Casa Altea

The sea view.

The cleanliness and lack of maintenance and kitchen utensils that were lacking a lot of them.

We had an amazing stay at Villa Altea! Gustavo was super helpful in answering any of our questions and made sure we were comfortable throughout our stay. The villa itself is huge - big living spaces and plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms - perfect for our large group of friends and family. It's a traditional home, and it has everything you'd need for a Dominican-style vacation. If you want to stay in an Americanized resort with a/c, everyone around you speaking English, etc. this might not be the place for you, but it is IDEAL if you enjoy the culture. Examples of things that you wouldn't get just anywhere are we were able to buy freshly caught fish from a neighbor to have a fish fry one night, the kids walked to the field at the end of the street and played pickup baseball with the locals, and another local fisherman helped us catch crabs along the shoreline. The pool is nice, the yard is big, decks are awesome for hanging out, and despite staying in the summer we weren't hot thanks to the ocean breeze. And I might be rambling now, but it deserves mentioning there's a calmado/small store a couple of houses away - other private villas we've rented are isolated so you have to drive if you forgot anything. You're only 5 minutes off the main road, and only 20-25 minutes to most touristy things (zip line, water fall, city of Samana, etc.).

It's right on the ocean, but unfortunately garbage from a river outlet does wash up (not sure if it's seasonal, but it was definitely there when we visited). Bring water shoes so you can still walk the shoreline!