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Dominican Culture Tour: Higüey, Plantations, and Macao Beach
4.9
111 Ratings
Punta Cana
Immerse yourself in the authentic Dominican culture with a half-day private tour. Visit a coffee, cocoa, and tobacco plantation, explore the Higüey market, and enjoy the stunning Macao beach.
Immerse yourself in the authentic Dominican culture with a half-day private tour. Visit a coffee, cocoa, and tobacco plantation, explore the Higüey market, and enjoy the stunning Macao beach.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Punta Cana - The journey begins with a hotel pickup, heading to our first destination.
- Casa típica. “Café cacao vainilla” - Our initial stop is at a coffee and cocoa plantation where you can witness the production process and sample the products. Nearby, we’ll visit a local family to experience life in the Dominican countryside.
- **La…
- Punta Cana - The journey begins with a hotel pickup, heading to our first destination.
- Casa típica. “Café cacao vainilla” - Our initial stop is at a coffee and cocoa plantation where you can witness the production process and sample the products. Nearby, we’ll visit a local family to experience life in the Dominican countryside.
- La Ceiba - We’ll take a panoramic tour of the La Ceiba neighborhood, home to many local workers.
- Rancho Real Cigars - Visit an authentic Dominican cigar factory, where you can try your hand at cigar making using traditional tools. A variety of Dominican cigars, from affordable to premium, are available for purchase.
- Otra Banda - Continuing our panoramic tour, we’ll explore the bustling La Otro Banda neighborhood, located close to the city.
- Mercado Municipal - Our panoramic adventure continues with a visit to the local market in Higūey, where residents shop for daily essentials.
- Iglesia San Dionisio Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia - We’ll then take a panoramic view of the impressive San Dionisio Church, a historic monument built between 1569 and 1572.
- Basilica Catedral Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia - Next, we’ll visit the most frequented site by Dominicans, the Nuestra Señora De La Altagracia Cathedral. Construction began in 1954 and took 17 years to complete. Here, you can admire the magnificent architecture, explore the beautiful interiors, and perhaps take a moment to pray.
- Carretera Higüey - Miches - As we head back to the Bávaro area, we’ll pass by the largest sugar cane plantations.
- WORLD MART SOUVENIRS - Our final stop is at a store offering gifts, paintings, jewelry, and more.
- Punta Cana - We’ll conclude the tour by returning you to your hotel, Airbnb, or home.
What's Included
- Air-conditioned vehicle with WiFi
- Visit Coffee, Cocoa Plantation & Cigar Factory
- Tour a typical Dominican house
- Explore Basilica & San Dionisio Catholic Church
- Professional tour guide included
- Experience making coffee, cigars, and chocolate
- Shop for souvenirs at local market
- Air-conditioned vehicle with WiFi
- Visit Coffee, Cocoa Plantation & Cigar Factory
- Tour a typical Dominican house
- Explore Basilica & San Dionisio Catholic Church
- Professional tour guide included
- Experience making coffee, cigars, and chocolate
- Shop for souvenirs at local market
What's Not Included
- TIPS
- Lunch
- TIPS
- Lunch
Additional Information
If you’re eager to delve into authentic Dominican lifestyle, traditions, and culture, seize this wonderful opportunity. Our vehicle will collect you from your hotel for an hour’s scenic drive to Higüey. Here, your first stop will be at a plantation of coffee, cocoa, and tobacco where you’ll learn about their cultivation and processing. Explore a…
If you’re eager to delve into authentic Dominican lifestyle, traditions, and culture, seize this wonderful opportunity. Our vehicle will collect you from your hotel for an hour’s scenic drive to Higüey. Here, your first stop will be at a plantation of coffee, cocoa, and tobacco where you’ll learn about their cultivation and processing. Explore a charming, homemade souvenir shop, followed by a visit to the stunning Higüey cathedral basilica to appreciate its architectural beauty. Experience local trade at the Higüey market, while enjoying a breathtaking view of the San Dionisio church, the site of the Virgin of Altagracia’s apparition. On our return journey, we’ll pause for a while at the stunning Macao beach to marvel at its white sands. Finally, our vehicle will return you to your hotel.
Location
Punta Cana
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(111 Ratings)
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Go525643
Mar 26, 2025
Awesome Tour! Highly Recommend! - Our 4 hour tour turned out to be 5 and a half and Edwin our guide was awesome! He took very good care of us and showed us all of the promised sights and more. We were full of questions as this was our first trip to the Dominican Republic. I highly recommend taking this tour! You won't be disappointed!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Maggie33
Mar 15, 2025
Educational and fun, highly recommended! - This trip was the highlight of our week. Edwin is very knowledgeable. He showed and told us about the economy, health care, education and everyday life in the DR, and answered our many questions about the history of the DR and Haiti. I learned so much. Because it was a private tour we were able to make extra stops (for example to pick up a delicious take-out lunch from a restaurant that Edwin recommended - best meal we had all week), and skip others. We appreciated having this personal touch and conversation with Edwin, while Andry focused on driving us safely to each destination. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Annedvt
Feb 18, 2025
Fabulous tour - Yesterday my husband and I had a fabulous private tour with Edwin Perez. We went to a cigar making factory, which was fascinating even though neither of us is a smoker, a farm and private residence where we learned a lot about plants and agriculture in the area and saw cacao (picture of plant below) and coffee being roasted and husked (we were amazed at how many types of mangos there are), and then to Higuey, a city of 400,000 people up in the mountains where we went to a souvenir store, the local farmer's market (picture below), a painting store where many of the painting on sale at are resort are painted (but are available at a much lower price) and the regional cathedral (picture below). Along the way Edwin was a wealth of information about the economy and politics of the region. We feel we got a glimpse into the lives of the people of the region and the folks who work at the resorts. Edwin was very clear that the trip can be tailored to the interests of the customers so if some of the sights we saw do not interest you, you don't have to go to them and I am sure Edwin would have other options to add. We would highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sarah_c
Feb 10, 2025
Awesome tour! - Awesome tour with Edwin! We had a great time, clean suv with aircon and Edwin has lots of info about the DR …. Our favourite part of the tour was the plantation ! Beautiful countryside !
Review provided by Viator
528suzif
Jan 31, 2025
Great experience to learn about the real DR! - This excursion was excellent! I booked it even though it is completely out of my family's comfort zone and they probably didn't want to go! I wanted to get away from the resort and experience what the Dominican Republic culture is. Edwin drove us out into the country and explained so much about the DR as we were going. We are from the midwest so are used to seeing livestock, but seeing cows in fields with palm trees was new! We stopped at a small family coffee and chocolate farm where we got to sample various things, including fruit straight from the trees!
From there, we headed into the city of Higuey. This was an experience! The traffic was crazy with motorcycles everywhere. There didn't seem to be much for traffic laws, lol. Edwin was completely calm through it all and laughed with us at how loco some people are. He is fun to talk to and has a lot of information to share.
It took us a little over 4 hours from pick-up to drop-off. We were staying in Cap Cana. Because it's a private tour, you can personalize the experience a bit. We didn't go to the cigar place or stop at a market in the city (it was too crazy and we didn't want to get out of the car!). Highly recommend this excursion if you want to get away from the resort and see the real DR! Thank you, Edwin!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Andrew
Jan 10, 2025
Half Day Tour with Summit Tours - We had a great opportunity to explore local Punta Cana and Higuey with our tour guide Joel. He was very informative and resourceful as a local native , and we got to meet and spend time with other locals as well in the markets, cigar factory , and the 100 year old third generation coffee/cocoa 100 year plantation on the outskirts of town. The entire tour gives people a chance to experience true Dominican life ,and have an opportunity to purchase homegrown and handmade products indicative of the Dominican Republic. We highly recommend this tour and our guide Joel for a true Dominican experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Destinoex
Dec 30, 2024
A Cultural Experience with a Knowledgeable Guide - Had a very informative and interesting day with Edwin on this private tour. Loved the visit to the tiny organic cocoa and coffee plantation and tasted a raw cacao bean for the first time. The visit to Higuey was an eye opening experience of life in the Dominican. Edwin is a lovely man with solid values and I'd highly recommend this family run business (7 sons and dad!)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tomkf808ue
Nov 26, 2024
A MUST book, if visiting DR - Our tour guide Edwin was fantastic, he helped us see the real Dominican Republic that the resorts don’t show!
We loved visiting the cathedral, the coffee plantation, and most of all, just chatting with Edwin and asking him questions.
He knows so much, and his English is brilliant. He made us feel like family and made us laugh as he combatted the jungle of the traffic!
We are so grateful and cannot recommend this trip enough.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Angela_g
Oct 24, 2024
Recommended! - Our tour guide Edwin was wonderful--knowledgeable, friendly and willing to answer all questions about the things we saw as well as about life for Dominicans and even answered some of our questions before we asked them. His English is good, and he's still working to improve. Even though we went on Saturday when the cigar factory was closed, they had a couple people come in to show us around and the cigar rolling process, and I was able to roll one to keep. We were offered coffee and chocolate samples at the cocoa plantation. My husband got to try his hand at manually grinding the beans, which is quite difficult. There is opportunity to buy cigars, coffee, and cocoa bean-related products without any pressure. He offered to take photos of us with our phone cameras. It was a great experience to see what the Dominican Republic is really like outside of the resorts. He said Top Punta Cana Transfers is a family business, and they also do full day tours to Santo Domingo and airport transfers.
Review provided by Viator
Ana
Aug 4, 2024
100% recommend this tour. - The excursion to the cigar factory was an unforgettable experience, we learned step by step and saw the process to build each cigar. The tour guides were very professional, very friendly and knowledgeable about the area and all the places visited.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
