Riu Hotels, they cater for young and old, day and night. There are 3 at the North of the island, Merengue, Bachata and Mambo (you can use all three, they are directly next door to each other. Food and entertainment simply brilliant. Thoroughly recommend any of the three.

I stayed at the fun royale last year was fantastic my children were 12 and 9 years of age.The fun royale is located in the north.

Thanks for the help I'll look at these hotels

Caribbean hotel reviews can be found HERE.

Pippy

Hi CatherineEvans. I am looking at going to Sunscape the Beach in Punta Cana for May half term with my 6 year old daughter and 3 year old son. The kids club here is fab and there is a small waterslide too.

When are you going?

We are not going until Easter 2008 for husbands 40th - let me know what it was like if you go in May. I'm still deciding which hotel to book - I've been advised that the south and east of the island have much nicer beaches so I now have to look at different hotels to the ones I had picked.

Hope you have a great time!!!!!

Hi
Will let you know. I am hoping to book Sunscape this week. Have Pmd you about rooms as well.

Hi

We stayed at Sunscape the Beach last year for my 40th Birthday. We travelled with my kids then aged 14 and 12 and they loved it. They have a big water trampoline in the sea and also an inflatable ice climbing wall also in the sea. They also had lots of things like snorkling equipment for use, boogie boards, absailing etc (think thats what they were called) all free of charge.
They have a great kids facilities - Pirate ship, and kids clubs for up to 12 years (I think), although my kids didn't use it. They had trampolines on the beach for the kids and they also did things like ' bungee jumping for the kids' which basically meant they got strapped into a harness and went the trampoline (fully supervised) and did things like somersaults, jumping up and down etc (Dont really know why it was called bungee) They had table tennis, tennis courts, darts, archery, pool tables, bicycles etc They have a terrific gym if you wanted to use it and also a wonderful spa offering loads of treatments etc, (really relaxing whilst the kids are kept entertained.) The pool was fantastic and meandered the full length of the complex/accommodation, it was all shallow and you could get mats to float on. The entertainment was absolutely brilliant and the staff were so friendly and could not do enough to help, they worked relentlessly to provide activities for children and adult throughought the day if you wanted to join in, but they did not put any pressure on you. I expected the beach to have clear white sand and the water to be crystal clear, but it was not what I expected although still lovely. We had great fun going slightly further down the beach and jumping in and out of the waves, again I suppose it depends on the childrens ages and whether they would like that

Also they had 7 restaurants, it was buffet meals for breakfast and lunch, and you did not need to reserve restaurants at night. The food was sensational in all restaurants, and you had a choice of restaurants ranging from chinese/japanese, fish, mexican, grill resaurant serving things like steaks, ribs, etc, an adult only restaurant (did not try this because of kids, but it had great reviews for the people I spoke to) and of course the buffet restaurant. I found going out for meals to be a big and important part of our holiday with the kids, because you could sit and relax, have your meals brought to the table, and talk about all the things we had done in the day. They served the most delicious cocktails - alcoholic and non alcoholic, they wine with the meals was lovely (I am quite fussy about wine) and the soft drinks were brand names. They also did a barbeque on the beach daily, with soft drinks and ice creams, as well as snack bars, coffee bars etc. We were there during the world cup and they have a really big screen for people to go and watch, they also show movies etc for the kids and adults during the day. They do horse riding etc and trips from the resort payable locally, but they only thing I would not recommend it the snorkling with the hotel on their beach.
As mentioned earlier we went for my 40th Birthday and I had an absolutely fantastic time, we had adjoining rooms with the kids and our room had a four poster bed and the kids had two doubles. We had a fridge which was topped up daily with beer, water and soft drinks. It was really special and hence I get excited just thinking about it and my kids still talk about it. Given a choice I would definately have loved to go back again this year, but I was narrowly outvoted and instead we are going back to Florida this year, but we will definately go again next year.

If you have a look at sunscape resort and spa and I think the website might be http://amresorts they have a forum where you can ask questions and find out more, people also show there pictures etc. They have another hotel in Dominican which I think probably has a nicer beach i think that it is called Sunscape Casa Del Mar, in Romana, and Sunscape the Beach is in Punta Cana.

You can have a look at my review in the hotel review section.

The Domincan people were so nice and friendly that I am sure you will have a great time, wherever you choose to go.

ymac

http://www.amresorts.com/

http://www.sunscaperesorts.com/beach/index.html

catherineevans39,

i can concur dawntra's statement re riu merengue - out of this world.

good luck.

Eifion.

Thanks keanda for your great review of Sunscape the beach. It sounds fab. Just worried about the weather slightly now as the last 2 years we have gone to Egypt and never once saw a cloud in the sky.

Hoping to book by the end of this week

Could anyone tell me which tours operators we can book the Sunscape hotel through,many thanks.

I know that thomson and Thomas cook do it but we are looking at booking DIY because its much cheaper.

Hi,

When I went to Sunscape the Beach last year I also booked the flights and accommodation throught Thomsons, but I did it as a DIY as opposed to a package and it worked out considerably cheaper. We also booked a taxi transfer to the hotel, it took just under 1 hour, but they were in the process of building a new road 'motorway' which they thought would considerably reduce the travel time to the resort. I also booked my taxi transfer through Thomsons, but after speaking to people on the sunscape forum I was given the details of a taxi company who you can book and it definately was cheaper. I also believe that the hotel runs a bus service to and from the airport and resort.

Nicolaw, we went at the end of June into July and to be honest the weather was fantastic. It rained in the evening on two occassions, but it quickly dried up and cleared the air. The temperature was probably in the 90's, but they had loads of umberellas to lie under if you needed shade. I would definately recommed taking high factor sunscreens particularly if you are taking children. Despite having factor 35 on my kids and them only being on the beach for 1 hour they ended up sunburnt, and I have never experienced that before with them whilst abroad.
Also there are some shops and a pharmacy in the hotel/resort but I found these to be expensive particularly for sunscreen.

The only other thing I thought I would mention is that when you get to the resort you think that there is nothing much in the way of shops around, but if you go out of the gates and turn to the right and walk perhaps for 600m you will come across a small shopping centre, which has some nice souvenirs etc, the people are so friendly and helpful and it is cheaper than buying things at the hotel.

keanda

Hi I have looked to pricwe the Sunscape in Punt Cana, but no one seems to do it anymore, anyone got anyidea which TO does this hotel. Yours Janice

Hi,

Hi, Thomsons are still doing Sunscape the Beach. You do not seem to be able to get it if you look at it as a package, but if you go to either the 'build your own' or hotels only you can do a search for dates and prices. It comes under Dominican - East and the resort it shows is Bavaro. I also think that you can book with the hotel direct, and the website is listed in the above posts.

keanda

Booked Sunscape the Beach through Portland on internet.

most hotels in the dom rep are family friendly but the iberostar chain are most definately family friendly its part of thier moto and they love to enteract its what they are best knon for