Dominican Republic

Punta Cana International Airport is one of the Caribbean's most distinctive arrivals — a thatched-roof open-air terminal designed by Oscar de la Renta surrounded by coconut groves, immediately transporting you from the plane into the tropics. The 20-minute transfer to Bávaro Beach drops you at your resort, and from check-in to first swim in the all-inclusive pool takes approximately 15 minutes. The Bávaro beach section of the Punta Cana coast is arguably the finest in the Caribbean — 30 miles of coconut-palm-lined white sand with consistently calm turquoise water protected by the offshore barrier reef. Tonight is entirely at the resort: explore the restaurant options, choose your base pool for the week, and let the merengue soundtrack begin.

Saona Island is a two-hour catamaran journey from the Bávaro marina through the Yuma Channel — a low flat island of extraordinary biodiversity at the DR's southeastern tip, accessible only by boat and home to one of the Caribbean's most remarkable natural phenomena: the Natural Pool of Palmilla. This shallow sandbar in the middle of the open ocean, surrounded by blue-green Caribbean water in every direction, is lined with starfish on the sandy bottom and dozens of tour boats whose crews serve chilled rum and coconut water as passengers wade in the knee-deep warm water. Saona Island beach itself is one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean — pristine white sand with resident frigatebirds and pelicans.

Samaná Bay on the DR's northeastern coast is one of the world's great whale sanctuaries — from January to March, over 3,000 humpback whales congregate here to breed and calve in the warm shallow waters, making it the most accessible and concentrated humpback population on earth. A 3-hour drive or domestic flight from Punta Cana brings you to the bay for a whale watching boat excursion that virtually guarantees humpback encounters at close range. Outside whale season, the Samaná Peninsula offers horseback riding to the El Limón waterfall — a 40-meter cascade in the jungle interior, accessible only by horse, where you swim in the deep pool below the falls.

The Bávaro barrier reef lies a few kilometers offshore and provides excellent snorkeling at several accessible dive sites — a half-day boat excursion covers the best sections with abundant reef fish, spotted eagle rays, and the occasional nurse shark resting on the sandy bottom. Return for an afternoon of pure all-inclusive beach luxury: loungers at the resort's private beach section, cocktails at the swim-up bar, and the specific pleasure of a Caribbean afternoon when the sun is warm and the water is at exactly the temperature of your own body. Tonight, try the resort's Japanese restaurant or a specialty dinner at one of the a la carte options.

Altos de Chavón is one of the Caribbean's most extraordinary creations — a full-scale replica of a 16th-century Mediterranean hilltop village built by Gulf+Western Corporation in the 1970s above the Chavón River, now home to galleries, restaurants, a 5,000-seat Greek amphitheater (Frank Sinatra performed the inauguration concert), and the largest collection of pre-Columbian art in the Caribbean at the Regional Museum of Archaeology. The drive from Punta Cana through sugar cane fields and cattle country gives a more accurate picture of the Dominican Republic's interior life than the resort zone ever can.

The final full day is fully unscheduled — every activity at the resort that you haven't done yet, every restaurant you haven't tried, every pool section you haven't explored. Most luxury Punta Cana resorts have water park sections, beach volleyball, cooking classes, mixology sessions, spa treatments, and entertainment programs that could fill a week on their own. Tonight is the special couples' farewell dinner — ask your concierge to arrange the private beach dinner option that most resorts offer: a table on the sand, candles, flowers, a personal waiter, and the Caribbean horizon at sunset. It is, by any measure, a perfect way to end a honeymoon.

The airport is 20 minutes from Bávaro. Checkout, final swim, transfer — and in less time than it takes to properly say goodbye to this beach, you're in the departure lounge. The Dominican Republic is the Caribbean's great value honeymoon secret: as beautiful and as warm as any island in the region, with the added dimension of a deeply musical, genuinely welcoming Dominican personality that makes every interaction feel like a celebration.