Getting away from it all

[Burnham]

Planning to arive in DR Puerto Plata in early feb with my wife to celebrate 5 years of hard work. Will be spending a couple of weeks and looking to get away from the tourist hussle and bustle - preferably an isolated beach hut or small community with the minimum of facilities and visitors.

Any suggestions to help us put the romance back into our life???

Would also like to spend a 3-4 days hiking the mountains - is it possible to hire a decent independent guide and/or camping gear.

All responses much appreciated.

Burnham (London)

[lhtown]

Sounds like Las Galeras on the Samana peninsula would be a good place for you. El Marinique (the mariner) is a place similar to what you described. It is not particularly close or easy to get to from Puerto Plata, but then again, "isolation" does come with a price.

[Ken]

There are a couple of small beach front hotels outside Nagua, on the road toward Samana, that are outside the tourist scene. Nagua is not a tourist center.

For hiking, Jarabacoa would be a good choice. It is up in the mountains.

[stan chapman]

If Las Galeras looks like your kind of place, e mail me. We, 2 old Brits, have stayed there several times (2, 6, 8 weeks) & scoped out various levels of accommodation. There are various ways to get there from POP, with varying degrees of difficulty from dead easy to challenging . Depends on the price. Stan.