Just returned
My wife and I are looking to relocate so our trip is a little different than some. We did do a lot of tourist type things as well and I'll concentrate on those here.
We stayed at the Casa Marina Beach which is in Sosua. For those wanting to be able to walk the town easily and not spend a lot on cabs this is great. The Victorian House or Sosua Bay Hotel would also work well.
The hotel is on a large property with a decent (not great) beach of fairly coarse brown sand. There is also a reef (the hotel shares land with the Casa Marina Reef) overlooking the ocean. They have built a few huge cold tubs that have great views. A top notch place to hang out with booze available steps away. Lots of English and Hollanders (is that right?).
Food: Medium. There is lots of it and its available virtually all the time. My advice is to stick to things that seem local. Stewed meats are great, juices are outstanding. Why no one in the Caribbean can ever make pasta I'll never understand. Noodles to mush and the wateriest tomato sauces known to mankind. My wife who wanted ease of food rated it high. Me, about a C. The a la carte restaurants are very easily booked but only slightly better. Mexican is the best of the three.
For those who want better, "On The Waterfront" is next door. Top notch seafood and on a small cliff virtually over the ocean. Great!
Rooms: Fine. They all have balconies. Only avoid if you are sensitive to noise. There is one pool with music from very early on. Stay away if that will bug you. I stay out very late and wake late (it would have bugged me). Like almost all of these types of places people banging etc. is loud in rooms but hey, what can you do? One major issue though is they allow the place to be packed by locals on the weekends. Although you can then meet some, it is really a pain in the ass. They come with a million kids who scream all day, the restaurants are packed, beach packed. We just completely avoided the place on the weekends. Oh, and stay at the Reef not the beach. Newer and nicer rooms.
Staff: a nightmare but do you really expect much different? a little towel kid gave me grief for exchanging a wet towel for a new one. Why would you get it wet? he kept asking. Luckily I had enough nasty words handy in Spanish to humble the little bugger in a hurry.
Nightlife: Nonexistent here. Not one person anywhere after midnight.
Conslusions: Not bad for the money. Just don't expect more than is said here or you may be disappointed. I wanted easy food for the wife and the town to be walkable. I got that. Strongly consider the Sosual Bay or Victorian House instead (nicer beaches and near an interesting little shopping/dining area).
Sosua itself is slooooow. Lots of bars etc. closed down and without a lot more people coming it will continue. The town made the mistake of overbuilding and allowing too many all-inclusives. Cabarete is a good example of how to build a better beach town.
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Sosua is dead :(
Everybody, "Pees" in the pool!!!
