Punta Cana Buggies Excursions — Attraction in Higüey

Having been staying at the Bavaro Princess hotel in Punta Cana for a few days my girlfriend and decided to book a tour with Tour Points that centred around a bit of adrenaline, culture and relaxation offering a half day experience (7.30AM to 12.30AM).

I would have liked to write about the tour being like the Fast & Furious but that is not the case. Considering it was the third tour I had taken in Punta Cana, it did not live to any decent standard.

The problem is fairly simple. The tour packs three locations and experiences (local village, cave and beach) within a short period of time which leads to a rushed poorly managed experience and is 100% aimed at selling you and selling you everything from photographers, bandanas and sunglasses.

For those booking or going on the tour one huge piece of advice. Bring with you a bandana/cloth and a pair of sunglasses. You will definitely need them as the boogies will kickup a lot of dust. The alternative it to buy a bandana and glasses at the boogie center but at USD $15 for a pair of cheap glasses and USD $8 for a generic cloth bandana, it seems unreasonably expensive.

The fundamental issue is also one of misselling. The tour does not tell you that the boggies are not Polaris machines as advertised but old clunky machines. In fact the battery of my boggie had to be replaced twice, the ignition did not work and had to be started though jacking the wires. The boggies do not meet basic requirements including safety shutoff, gear indicators or flexible safety belts. The tour does not tell you that the guides will allocate considerable time promoting the services of photographers and local shop owners. Case in point, the boggies center had an entire section with between 10 and 12 computer monitors to show tour participants the pictures taken by the very friendly photographers. If Tour Points and Adventure Boogies spent that same amount of effort and time on the tour itself it would be a better experience.

In terms of the experiences themselves. The first stop is the beach, the second the coffee plantation and the third the cave. To get to these you drive through a few local villages on narrow dirt roads with lots of holes. At no point so you pickup any decent speed or momentum on the boggies given you are asked forcefully to not overtake, keep in a single line and not suerve on the road. Furthermore with the average group being comprised of 20 to 25 boggies you will be eating a lot more dust than speed.

The beach is small, covered in sea weed and features strong waves. The coffee plantation is more of a mom and pop coffee operation with a fire pit with 50% of the space dedicated to tables selling local art and cigars. The best part of the coffee plantation is the explanation provided by the local guide at the coffee plantation and the opportunity to speak to the locals. The cave is without a doubt a natural wonder. It is small and requires a walk down some steep stairs but it is beautiful. You are given the opportunity to jump off a ledge into the water which is great for those inclined.

Finally and in my experience, the quality of a tour experience is relative to the relationship between waiting + travelling time and experiencing. We waited 40 minutes for the tour truck to show up and pick us up. We then spent 45 minutes (each way) travelling on the highway and roads to pickup / drop off other tourists from their locations. We spent close to an hour at the boggie center filling out the standard disclaimer form and waiting for the groups to...

We booked the buggy tour via our Sunwing travel agent in the hotel. We really appreciated the advice to bring a change of clothes, glasses, towel and bandana. When we arrived to the gathering point, we had to wait about 45 min before organizers distributed waivers where we had to sign that we're responsible for any vehicle damages. Fines are ridiculously high, 100 USD for a flat tire and up. During this time we were pressured to buy cheap glasses, bandanas and souveniers at the local shop at very high prices, as others stated. Finally we were directed to the vehicles that just arrived from the previous trip. All buggies were covered with mud, including seats and controls. The helmets were on the floor and also covered with mud inside and out and we decided not to wear them. From the very first glance it was obvious that vehicle wasn't in safe condition. There was at least 90 degrees of play in the steering wheel, right ball joint was falling apart, all steering bushings were non existant. To start the car one needed to hotwire open wires and then one of organizers would short the starter contacts to start the engine. On the road shared with other vehicles the buggy was almost uncontrollable and scary at speed above 15 km/h. The engine was gutless and brakes would lock the right front wheel. In short, I wouldn't call it fun. Our group consisted of 40-50 buggies and moved slowly through the dirty road. The breakages were quite often and organizers fixed the vehicles on the fly while rest of the group waited. The average speed was very slow because all the delays. On all the stops we were swarmed by the local sellers. It was annoying and we felt like we were walking banks that subsidized locals. The prices asked were much higher than in the hotel shops. There was never enough time to enjoy the beach or caves. Each stop was 15 min max, which was not enough for 80+ people to even have a good look around. Then we were rushed by the organizers to the vehicles and continued to the next destination, trying not to hit other cars or local kids which were in the middle of the road asking for money. In the end we were offered to buy photos made by organizers during the trip. They ask $65 (USD) for all or $20 for one which was too high of a price for any photo (nevermind the unprofessional, low resolution photos we were offered).

In summary, I would recommend you spend your hard earned money...

Dune buggies was a pretty good time. Make sure you're prepared to get dirty, and they didn't have lockers to store your bags or anything.

The buggies are pretty beat up and are maintained on the road as they break down. That wasn't really too much of a problem even though I had break downs, my brother had multiple breakdowns and lots of people in the group broke down . The mechanics handle the problems well. The group's are probably a little too big as the actual driving portion was pretty weak, there's no passing allowed and I was stuck behind people going so slow, slowing down for every pot hole, when the buggies are designed for bopping and bumping around! The guides tried to manage this a little bit by asking excessively slow people to wait and be at the end but there were too many people to keep up on moving the group. The drive to the beach is good, but the drive to the house and the cave are just short stretches of dirt road where you slowly pass lots of children begging for money.

The "typical Dominican house" as advertised was a quick run through of processing Dominican products (cacao, coffee, coco butter etc). This just ends up being an officially sponsered store to sell the same stuff every tourist shop has. The cigar guys were pretty aggressive to buy if you try the free cigar.

The cave is really cool, you really have to jump in or your missing out. You need to climb out of the cave a little, so it might not be so good for kids or those with mobility issues, you also need to be able to swim as there is not much to hang on to or stand on in the cave pool, it's very deep. Unfortunately the cave gets a little annoying when you're leaving as the entrance is right at a bunch of little shops and the guys running the shops are super aggressive.

The beach was very nice. The view was beautiful. Be careful if it's windy/wavy as there are alot of boulders that aren't too obvious. Be prepared for guys selling stuff on this beach too.

Over all was a fun morning, I just would have preferred to drive the machines a little more instead of sitting...