Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo
Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo things to do, attractions, restaurants, events info and trip planning
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We just returned March 7 from a terrific week at Bahia Principe Grand el Portillo. WOWZER! Excellent! If you don't want to read this long review, just go for it and book it! Any negative reviews you may read are impossible for me to comprehend. We were a group of 4 young seniors 🤪. The front desk told me that they were at 91% occupancy. Beach - The best! Hard pure sand, flat, walk either way as far as you want. No resorts either side, only private villas with next to no one there. No monster waves to knock you over. No need of water shoes. Directly in front of resort the beach is not very wide but not an issue. Practically zero seaweed which I think is because of big reef in front also beach faces north.There are huge waves breaking but they are 300 to 400 m offshore. Snorkeling - Tropical fish at the reef in front, and at some spots it's only about waist depth. I walked down beach off resort and found spots near reef where I could see fish just standing waist deep. Mask and snorkels (no flippers) available free for 1 hr with $40 USD cash security deposit. Recommend bring your own. Loungers - We typically acquired our 4 loungers on beach at 8 to 8:30 am. They are tightly packed under palm trees. We dragged them out to where we wanted. I took a casual count once at 9:30 am, just around our area, and could see 2 dozen loungers available. At the pool it seemed you could always find them. Resort washed down all beach loungers at night! Food - Excellent everywhere! The Bonavista had buffet breakfast and lunch right on the beach! It was perfect and never crowded. (I don't think everyone knew it was there.) Not as big as El Limon buffet but everything and more that one could want with a priceless view. Francisco did a great job serving coffee in am and beer at lunch! El Limon had a new delicious special feature each evening. Plus, you could always sit outside. It also had excellent sandwiches. We brought along baggies and packed a lunch for return flight. The restaurants we went to were: Brazilian, Fish Market, & Italian. Loved them all with excellent service! Pool - We spent more time at quiet smaller pool up near our villa. Great bar and not busy. We did enjoy larger pool as well and enjoyed having a beer at noon at one of the tables in pool. Smart idea, instead of people all sitting at pool bar all day. They also had a foam party in afternoon that many enjoyed and was fun to watch. Room - we were in villa 27, up by the road and close to quiet pool and evening show. We had a Junior Suite Superior. The road was a non issue for us. I guess if you sat out on your balcony for some reason it might be minorly aggravating, but it was not that busy a road and with sliding door balcony closed we never heard it. The room was super clean and just as photos had shown. AC worked well. Maid service and replenished water bottles was excellent. Shower was always hot with a big rainshower shower head. Bed was firm and we loved it. As far as all the review chatter about refurbished rooms, I asked resort and they said Villas 26, 27 and 28 were the last built so are the newest! Hot tub - was actually cool tub while we were there as the heater wasn't working. But a great quiet spot to read in shade. Activities - lots always happening: exercise classes, bingo, dance lessons, volleyball, etc. Entertainment- lots going on. Always a show. Karaoke one night. The silent dance party by main pool was a can't miss event. We all had headsets with great music to dance to without bothering anyone else with loud music. Super idea. Check out when it is scheduled. We all looked crazy but had the best time! 🕺💃 Shuttle service on resort - plentiful and fun, but gate to lobby & buffets only 5 min walk. Tipping - No server ever was looking for a tip, but they were always appreciative of a tip. Best I could tell, they put the tip into a common box that they shared. My Bahia Principe loyalty program - Highly recommend it. Download mobile app. Thank you, Bahia Principe! Staff are very well trained and customer focused! And always cleaning!
Stuart NichollStuart Nicholl
00
This review is for our recent stay at Grand Bahia Principe El Portillo. We have visited the property previously (2013 & 2019) with our young children. This vacation was for 2 middle aged adults - my spouse and myself. We are loyal guests of the Bahia Principe chain and have vacationed at their properties in Jamaica, Riviera Maya, Punta Cana, and Samaná. We chose a standard room for this vacation as went planned to spend most of our time on the beach. We were given room 16203. The balcony was nice and the location was close to the main lobby. We found the bed hard and requested a topper for the mattress. Our room attendant brought us one without delay but the bed was still hard after the addition of this topper. I’ve seen quite a few complaints about the hard mattresses here so I think it’s time that the hotel replace them. Our room was always kept very clean. Coffee, water, beer, and pop was replenished daily. There were always plenty of facecloths, towels, kleenex, and toilet paper. The AC in our room was just marginal. The room was warm some nights despite the AC being set to as cold as possible. The food at the buffet is ok at this property. Not horrible, not fantastic, just ok. Temps were never quite right - everything was lukewarm. There is no room service at this property for regular guests - maybe privilege club guests get room service? There was a food hut by the beach shop that you could get take out in the afternoons for burgers, hot dogs, nachos, and sometimes a paella type dish. We dined at 3 a la cartes while we were there: the Brazilian, Italian, and French. We wanted to try the Greek but there was no availability. We found all a la cartes to be just ok in terms of food quality. Food was never served hot which was unfortunate. The daytime entertainment was awesome. Lots of great activities - yoga, various games, dance lessons, aqua aerobics, bingo, etc. On Tuesday afternoon at 4pm there was a foam party in the pool that seemed to be a big hit. The evening shows were entertaining and the crew does a great job of engaging guests. The adult show didn’t get going until 930pm or so and we found that late. The beach is outstanding at this property. The water is various shades of blue, there’s an expansive beachfront, and you can walk in both directions for miles. The trees on the beach provided shade when we couldn’t secure a palapa. There is, unfortunately, a lot of smoking on the beach and people leave their cigarette butts all over the beach. If you want to stay on the resort’s property to use the loungers/palapqs please know it is VERY crowded, and again, smoky. Staff will confiscate any personal items left on chairs if you try to reserve them before 830am. We didn’t try to do this but heard from other guests that this had happened to. Wifi is spotty on the beach and there are no beach waiters at this resort for drink service unless you are a member of the privilege club. Go see Albania at the Tropicana bar - she is fast and very friendly. To finalize, there were A LOT of smokers everywhere at this property. As mentioned above we have been to several Bahia properties and we have not encountered half as much smoke as we did here. We could always smell cigarette and cigar smoke unless we were inside our room or inside a restaurant. It wafts into the patio dining area of the buffet and snack bar from those smoking in proximity. The sand at the beach is littered with cigarette butts from end to end. This should be cleaned up and the resort should create and enforce the use of designated smoking areas. There were a lot of young children at this property who are being subjected to unnecessary second hand smoke and that’s very sad. Employees that made a positive impact on our vacation include the following people. Thank you so much for providing excellent service and for your kindness. Nathaniel - guest relations Lewin A - breakfast and dinner buffet service at El Limón Albania - Tropicana bar Wilson - entertainment team Housekeeping (room 16203) Paola - sports bar
AmandaAmanda
00
We stayed in this hotel from December 27th to January 5th. At first everything seemed perfect but then it turned out to be a nightmare. Abbimao booked 7 months in advance and paid for a Superior Junior Suite for 3200 euros one month in advance! The room was located in villa 27, second floor, at the end of the corridor, room 27220. On booking it was specified GARDEN VIEW but we found ourselves with a view of a road where cars, scooters and trucks pass 24 hours a day. Impossible to rest in the morning, afternoon, evening and night. The room doesn't have double glazing so it was like sleeping on the street for 8 days (see video) We reported it to the hotel and they promised to change rooms. The room they gave us was number 27218, two rooms before ours, practically identical and with the same view and the same noise. THEY KIDDED US. Furthermore, there are only 3 power outlets in the room, none near the beds, none in the bathroom. The sheets were not changed every day and the floor was not washed. The shower power was very low and hot water was not always present. Another inconvenience, at check-in you are given a card to enter the house (which is demagnetized every two days) and a card for the pool towel. One day it was raining, we were at the pool, we left the pool towels on the deck and went back to the room. We fell asleep and when we returned the towels had been taken by the pool staff. We went to ask for them back and the gentleman at the guest service desk told us that we had to pay a fee of 150 dollars because we didn't have any towels or cards to collect them. ABSURD AND RIDICULOUS, RIDICULOUS!!! Furthermore, 90% of the guests are Canadian and the resort is set up exclusively for them, from the music to the activities and the staff. Stunning beach with quite comfortable deckchairs as well as the swimming pool and bars. Restaurant staff extremely friendly and kind. Unfortunately the food is not the best, always the same things repeated every two days, recycled shellfish from New Year's Eve until January 4th. There isn't much choice and the à la carte restaurants are nothing more than smaller restaurants where you eat the same things as the buffet. Cleanliness of the hotel in general is very good, while the drinks at the all-inclusive are made with poor quality alcohol, you have to pay to get something better. At the end of our holiday I can say that I will never return to any hotel in the Bahia Principe chain, I am really very disappointed with them and with Booking which did not assist us in any way.
Germano SollazzoGermano Sollazzo
20
I’m really upset about my stay at this hotel from March 21-28, 2024, and I have to warn everyone about this place. First off, the cheaper rooms are tiny and look like they haven’t been updated in decades. We ended up paying an extra $210 to upgrade to what they called "premium" rooms, but honestly, they were just okay. Don't bother paying extra through a travel agency; it's not worth it. Our rooms faced a busy road, and every morning from 6 am, we’d hear cars and people yelling right outside our window. Plus, there are no good views anywhere because all the buildings are hidden inside the property. The food was alright, nothing special, especially if you’ve eaten in places like Mexico. The service was super slow. We always had to wait for someone to clear a table before we could sit down, and even then, we often ended up at a dirty table that no one rushed to clean. Tips didn’t make any difference. If you want a drink with your meal, don’t expect them to get it from the bar. The main buffet was a mess. The coffee machines were always broken and there were never enough cups. The whole area is too small for the number of people they have. They don’t take good care of the place either. The main lawn area looked terrible (I attached pictures). Also, not all drinks are included. If you want any non-local alcohol, you have to pay $4-5 per shot. I tried their local amaretto and it made me feel sick. The entertainment was a joke! There were only a few songs each evening that were okay for kids or adults. The kids’ stuff was the same every day, just the same local songs. The DJ kept interrupting the music to say how much he loves his job, which no one cared about. Just play the music and let us enjoy our evening. The beach was nice but there weren’t enough chairs for everyone. Some people had to sit on regular plastic chairs. I tried to save a spot in the shade because we have a little kid, but 30 minutes later, my stuff was taken to the reception. I talked to the manager and he said there’s not enough space for everyone and that’s why we can’t save spots before 8 am. That’s just ridiculous! We’ve never had this problem anywhere else. The management is a mess and I’m never coming back to this hotel or any other hotel in their chain. Seriously, find somewhere else to stay. This place isn’t worth it.
Artem TkachenkoArtem Tkachenko
00
We just came back from a 7 night stay at Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo. We had concerns when we were booking this resort since we are not big fans of big resorts but it was recommended to us by a travel agent, and we are glad we chose this one. The number one is its location. There are no other big resorts around so you can enjoy beautiful beaches with no one around just minutes walk away from the resort. The resort is big but it's set in a nice lush green environment so it did not feel like a big resort, even full the beach was not crowded. The grounds were kept in perfect condition and the beach was cleaned early in the morning and raked. Another thing that impressed us was the food in the buffet. Everything that we had was delicious, the variety was unbelievable, every day they had several new items on the menu, lobsters for Christmas dinner... Generally an abundance of seafood. Only a few things could be improved: that kind of level of hotel should have at least one proper espresso machine. The ones they have and call "espresso machine" you usually find and gas stations and their brewed coffee was diluted so we tried to boost it with instant coffee😕. Same for fresh squeezed juices, they were diluted so much that you almost don't taste the difference between different flavors... A la carte restaurants were disappointing, the best one of all was Brasilian. The resort was partially renovated, mainly in common areas, but rooms are a bit outdated and need constant repairs, which were happening during our stay by a group of workers but there was no loud construction going on. The only other disappointment or surprise was that as a 5 star all inclusive hotel you have to pay for a pool table and air hockey. $3/$2 per game seems not much but if the game is over after 7 points... And most of the time the pool tables were out of order so there was not much to do for my teenage son in the evening. We did a lot of snorkeling if shore and the coral is mainly dead so there is very little fish, but you can still some. We booked snorkeling trip but was cancelled due to weather conditions. In general the resort is worth going to and we will come back in the future.
Tomas BeresTomas Beres
00
We have stayed in Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo 4 or 5 times since 2014. In 2022, we were at the hotel 2 times: the first time in May and the weather were great, but the second time in September we got into a hurricane. It was not pleasant. In 2023 we were at the hotel from May 22 and the weather was beautiful. Golden streaks from the sun were visible in the crystal clear water at a depth of 3-4 meters. We booked “Junior Suite Superior DBL”.. The room is large with two comfortable beds, a sofa, some furniture, a balcony, a hot tub, a shower, etc. The air conditioner worked quietly and efficiently. We slept great, much better than at home. Perhaps the only negative impression was made by the peeling coating on the hot tub. But who needs a Jacuzzi on the shores of the beautiful Atlantic Ocean? We don't use it. We visited all the restaurants (except the Brazilian). Each of them has its own specifics. Chefs strive to make dishes and their presentation interesting, and almost always they succeed. The waiters are amazingly nice and helpful. Of course everyone eats at the buffet most of the time. The menu is varied; the quality of food meets the requirements of any average buffet. If you come not at rush hour, then you can eat very comfortably. The rest of the time, the buffet is noisy inside, but there are quiet places outside overlooking the ocean. The waiters are friendly, smiling, trying to understand the visitors with English, German, French, Russian and other native languages. I would like to mention two very nice waitresses - Nati and Ceneida. Considering that only locals work at the hotel, it will be proper to use Spanish. My Spanish is at the level of only a few important words: hello, thank you, beer, white wine, and coffee. But Google and iPhone partially alleviate the communication problem. I think it was my one the best vacations.
vphimavphima
00
Nearby Attractions Of Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo
Playa Carolina
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Nearby Restaurants Of Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo
Restaurante Portofino
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Learn more insights from Wanderboat AIBasic Info
Address
Crta. las Terrenas - El Limón, km. 4, Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
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Phone
+1 809-240-6100
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Website
bahia-principe.com
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Reviews
Overview
4.6
(5.1K reviews)
Ratings & Description
attractions: Playa Carolina, El Portillo, restaurants: Restaurante Portofino
