Barcelo Bavaro Palace - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

30130 reviews

• 

  Stay somewhere else.

  The beach and pools are beautiful, but chairs are hard to find. The food is SO BAD, it’s completely inedible. My husband and I actually chose to go hungry at an all inclusive resort!

  Jan 21, 2025
• 

  Great resort for some, not so great for others.

  We booked a mid-winter getaway to the Barcelo Bavaro Palace through Costco Vacations. 6 day/5 night stay. THE GOOD: -The property is absolutely GORGEOUS! A sprawling complex overlooking the Caribbean Sea on the eastern tip of the DR. All of the buildings are new, spacious and clean. It’s access-restricted to guests and others with resort business. The main complex is all open air. -Check-In was a breeze. We had to wait a little bit in line, but it moved fast. The staff are mostly Spanish speakers, so knowing a little of that certainly helps, but many of them do speak broken English (because most of their guests are from the US). -Your room “key” is actually a bracelet with a sensor on it that acts as your room key and grants you access to all the resort amenities. -We stayed in room 8351. It was on the golf side, which is about a 10 minute walk from the main complex, and honestly a little isolated from the rest of the resort, but the walk to the main area is easy. -Our room was nice and well-appointed. The bed was cozy and there’s a minibar you can use free of charge. -The pool and beach are GORGEOUS! 3 sprawling pools, one with a pool bar and the other with a nearby bar. There is plenty of seating and space to relax. -There are a lot of activities to do on the resort grounds. The beach/pool of course, but there’s also a kids water park, sports fields, and a bowling alley. They will also assist you in setting up external tours like dolphin watch or downtown Punta Cana. -The buffet is large and extensive with many food offerings, including local Dominican fare, American food, and a selection of pastries. -The evening theatre shows were fun. -There is a medical facility on site. -The booze is plentiful and free-flowing. All of my cocktails were 💯. -The casino table limits are mostly under $5. -Catamaran rental was fun. -MEXICO LINDO: The atmosphere is great, and so is the food. My skirt steak was divine. -KYOTO SUSHI: Some of the freshest fish I’ve ever had. -CORAL SEAFOOD: Not the best, but not the worst seafood ever. THE NOT-SO-GOOD: -It’s definitely not a 24/7 place. Everything, minus the casino and disco, shuts down at 11p. The only 24 hour food option is buffet leftovers from Strikers. -You get a single bath towel in your room. -The ATM only dispenses Dominican pesos. -While the shuttle trains are useful, they are a little squirrly and don’t take the most efficient routes. THE BAD: -While it’s definitely “all-inclusive,” you definitely cannot be very spontaneous here. You’ve got to plan/reserve nearly everything in advance. The only food option that you don’t have to reserve is the buffet (…and Strikers, which I’ll address in a minute). There are no quick serve places where you can just pop in for a quick burger, hot dog, or taco. If you’re looking for a snack of any kind, the buffet is your only option, and it’s not open all day. Every other restaurant, you must make a reservation for. -The soft-serve in the buffet was grainy and watery. -There are no sundry or grocery stores on site. The closest thing is a candy store. You have to leave the property if you need any grocery type items. -Strikers is the most squandered space on the whole property. At first glance, it looks like a fun sports bar that you could perhaps pop in for some wings or nachos while watching the game. In fact, it is just a dumping ground for the buffet leftovers decorated with a sports theme and greeting you with the pungent aroma of mildew. -For an international resort company with properties all throughout LatAm and Europe, things are VERY old-fashioned here. There is an app, but the Bavaro Palace isn’t even listed on it. -If you want to eat at one of the other non-buffet restaurants, you have to make a reservation. How do you do that you ask? At check-in, you’re given a handful of restaurant cards corresponding to each of the various establishments. You must fill one of these out and take it to the Guest Service center. You likely won’t be able to get a day-of reservation either, so you’ll need to make all of your reservations as soon as you arrive in order to get a table. -We made a reservation for the Kyoto hibachi place, expecting a seat at the hibachi table. When we made the reservation, the agent asked what time we wanted to eat and we said 7p. Fast-forward to the day of, and it turns out we were seated in the sushi section, not hibachi. We were not even offered an option at the reservation time. Disappointing to say the least. -Upon check-in, we were given a “towel card” which is basically your deposit for “renting” a towel that you must return or face a $20 charge. Despite this, they ran out of towels on 2 consecutive days. :-/ -Renting a catamaran or other aqua sports is the same way. You’ve got to sign up the day before to secure a time. -The pool chairs fill up quick in the morning. Overall, I’d say it’s a great place for friend groups or college spring break getaways who are just looking to lounge by the pool. Read less Tip: You need to plan ahead and make reservations your first day. Date visited

  Jan 21, 2025
• 

  Lost 5 lbs, wanted much More

  The food left much to be desired, although the facility and room was beautiful it was hard to appreciate because i was so hungry. I really couldn't enjoy drinking, either. Make sure you tour the ENTIRE property we missed out on so much because we didn't know where it was

  Jan 20, 2025
• 

  Golf vacation

  It was difficult to book tee times at this resort initially so we needed management to get involved. Initially we were told there were no tee times or that they could book tee times at another resort but would cost is more. We had to get management involved and even then we were only able to book tee times after 12 noon. No early tee times were available. I was a tad disappointed in the food in this resort other than La Brisa where all the food was great from appetizer down to dessert. Had we known this ahead of time, we would have eaten there more often. The food in the other restaurants were overall too salty or the meats were too dried. The room smelled a bit musty and looked like there was mold on the ceiling/wall areas but got painted over.

  Jan 20, 2025
• 

  Coin flip with staff

  This place has some of the best staff I have ever seen ( looking at you Bambu bar team) and some of the worst. When trying to find the room on the first night a staff asked for 5$ before giving directions all this while my two toddlers were crying.

  Jan 20, 2025