon, and myself Dave stayed for 1 week @ the Iberostar Costa Dorada resort from May 4th to 11th, 2002. I think I can speak for all of us and say that we all had the best time of our lives. The customer service, resort grounds, pool, beach, entertainment, and other facilities of this resort etched a well formed and respected memory of the name Iberostar in my mind, and I would recomend this resort to anyone planning a trip to Puerto Plata. Please feel free to go through my travelougue, as I have tried to make it as extensive as Virtual Tourist will allow. Enjoy =-)

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

by soundsgoodtome

I came to Puerto Plata for spring break my senior year of high school with my father, his girlfriend, and my friend. We stayed for 5 days at the Riu Meringue, a large, all-exclusive hotel complex right on the beach. It has pools, restaurants, bars, 100s of rooms, and best of all, great views of the ocean and surrounding area. It is a very beautiful place, and there is much to see and do. The great thing about all-exclusive resorts is that once you arrive there, everything is already paid for practically. Transportation from the airport to the hotel and back, food, drinks, etc. It is also easy to find fun things to do outside the resort as there are information booths in the hotel lobby about all kinds of day trips in the area. We took one day trip to Sosua, a nice town right on the coast where we went to the beach and went snorkeling. See my Sosua page for pictures and info on this trip. It was wonderful. Other than information about Sosua and Riu Meringue, I cannot offer any travel tips about the DR. It was a short trip and we only left the resort once. Sorry to disappoint anyone.

Here is the point of the Riu Meringue complex, a slightly elevated bluff that has the best view in the hotel area. The white gazebo seen is a great place for pictures and to look at the spectacular scenery.

The beaches in the DR are beautiful as well as topless. It is the main tourist draw of this country, but those at Riu Merengue were never that crowded when I was here. Snorkeling right off the beach is a great thing to do here, the waters are very calm and clear with a large variety of tropical fish species around the coral reefs.