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Because
this resort town is conveniently-located close to the airport
and the capital city of Santo
Domingo. No other destination places you as close to all
the attractions of the bustling 2.5-million people capital
city.
Fly in to Las Americas airport and in 15 minutes you can go
wading into a natural giant swimming pool. This makes it a
good choice for families with small children.
And Boca Chica is great for singles. It is a free-spirited
tourist town where 80% of the people out partying on any given
night will be single.
The
Beach
Boca Chica beach
is a reef-protected lagoon of tranquil blue waters and powder-white
sand. One can wade out 100 yards from shore into glassy waters and
still be only waist deep with nothing but soft clean sand underfoot.
It’s the perfect beach for small children because there are
no waves and no deep waters. Boca Chica is crowded on Sundays when
capital city dwellers make the half hour commute to the beach, returning
home at dusk. The rest of the week, the sand and sun is for the
tourists.
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One
can find just about everything in Boca Chica, making it one
of the most complete of the ungated beach towns in the country.
There are hotels and dining for every budget, great night life,
proximity to the airport and capital, yet it’s still small
enough to build relationships. |
Boca Chica
is a "shopping beach" because pleasant Dominican
vendors wander the beach or sell from their shops on the main
street that runs parallel to the beach. While tanning, you
can haggle over silver jewelry and paintings, or get your
hair braided in corn rows. No heavy pressure. Just people
trying to get a few of your tourist dollars.
What
else is nearby?
If you
like to explore and are getting tired of the bathwater ocean,
you’ll find slightly wilder water at Playa Caribe. About
a 10 minute drive west of Boca Chica, it’s a small horseshoe
bay that offers great boogie boarding and a nice, if small,
beach. Further west are the towns of Guayacanes and Juan
Dolio. Guayacanes has a beautiful palm-studded beach that’s
quiet every day but Sunday. Its wonderful coral reef lies
just meters from the beach – snorkelers’ paradise.
World class shopping is available 30 minutes away in Santo
Domingo. Buses that travel up and down the highway will
take you directly into the old colonial zone of the city where
you can marvel at Spanish colonial architecture. Or just go
shopping.
How
to get there
Most visitors
arriving in Boca Chica will land at Las
Americas Airport, the largest and busiest in the country.
The town of Boca Chica is a 15 minute taxi ride from the airport.
As well, Boca Chica’s all
inclusive hotels are popular with the cruise-and-stay
clients who arrive at the seaport after a week cruising the
Caribbean
and stay an extra week in a local hotel.
Getting
around
Boca
Chica’s main area of interest to tourists is quite small
and easily walkable. However, there is a taxi stand at each
of the three large resorts
and desk clerks at the smaller hotels
can call one for you. They can also advise you on what the
fares are.
You
will see many motoconchos, or motorcycle taxis, in Boca Chica.
For 10 pesos, they will take you anywhere in the town.
If
you want to travel to neighboring towns on the Las Americas
highway, go to the Shell gas station (la bomba) and wait at
the corner for a gua-gua (public bus) heading east or west.
| Our
Guide Book Recommendations |
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The
biggest attraction in Boca Chica is the beach. That’s
why each hotel offers an array of water sports and beach
activities to keep you occupied. You won’t find
much high culture here – there are no theaters,
galleries or movie houses. Fortunately, the big hotels
have their own evening shows and discos and there are
many public discos throughout the town. Plus the Hamaca
Hotel
has a casino open to the public. Most visitors to Boca
Chica spend their days either on the beach or going on
excursions to see the rest of the country. |
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Jeep
Safaris
Santo Domingo (Full day and Half day tours)
Santo Domingo Night tour
Saona Island
Catalina Island
Horse Ranch tours
White Water Rafting, Jarabacoa |
As for exploring
off hotel grounds, the Hamaca for example has single-speed bikes
with chain brakes. There are bike tours every morning, with a guide
who takes you to local places of interest.
Some tips: Get
to the bike rack a little early to ensure getting a bike with fully
inflated tires and meaningful tire tread. Also, when riding, be
alert to the mopeds and motorcycles that zip by at breakneck speeds
on the narrow streets of Boca Chica. The roads, though adequately
paved, are interrupted by killer speed bumps and deep storm channels
for rain run-off. You don't want to ride into them.
And
if in the unlikely case you should run out of things to do,
consider choosing something from this list:
Ride a
horse, borrow a bike and explore the ‘real’ town,
go snorkeling, ride a banana boat, take an excursion to a
nearby island, take out a sailboat, paddle-boat, kayak, windsurf,
go scuba diving, walk out to the reef, go fishing, dance Merengue,
learn to salsa dance, eat all kinds of local and international
foods, rent a jet ski, do some water skiing, gamble in the
casino, travel an hour and see everything that Santo
Domingo has to offer, visit a disco, and sip espresso
while people watching at a sidewalk cafe, dine on fresh seafood
in a romantic candlelit setting on a deck over the water,
meet people and make friends, rent a motorcycle and hit the
dirt trails, go swimming, soak up the sun, drink from a pineapple
or coconut, buy a new swimsuit or colorful pareo, get your
shoes shined by an enthusiastic boy and buy him a coke, take
a tour of the countryside, sample the local beer, play some
golf, bargain for a good price on a T-shirt, smoke a local
cigar, get a massage on the beach or get your hair braided,
buy some of the local music to take home, buy some fresh mangos
at the local fruit market or get a whole plate of fresh fruit
cut up right in front of you right on the beach, remember
how little you paid for this trip, forget how soon you are
leaving ... :))
Scattered
about Boca Chica are numerous smaller hotels and guest houses.
Regardless of your taste in accommodation, you will find something
to suit you.
For more information on where to stay, see
our Hotel Directory >>
Dining
outside the hotels
Most of
Boca Chica’s restaurants are located on the beach.
Night
Life
There
are several discos in Boca Chica that play a combination of
dance pop, house music, and of course, salsa and merengue.
Couples and families usually stay at the large all
inclusive hotels that have their own discos and nightly
shows.
Given the
large numbers of singles that flock to Boca Chica's many non
all-inclusive
hotels, areas in Boca Chica's downtown take on an "adults
only" atmosphere at night.
Albeit, most of the single men will be foreigners and the women
local. The singles usually stay at the many small hotels that
dot the beach town and party at the town's bars. But days in
Boca Chica are quiet compared to Nassau,
Bahamas or Cancun. After all, this is a small town and the
main strip is just a few blocks long.
Golf
If you
are only an occasional golfer and would like to play during
your Boca Chica vacation, there's the San Andres Caribe Golf
Club in the area. This is a nine hole course located five
minutes from Boca Chica off Las Americas Highway. For more
information, see our Golf
Page
About
half an hour further East, serious golfers will enjoy the
Los Marlins golf course. See above link for more info on this
course, too.
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Scuba
The
diving and snorkeling is good in the Boca Chica area,
with the all-inclusive
hotels offering swimming pool lessons for beginners
and open water dives in the crystalline waters of the
south coast. PADI certification courses are also available.
Wreck
dives (Hickory and El Limon) are available in La Caleta
National Underwater Park, not far from Boca Chica. Many
divers prefer to take excursions out to Saona or Catalina
Island for superior diving with unbelievable visibility
among coral reefs and tropical fish.
Deep
Sea Fishing
Deep
sea fishing tours can be arranged at the excursion desks
of hotels
in Boca Chica.
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In
Boca Chica, the main shopping strip is one block up
from and parallel to the beach. It’s only about
5 or 6 blocks long, but it has everything you need to
take back home: rum, cigars, artwork, crafts etc. And
if you need items like sunscreen, bug spray or sandals,
you’ll find the prices better on Duarte Street
than in the hotel shops. Some designer boutiques have
begun to crop up, as well.
Most
stores will accept pesos, US dollars, travelers checks
or credit cards. Banco Popular at the far end of the
shopping area has an ATM machine. There’s another
bank machine directly in front of the Hamaca hotel and
another in Boca Chica Beach Resort.
On
the beach, shopping is an adventure. The goods come to
you, usually in briefcases carried by friendly vendors.
(The Hamaca does not permit vendors on its beach). Prices
are usually inflated to take haggling into account. You
can buy everything on the beach, from amber, larimar and
silver jewelry to paintings to wood carvings to a manicure/pedicure,
a massage or a head full of braids. |
For
a much wider selection, you can also make the short trip into
Santo Domingo.
But many tourists have said they got just as good prices in
Boca Chica
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