Las Galeras travel guide

At the eastern end of the peninsula is Playa Galeras. The 1-km beach is framed by the dark rock cliffs and forested mountains of Cape Samaná and Cape Cabrón, now designated a National Park. The village is popular with Europeans, several of whom have set up small hotels and restaurants. There is a fair amount of weed on the beach and some coral, so rubber shoes are a good idea, but it is ‘unimproved’, with trees for shade. If you walk east along the beach you come to the biggest hotel so far, Casa Marina Bay, set among masses of coconut palms. The beach here is sandy with no coral and very safe for children.

Playa Rincón is 20 mins from Las Galeras by boat, US$10 return journey, or 40 mins by jeep along a paved 8-km road to Rincón village, followed by a 2-km rocky and muddy track through coconut palms. Playa Rincón is dominated by the cliffs of 600-m high Cape Cabrón at one end but backed by thousands of coconut palms filling every available space. The sand is soft and there are few corals in the water, which is beautifully clear, but the beach is wild and uncleaned, so coconuts and branches litter the sand. On reaching the beach turn right along a track to get to several beach restaurants at the end where you can get delicious fried fish, caught that morning. They are on a small promontory which gives protection against the waves.

Playa El Valle is reached by 10 km dirt road from Samaná, 4WD needed, or come by boat from Las Terrenas or Las Galeras. A guagua comes a couple of times a day from Samaná, US$1. The drive over the mountain is spectacularly beautiful, with two river crossings where women still wash their laundry and children hitch a ride to school. On the way back you get a wonderful view of the Samaná Bay with a flash of white sand on Cayo Levantado as you come over the top. The beach is undeveloped except for a tiny beach bar, aptly named El Paraíso . There is also a beach bar for the sole use of guests from El Portillo Hotel in Las Terrenas, who stop here for lunch on a safari trip, but otherwise the beach is usually empty of tourists. The view from the beach is dramatic, with the headlands rising vertically out of the water and a river running into the sea. Coconut palms are everywhere, be careful about sitting underneath one for shade. Check before swimming at deserted beaches where there can be strong surf and an undertow. Drownings have occurred near El Valle. Only go in when the sea is flat calm, ask for advice at the beach bar or at the tiny naval station behind....read more