What the Grand Palladium Punta Cana resort is like: opinions

Perhaps one of the images that has impacted us the most and perfectly summarizes our stay in Punta Cana, is the sad face and gestures of the people when they get on the bus that took them to the airport to return to their countries of origin.

And it is not easy to return to the routine after having spent a few days in a little piece of paradise in the Caribbean.

First of all, we are going to locate ourselves because not everyone knows where it is. Punta Cana.

Where is Punta Cana

I will tell you, it is an area of tropical beaches located about 200 kilometers from Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic.

What you will find when you take a trip like this are large hotel complexes with all inclusive (All Inclusive) where you can spend a few days of pure relaxation on beaches with turquoise waters, full of huge palm trees.

In fact, most people who visit Punta Cana They come exclusively looking to enjoy sun and beach in large resorts, in addition to being one of the favorite destinations for honeymoons.

And although you can do various excursions, such as visiting the Los Haitises National Park, Saona Island or the colonial city of Santo Domingo, where Christopher Columbus founded the first European city in America, the hotels are prepared so that you can spend an entire week without leaving the complex.

This has been something that has surprised us, since we were going with the idea of ​​doing several excursions, and in the end we were so comfortable on the beach and the hotel pools, that we have barely moved from the hotel complex in the 7 days we stayed. in Punta Cana.

Something absolutely exceptional on our trips in which we almost never set foot in hotels, but it is what your body asks for in a natural paradise like this.

Like most of the time a trip to Punta Cana You are going to spend it at the hotel, we are going to explain our experience in a true 5-star all-inclusive accommodation (because not all of them are).

This way you can get an idea and compare services and prices before traveling.

The objective is to explain what things are worth spending money on when booking the hotel and room, based on our travel experience in a all inclusive of true level, so that it helps you choose your perfect trip and hotel.

What are the hotels in Punta Cana like?

You should know before traveling that most of the resorts are not strictly found in Punta Cana, but they are located towards the north in Bavaro Beach, 20 minutes by car from the airport.

Area Punta Cana close to the airport and Cap Cana Marina, although it also has resorts, have remained the most exclusive area where famous people like Julio Iglesias, Oscar de la Renta o Shakira, among others.

The first thing that should be highlighted is that hotels can incorporate the service of all inclusive, but not a 5 star hotel.

And we say this because having all inclusive In a hotel it is great, as long as the quality is what we expect.

For many years the offer of all inclusive It has been deteriorating and there are few hotels that have been updated to go one step further and provide high quality service.

There are aspects that are crucial when choosing the resort where to spend your vacation, such as the quality of the food, the attention of the staff or the overcrowding of the beach or swimming pools.

That is why some hotel chains such as Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts within their resorts are including hotels that, in addition to being all inclusive, are truly VIP,

That is the case of TRS Turquesa Hotel de Bavaro Beach where we stayed, to which another new establishment of this brand will be added starting in November in the aforementioned area of Cap Cana.

If there is something that can make a difference in a trip to Punta Cana It is the experience you live in the hotel.

Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts in Punta Cana

within a resort There are usually different hotels, so the qualities vary depending on the hotel you select and the rooms you choose.

There are a lot of different prices depending on the rooms in question within the same hotel.

The huge Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts It extends along the beach with more than a kilometer and a half of fine white sand and turquoise waters.

To give you an idea of ​​the size of the resorts in Punta Cana, the aforementioned, which is one of the best hotels in Bavaro Beach, has almost 2.100 rooms, making it like a small city.

In any case, do not imagine large hotels built vertically, since the accommodations do not have more than three floors.

El TRS Turquesa Hotel in Punta Cana is hotels VIP only for adults inside of the resort which includes three more hotels, all 5 stars all inclusive, the Bávaro, Palace and Punta Cana.

Most of the accommodations in the complex are suites or villas located between palm trees and swimming pools throughout the complex.

All hotels have their own staff, receptions, swimming pools and restaurants. buffet lines for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But once you register at the complex, you can access the services of all the hotels, regardless of which one you stay in, except for the exclusive area for clients. VIP, which are the aforementioned facilities TRS Turquesa Hotel.

What are the rooms like?

Each hotel within the complex has a type of room, so the most normal thing is that depending on your room needs, you will be staying in one part of the complex or another.

For example, if you want a room whose terrace opens directly to the pool, the famous Swim-Up, in this case you should stay in the aforementioned TRS Turquesa Hotel, or in the part reserved for customers of the Travel Club points program of the chain.

There are also villas that have two floors, which incorporate several rooms.

That is why it is so important that you keep in mind what you are looking for, to be able to choose well where to stay.

There is so much hotel offer in Punta Cana, that you have to pay attention to the details and do not reserve just any room in any hotel because the offer says all inclusive in Punta Cana, because we could get a surprise.

Restaurants in the resort from Punta Cana

At meal time is when you notice the difference of being housed in the different rooms. resortsEven in hotels in the same complex, quality varies.

En Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts each hotel has its own type restaurant buffet lines with all kinds of food, where you can have breakfast and lunch; and at dinner time, the restaurant offering expands enormously.

In our experience, without a doubt the best restaurants were those we found in the exclusive area for the TRS Turquesa Hotel (VIP).

And it must be said that in this aspect you can see the difference between being housed in the VIP hotel or in the rest of the hotels resort.

En TRS Turquesa Hotel There are two exclusive restaurants for breakfast, another two for dinner, as well as a barbecue at the pool and beach.

Helios Restaurant at TRS Turquesa Hotel

By staying in this area we could access all the restaurants in the area. resort, but by far the one we liked the most was the Helios restaurant, belonging to the aforementioned TRS Turquesa Hotel.

It is one of the four restaurants exclusively for customers of the TRS Turquesa Hotel, which cannot be accessed by clients from the rest of the resort.

El Helios It is a very high quality restaurant with views of the beach and live music.

A la carte dishes included in the room price, choosing, for example, between lobster, steak, sushi very varied and well prepared, or other high quality dishes, which has led us to return to said restaurant several times.

Theme restaurants 

One point of our resort What we loved is the number and variety of themed restaurants spread throughout the facilities.

There are a total of 12 themed restaurants, so in practice you will have to choose, unless you spend 15 days in Punta Cana.

For all the themed restaurants you have to make reservations and for that the clients of the TRS Turquesa Hotel They have extra comfort, since they have a butler service which is responsible for doing it for you, just indicating your preferences.

There are all kinds of restaurants, Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Argentine steakhouse, Asian and even a great show-cooking Japanese.

But there were three that we especially liked.

La Boheme, french restaurant where we loved the fillet mignon, a wonderful sirloin that just remembering it makes our mouths water.

The restaurant bhogali for those who like Indian food As much as we do, you will love this restaurant. A very short but delicious letter, of which we recommend samosas and butter chicken so characteristic of this type of cuisine.

And last but not least, Kusko, a fusion restaurant between Japanese and Peruvian, a very curious, but spectacular mix.

Here we simply recommend all the dishes because we were surprised by all the ones we ordered.

24-hour food at the resort

There are three meal times, breakfast, lunch and dinner, but if you want to eat at other times, in the resort you have two options:

El Sport Bar, very famous for its large screens where live sporting events are shown such as the Super Bowl, Champions and American football, and which is open 24 hours.

The other alternative is the room service, which was also included in the price, which you could request at any time of the day if you didn't want to leave the room.

Spa at Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts in Punta Cana

There are certain details that very few hotel complexes like this offer, which also has a spa for all clients.

Zentropia is the name of the spa which has a modern hydrotherapy circuit with sauna, ice room, Turkish bath and several pools at different temperatures, as well as water jets, bubbles and jacuzzi.

As a curiosity, there is a mud area to choose from depending on your skin type, and you also have beauty treatments and massages, which are the only services that are not included in the price of the accommodation.

The massages are performed in aromatized rooms, each named after its aroma (mint, eucalyptus, lemon, sage).

A special attraction is the room where before the massage you relax lying on a vibrating water bed.

To emphasize that Zentropia also has a Healthy Bar where you can find fruit smoothies, flavored water, fresh fruit, small snacks and nuts.

Activities at the resort

If during your vacation in this resort If you want to do something more than be on the beach and in the pools, I will tell you that in the Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts There is a large number and variety of recreational activities.

Thus, you have everything from aquatic biking, dance and cooking classes, yoga or Pilates, to a cigar workshop or tequila tasting.

Every day on the posters that are distributed throughout the resort They announce the different planned activities, with the schedules and the pools or areas where they will be carried out.

They are absolutely free and you just have to go at the agreed time and enjoy.

In our hotel there are also two very well-known parties, such as foam party , which takes place a couple of times a week at the hotel pools, and the Beach party with a fire show included.

The complex also has an amphitheater where shows are held from Wednesday to Sunday, and also a two-story nightclub for the most partiers, to which even the local population comes.

There are also two mini shopping centers where you can buy from remembrances even mattresses, swimsuits, tobacco and trinkets.

As a curiosity, you have the service of wedding planner in case you want to get married in this complex.

Activities for children and teenagers

You would not be the first nor the last, and if you decide to get married in a luxury hotel like this, with its wonderful landscape of palm trees, you would only have to worry about enjoying yourself.

For children and adolescents, as well as for sports lovers, it is common for this type of resort It offers various activities, and also has sports facilities.

The larger the hotel, the greater the facilities, so as the Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts in Punta Cana it is a resort Giant, it has everything.

The most popular are the mini golf, and the tennis, paddle tennis and badminton courts, but there is also a soccer field and you have the possibility of practicing archery.

The little ones can enjoy a castle full of activities, a place where you can leave the little ones entertained while you enjoy yourself on the beach.

They have told us that the children do not want to leave there when their parents come to pick them up.

It should be noted that there are also a couple of leisure rooms focused on teenagers, and equipped with ping-pong tables and consoles.

And, of course, if you are an Internet addict, you have Wi-Fi in every corner of the complex, even on the beach, and I can assure you that it has a very good connection.

How to get around the resort

Like this resort It is so big, to get around it you have two means of transportation.

On one side there are three red trains that are traveling circularly around the resort throughout the day, in which you can ride to go from one place to another.

And on the other hand, you have the service of electric vehicles similar to a buggie golf, which take you wherever you want; You just have to ask at the reception and they will come pick you up.

There are stops established in various places in the complex where they pass regularly, and if you find one while walking, they are always willing to pick you up, if they have a clear space.

Conclusions about 5-star All Inclusive hotels

After spending a few days in a 5-star All Inclusive hotel, there are several things that are clear to us.

But the main thing is that it is key choose the hotel well where you stay if you trip to Punta Cana It is to be pure relaxation.

You are going to spend so much time in hotel complexes that, for example, if you are not comfortable because of too many people, or you do not like the food because of low quality, or you do not feel really comfortable in your room, the experience changes completely.

It can go from being a trip to paradise to be a nightmare.

Therefore, in conclusion, before booking you must take a good look at the services and qualities of the hotels available, whether the trip is booked by an agency or by yourself,

The difference between staying in a super hotel or being in a regular one is very little in price and can be a lot in level of satisfaction.