Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo — Hotel in Las Terrenas

We stayed from April 13-20, 2024 as a group of 22 (including 3 children). We all booked the Jr Suite Superior rooms. We all had a really, really great time at this resort.||||ROOMS: They were clean with plenty of space.||The showers sometimes took a few min (5 ish) to warm up, but the water was never freezing and after being in the hot sun all day, a "cool" shower was actually welcomed. We used the shampoo, conditioner and body wash provided by the hotel; they had a nice honey & citrus scent.||The bed was pretty firm, but I didn't mind it. The pillows weren't what we'd prefer but we made do.||A/C - Ours was great, we actually needed the blanket at night.||Our mini fridge was restocked daily. They give you tiny cans of either Presidente or Presidente light. Pop in the fridge was Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Orange I believe.||there are no elevators in the room blocks, they’re 3 stories high so if you have mobility issues request a ground floor room.||One or two had safe battery issues which were resolved fairly quickly. One had an issue with door locks (or lack thereof (no chain or dead bolt)) and after two promises to fix and nothing being resolved during our first day, one of the ladies at the front desk put on her best bad a$ boss lady hat and got things fixed immediately the next day (even going with the guest to her room to make sure it got done). I wish we'd gotten her name to properly give her a shout out. I think there were a few in our group who had Wi-Fi issues in their rooms. We didn't experience that though.||||BEACH/POOL:||the pool was so nice. It was HOT the week we were there, and we found the beach area to be cooler than the pool area. We made a point to end our last day at the pool after some beach time, just because we liked it so much.||the swim up bar wasn't jam packed, I actually thought the pool seemed quite empty the whole time we were there. They also had 3 tables in the water in front of the pool bar with bar seating around them. We used them to play beer pong!||two of the pool/swim up bar bartenders were taught how to make a great drink named "sunny mango" - so good, ask them to make it!||the beach is beautiful, it was very clean, and the seaweed was minimal when we were there, and what was washing up ashore was being cleaned up daily around 8am. The beach always had a nice breeze.||the ocean was clear and refreshing. Water shoes weren't necessary, but bring snorkel gear if you have it, plenty of reef and lots of fish to see!||No issues getting chairs, but we were down there by 7 am usually.||kids waterpark - the kids loved this spot, and they even had a foam party for them one day!||||SPORTS BAR:||Best place to get drinks! Margaritas, Pina coladas, Mai Tai, Vodka Lemonades (the slushy ones), were the favourite drinks of the trip. Canadians! They have clamato juice and while no rimmer, they're tasty.||there is a great outdoor seating area here between the lobby and pool, and at night they set up a 2nd bar near the buffet and have some tunes and entertainment happening in this spot before the evening shows.||||GROUNDS:||The hotel is very walkable and there are no scheduled trolleys to take you from end to end. The hotel property is just the right size. Everything is kept nice and clean.||The hotel property actually flooded one night we were there. Someone said it was the most rain they'd had at one time in 17 years. We'll be telling everyone our adventures back to rooms after dinner in knee high at times "puddles" for years to come. It rained...we didn't let it stop us! They were quick to pump the excess water away and after 2 days you wouldn't have even known. Unfortunately, some of the guests did have to be shipped to the sister Bahia 2 hours away due to their rooms being flooded.||||FOOD:||Breakfast: We ate at the main buffet or at the Brazilian restaurant location. That spot is on the beach overlooking the ocean and during the morning/daytime it is a smaller buffet for breakfast and lunch.||Lunch: we always ate at the main buffet, but many in our group did eat at the grill on the beach for lunch when it was open (they served hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken). Lots of choices for lunch, again get creative! They have all the fixings usually to make fajitas. ||Dinner: We always found lots of great eats for dinner at the buffet!||note we did witness staff checking food with thermometers.||I realize people hate on the buffets, no they're not usually the hottest - they aren't in North America either, chaffing dishes aren't great at keeping food warm. There is always something you can eat, get creative! ||A-la-cartes: Since we were a large group, I tried to get the hotel to help me out with pre-booking dinners so we could all eat at the ones we wanted and as a group. They were responsive but ultimately this didn't get done for us. They were able to accommodate all 22 of us at the Brazilian. We ended up having to split up and do our own things for the remaining meals. ||Brazilian - all of the meat options were really tasty, they were served table side. The rest of the meal is served buffet style and was really just food you could get at the main buffet. Not a favourite amongst us solely for that reason. ||Italian - The food was ok, most really enjoyed their meals.||French - OMG get the steak, it was the best. The shrimp and the egg app were a hit, the dessert was all very tasty as well. ||Greek - While I didn't personally get to try this restaurant, I was told the entertainment was the best part of the meal. The pork and beef kebabs were good, but they were there for just under 2 hrs and hadn't had dessert yet so didn't wait around for that.||||OVERALL:||We loved this spot, we all said we'd return. The staff were all very friendly, smiley and helpful, and true some don't speak the best English, but they try. This is a great hotel, nothing is ever going to be 100% perfect, not anywhere. You're here to vacation, have a great time, enjoy the sun and RELAX, it's all a part of the adventure, the weird quirks of resort life just add to the story and the laughs. Sometimes patience is key. Resort life and the things that pop up are all part of the adventure.||||I have videos/highlights and posts on my insta: beaches.n.things if you want to learn more.||||Thank you, Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo, for being a great place to...

This resort was a nice one for families and individuals looking for a beach vacation on the ocean. However, the hotel is advertised as a 4.5/5 star. This is not a 5 star resort.

Food & restaurants There are a total of 7 eateries on the resort, 5 are a-la-carte restaurants that require a reservation. If you plan dining at any of these restaurants, I would encourage you to reserve immediately upon arrival as it’s incredibly difficult to make a reservation especially if you’re a larger party. There’s one main buffet with a poor layout when trying to plate your food. There’s an alternative smaller buffet option for breakfast and lunch that’s a better layout but it’s only outdoor seating. The food itself is also repetitive and hit and miss with quality.

Service & staff I’ve noticed that many reviews call this out but there seemed to be no urgency or empathy with many of the staff members. My family was respectful with adopting common Spanish words when asking for items and were often served when we initially spoke Spanish but felt like as soon as we said something in English, we were overlooked. If Spanish is your first language or you have a intermediate level of Spanish, you’ll have a great time as the staff hardly spoke other languages and if they did, their patience was thin and wouldn’t try to understand what you’re saying. The bars are understaffed (especially the beach and pool bar), there were times where there would be 10+ guests and only one staff member. Jorge at the beach bar was amazing and deserves a raise.

Beach & pool There are a couple of pools at the resort but the primary pool in the heart of the resort was where they held a lot of activities. If you are looking for a pool that’s quiet go to the one near the family villas (10-12) in the north side of the resort. The central pool had a swim up bar and plenty of lounge chairs most in the sun but there was a good amount of umbrellas (pro). Con to this is that the swim up bar was understaffed per the amount of people in the water and the kids and adult guests would swim up and shout what they want at the bartenders (even if you were there first - this goes back to how if you are Spanish speaking the staff often served you first). Considering it was a swim up bar the water seemed pretty clean with all the chlorine pumping.

The beach was great, we went during the start of hurricane season (end of June) and the tide was pretty low. It got even lower in the afternoon as well. However, there are also coral reefs near the shore (a pro for on-resort snorkelling, but a con for swimming as you need to be mindful where you swim/stand in the water). There were many beach lounge chairs but the umbrellas at the front of the beach were always a hot commodity. Some reviews said their stuff was brought to the main lobby if you stepped away to eat or use the washroom but my family didn’t experience that. Something I wish I knew about the beach before coming - it is a public beach. This means that there are going to be locals trying to sell you stuff (anything from jewelry, to coconuts, to braiding your hair and massages). We were constantly harassed and they are very persistent. I know that there is not a lot the resort can do as it is a public space but the amount of solicitors was ridiculous.

Overall hotel remarks Many reviews mention that the hotel is old - this is true and you can tell. Our shower/tub and hair dryer had hair in it and evidence of a past guest (wasn’t cleaned properly) when we arrived. Many of the rooms had water damage patches on the ceilings and the number outlets in the room is practically non existent - there was 2 sockets that worked for us (one which we had to unplug the coffee machine, and the other in the bathroom). The other “outlets” either had nothing behind them and the other didn’t provide any electricity. The water from the tap is not safe to drink or even remotely consume (we were advised by our travel agent rep that we shouldn’t even brush our teeth with the tap water). The wifi was terrible as well. Hardly reached the...

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...