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Visit Saona Island

★★★★★ (49 customer reviews)

From $45

Here's the deal: one full day, two boats, and the Caribbean's most famous beach. You'll speedboat out to Saona Island, wade into a waist-deep natural pool looking for starfish, sit down to a beach BBQ, and sail home by catamaran with the bar open. White sand, leaning palms, merengue at the Tiki Bar — that's the day.

Duration: Approx 11 Hours Time of Day: Morning
Adult: $85

An Adult is 13 and over

Child: $45

A Child is 2-12

Estimated total $0

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Saona Island: The Whole Day, Start to Finish

Saona is the beach everyone pictures when they think of the Dominican Republic — 110 square kilometers of ivory sand and leaning palms, sitting inside Cotubanamá National Park off the country's southeast coast. Christopher Columbus dropped anchor here in 1494, and honestly not much about the view has changed in the 500-odd years since. The water is that clear, glassy turquoise you only get in a handful of places on earth.

So here's how the day actually runs.

Getting There

We collect you from your hotel lobby by minivan or minibus and connect you to a larger bus for the ride to Bayahibe, the little town where the boats launch. Reckon on about an hour and a half on the road from Punta Cana. From Bayahibe, it's onto the water.

Out by Boat, Back by Boat

You'll cross the Caribbean one way on a speedboat and cruise the other way on a roomy catamaran — sometimes speedboat out and catamaran back, sometimes the reverse. Either way there's music, a bit of animation and an open bar running the whole time. It's not every trip that lets you actually sail the Caribbean Sea, so make it count.

The Natural Pool

Partway across, we pull up at Saona's famous natural pool — a sandbar sitting far out from shore where the water only comes up to your waist. Warm, clear and calm. Someone hands you a rum, you glance down, and there's a fair chance a starfish is parked by your foot.

Beach, Buffet and Tiki Bar

On the island itself the plan is loose, and that's the point: a BBQ buffet lunch, a wander down a beach that runs out of sight, a game of volleyball, a little merengue, and as many laps back to the Tiki Bar as you see fit. It's an all-inclusive, full-day escape from the resort — boats, bar and food all handled, lobby to lobby.

Saona is the single most-requested excursion in Punta Cana, so book ahead to hold your spot.

What's Included

  • Round-trip transport
  • Professional guide
  • Speedboat and catamaran to Isla Saona
  • BBQ buffet lunch
  • Drinks

What to Bring

  • Beach clothing
  • Bathing suit
  • Towel
  • Camera
  • Sunscreen
  • Cash

Rather have it private? Skip the group and charter a private yacht to Saona Island — your own departure time, menu and music, with a dedicated captain and crew.

Good to know

  • Pickup is by minivan or minibus, then a transfer to a larger bus for the ride to the launch point on Bayahibe town beach.
  • You'll head out one way by catamaran and back the other by speedboat, or vice versa.
  • Rum, soda and water flow all day; beer comes with lunch and can be bought outside lunch hours.
  • For safety reasons, pregnant women can't join this excursion.