Juan Dolio Beach

It takes about 45 minutes to drive to Juan Dolio Beach from Santo Domingo. Juan Dolio Beach is about 10-15 minutes past Boca Chica (the closest beach to Santo Domingo), but is well worth the additional time and cost of the taxi. Juan Dolio Beach is one of the best beaches on the Caribbean side and arguably is considered the best beach for people to visit from Santo Domingo. Juan Dolio Beach is a very family-friendly beach, but by no means a boring beach. This beach is located directly on the Caribbean and not in a lagoon like Boca Chica, and, because of this, it will give you the great Caribbean feel. Juan Dolio is divided into two sections. I call them, old Juan Dolio and new Juan Dolio. With both these sections you are guaranteed to find a part of the beach that calls your name and is an excellent choice for a day or half day trip to the beach.

For a day trip you want to spend your time in old Juan Dolio where there is wonderful partial cove adjoining a long, clean white sand beach and blue water. You can walk up and down this beach for miles and you won’t have a problem finding a piece of the beach to call your own for the day.
In the central part of the cove there are several restaurants and bars -some high end and some more basic. These restaurants have setup tables, chairs and umbrellas on the beach you can rent for just a few dollars.

Most of the restaurant menus are filled with fresh fish and seafood selections, but there is also an Italian restaurant named Suenos (dreams) that has excellent food for reasonable prices. A little walk (about 10 minutes) from the central part of the beach is Café del Sol. This is a very nice restaurant where not only can you eat and drink, but it also has a great beach in front with chairs, loungers, day beds, etc., for you to use. You can walk to the restaurant either on the beach or on the road. When you walk on the beach there will be spots you will have to wade through shallow water.
There is also a great little restaurant/bar that sprawls out onto to the beach – Don Pedros. Here you will have excellent views of the beach, a great Caribbean breeze, nice cold beers and a limited, but very good menu.

If you are looking for something a little nicer, the Octopus Bay Restaurant has white table clothes, fancy glasses, etc., and is a great place to have the classic Dominican beach lunch/dinner of whole fried fish and fried plantains.

The central part of the cove is full of activity and music, but is a much tamer place than Boca Chica. Once you walk 5 minutes in either direction of the center of the cove you will have a more tranquil experience.

New Juan Dolio has a more limited access to the beach and, in my opinion, is not as pretty as the old Juan Dolio beach. While there are many high-end condos and hotels to rent along the water, unless you are staying in one of them, I would suggest you enjoy Old Juan Dolio Beach. There is however an excellent little restaurant/bar that on most nights has a live English band with two American expatriates and a few Dominicans in the band. Here you will find many English-speaking patrons enjoying the food, music and cold beers. The wait staff speaks English and the food is great. This restaurant/bar is located directly across from Marbella Condos and is known as the Marbella Pub. The Club Hemingway, a condo resort, has a restaurant at the end of a dock and is a nice place to eat at as well.

With such fantastic views, clean white sandy beaches, blue water, a Caribbean breeze to keep you cool, and many small quaint restaurants and bars, you can’t help but enjoy your day at this beach.

With such fantastic views, clean white sandy beaches, blue water, a Caribbean breeze to keep you cool, and many small quaint restaurants and bars, you can’t help but enjoy your day at this beach in either Old or New Juan Dolio.