Family Fun In The Dominican Republic

Family Fun in the Dominican Republic

If you are considering a vacation with your family in the Dominican Republic, rest assured that there is a lot of fun to be had with your kids. The obvious choice is always the beach but even that gets old with the kids. Your best bet is to plan to stay at one of the many resorts. The resort vacation packages have the whole enchilada wrapped up into one fee.

You are able to get airfare, lodging, food, and beverages. It is standard for each of these resorts to have an activities department with a variety of activities for the kids to experience. It is always helpful to have feedback from other families that have made the same trip so get online and go to the various travel chat rooms and see what they have to say about where the kids had the most fun. Travel Advisor is a good site and they have good information for travelers.

La Ramana, in Casa De Campo is a great resort for the family. This resort boasts of having a huge facility with 16 pools and a private beach. There are regular rooms available, but there are also 3 and 4 room villas that you can rent as well as 4-passenger touring carts for your family to get around the resort grounds. If you have a larger party a second cart is made available.

There are various programs for the different age groups. Toddlers’n Casa program is for the youngest children 1 to 3 years of age. The Kidz’n Casa entertains children ages 4-7. Then there is the Casa ‘Tweens for kids 8 – 12, and finally there is the Bonche Club which entertains teens 12 – 18 year olds only during the weeknights. The kids have their own pool table, foosball, music and movies. You are assured your children will be well taken care of because there will be at least two staff assisting them at all times that speak English.

There are similar programs in other resorts and most boast of lessons in billiards, horseback riding, snorkeling, kayaking, and there are even meringue lessons for the kids. There is also an educational offering of Spanish language schools that includes 20 hours a week studying Spanish and a stay with a local family. The classes have 6-8 students attending so you are insured that your child gets all the attention they need. These types of immersion programs are very good at teaching your children to speak Spanish.

If your children love pirates and pirate lore it would be great for them to study the history of the real pirates and perhaps, even to read “Treasure Island”. You can read these books with your kids and discuss how they relate to the common pirate “yarns”. “Pirates of the Caribbean” was filmed in and around Hispaniola and you can always get started for your trip by watching all three movies. Sounds like fun to me.

Ocean World in Puerto Plata is a wonderful experience. There are a great variety of animals to learn about here but the most impressive experience that the park offers is being able to swim with the dolphins. Haven’t you ever wanted to swim with Flipper?
I have always wanted to do this. The park also offers a rainforest that has waterfalls, lagoons, and waterfalls. This would be a great time to let the kids use the camera.

Other family things to do would be hiking, swimming, volleyball and dancing. If your children have not learned to swim yet, this would be the time to teach them. Dominican beaches are also great for shell hunting and if you are an adult you can rent metal detectors and go treasure hunting with your kids. Who knows, you just might find some treasure!