Punta Cana is a
resort town
A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...
in the easternmost region of the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
. It is part of the Veron–Punta Cana
municipal district
A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It can refer to a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area.
Brazil
In Brazil, municipal districts are, in genera ...
, in the
Higüey
Higüey (), or in full Salvaleón de Higüey, is the capital city of the eastern La Altagracia Province, in the Dominican Republic, and the eighth largest city of that country. The Yuma River (Dominican Republic), Yuma River flows through the urb ...
municipality of
La Altagracia Province
La Altagracia () is the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana is located on the eastern shores of this province. The province was part of the old La Altagracia Province, which split into 2, La Altagracia Province and La Roman ...
. According to the 2010 census, this district had a population of 43,982 inhabitants.
Punta Cana is the second-most popular tourist destination in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, with more visitors than any other city in the Caribbean region. The Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) is located about 3 km inland, on the highway that leads from Higüey to La Romana. This airport receives 64% of all flights that arrive in the Dominican Republic, receiving more passengers than the Las Américas International Airport, located in
Santo Domingo
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional)
, websi ...
, the country's capital.
The area is known for its white sand beaches, blue turquoise waters, and
balneario
A balneario (Portuguese spelling: balneário) is an Iberian and Latin American resort town, typically a seaside resort, and less commonly along the shores of lakes and rivers or next to hot springs. In Spain, balneario typically only refers to spa ...
s which face both the
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
and the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. The weather is hot for most of the year, especially in late summer and autumn when the
Northern Tropics
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred ...
receive their most direct sunlight.
Geography and climate
![Punta Cana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Punta_Cana.jpg)
The Punta Cana area has an estimated population of 100,000, with an annual growth rate of 11% as of 2011. To the north, it borders the village and beach of Cabeza de Toro, and the
Bávaro
Bávaro is an area of Punta Cana, located in La Altagracia province, the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. Bavaro was originally developed as a town for resort workers together with the resort area and tourist region of Punta Cana. ...
and El Cortecito beaches. The nearest city, the 500-year-old
Higüey
Higüey (), or in full Salvaleón de Higüey, is the capital city of the eastern La Altagracia Province, in the Dominican Republic, and the eighth largest city of that country. The Yuma River (Dominican Republic), Yuma River flows through the urb ...
, is away, which takes about an hour to reach by car. European entrepreneurs, particularly Spanish hotel chains, own all but two of the over 50 megaresorts at the Punta Cana tourism destination.
The province’s coastline tends to be mildly windy. The ocean waters are mainly shallows, with several natural marine pools in which visitors can bathe without danger. From north to south, the main beaches are
Uvero Alto,
Macao
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, Arena Gorda, Bávaro, El Cortecito, Las Corales, and Cabeza de Toro, all north of the cape; and Cabo Engaño, Punta Cana, and Juanillo south of the cape.
![Sunrise over Punta Cana (8725196053)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Sunrise_over_Punta_Cana_%288725196053%29.jpg)
Bávaro is the area starting from Cabeza de Toro until Macao Beach. As the hotels started to rise along the east coast, Bavaro itself became a center of services with shopping malls, fast-food stores, drug stores, fine restaurants, banks, clinics, workshops, supermarkets, and schools. The major town in the district is Veron, now bigger than Higüey in territory, a spontaneous – and poor – urban development running along the original road from the west. Verón, last name of the French proprietor of a timberline business in the early 1930s, is now the base-city for hotel workers and related. It has, besides Bávaro, one of only four gas stations in Punta Cana: the next one is located west in Higüey, at the Fruisa crossroads; a new
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...
gas station opened in April 2010, south of Macao beach; and the new
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
gas station close to the airport (on the highway Coral) opened at the end of 2010.
![Punta Cana Dominican Republic town 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Punta_Cana_Dominican_Republic_town_2.jpg)
Punta Cana Village, with a population of about 15,000, is being developed by a master plan of the Punta Cana Group. In 1969 the area was purchased by this organization and development began in the following decades. The main avenue, Boulevard Primero de Noviembre, is lined with low office buildings. Branching off are streets with
gated communities
A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. ...
on both sides. To the east are single family residences. Small apartment buildings are to the west. A shopping area is near the airport and beyond the apartment houses is a mall and several stores. East of the village is the
Westin
Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline.
History Wester ...
Resort and golf course by the ocean. There is a public beach, Playa Blanca, with a shuttle bus from the Village's sole hotel. An upscale planned community, Cap Cana, is south of Punta Cana Village.
Climate
Punta Cana features a
tropical wet and dry climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
. The weather is fairly consistent all year, with an average temperature of . The hot and humid season lasts from May to October, and during the day temperatures might reach . From November to March, temperatures during the evening are around .
History and development
In the late 1960s,
Frank Rainieri
Frank Rafael Rainieri Marranzini is a People of the Dominican Republic, Dominican businessman in tourism industry in the Dominican Republic. He is the chairman and founder of Grupo Puntacana. According to ''Forbes'', Rainieri has one of the te ...
, a
Dominican entrepreneur in his 20s and
Theodore Kheel
Theodore Woodrow Kheel (May 9, 1914 – November 12, 2010) was an American attorney and labor mediator who played a key role in reaching resolutions of long-simmering labor disputes between managements and unions and resulting strikes in New ...
, a high-powered New York attorney and labor mediator teamed up with other investors, to acquire a 58-million square meter lot on the eastern end of the Dominican Republic. The area that is known today as Punta Cana was mostly an undeveloped coastal area of
La Altagracia
La Altagracia () is the easternmost Provinces of the Dominican Republic, province of the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana is located on the eastern shores of this province. The province was part of the old La Altagracia Province, which split into 2 ...
province. At the time the closest major city,
Higüey
Higüey (), or in full Salvaleón de Higüey, is the capital city of the eastern La Altagracia Province, in the Dominican Republic, and the eighth largest city of that country. The Yuma River (Dominican Republic), Yuma River flows through the urb ...
, was a 5-hour drive. Their first project was a 40 guest hotel called the Punta Cana Club. In 1970, Rainieri changed the original name of the place, Yauya or Punta Borrachos, for Punta Cana. In 1978, the Paris Mediterranean Club joined the Grupo Punta Cana SA project, building a 350-room hotel within the project. Later, the Barceló and Newco Group settled in the Bavaro area.
![Familia Rainieri](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Familia_Rainieri.jpg)
In 1979, the Hotel Puntacana was built and then in 1984, the Punta Cana International Airport was inaugurated, while more infrastructures such as highways were developed. In 1993, construction began on the Marina de Punta Cana Resort & Club marina. In 1996, the Dominican designer
Óscar de la Renta and the Spanish singer
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...
joined the project. In 2000, the first of the residential community developments began and six years later Tortuga Bay opened.
Corporate environmental and social responsibilities and policies have been pursued since the resort was built. The Puntacana Foundation- made of the Ecological Foundation and Community Services- has a 1,500-acre reserve that now serves as a research base for universities and a sanctuary for endangered species and has opened two schools- the Ann & Ted Kheel Polytechnic and the Puntacana International School- and a free health clinic in the local community of Véron.
Bavaro area
Bávaro
Bávaro is an area of Punta Cana, located in La Altagracia province, the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. Bavaro was originally developed as a town for resort workers together with the resort area and tourist region of Punta Cana. ...
was conceived as a town for the workers of the Punta Cana tourist complex, but it has been transformed into an important center for tourist services after the hotel expansion to the north of Punta Cana around Bávaro beach. Throughout the area there are dozens of hotels such as Riu, Iberostar, Be Live Grand Punta Cana, Meliá, Barceló, Palladium, Catalonia or Bahía Príncipe. The area also has several nightclubs such as: Oro at Hard Rock Hotel, Imagine, and Coco Bongo or Pachá.
![Bávaro, 23000, Dominican Republic - panoramio (398)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/B%C3%A1varo%2C_23000%2C_Dominican_Republic_-_panoramio_%28398%29.jpg)
Numerous tourist attractions have been installed, some of a certain size such as the Manatí Park in Bávaro, a water park with manatees, dolphins and other kinds of animals. For tourists, the Punta Cana beach area is more popular because it is more affordable at international prices. Among the best-known digital magazines and newspapers in the entire eastern area are: BavaroDigital and BavaroMagazine. It is connected by road with Higüey and La Otra Banda. It extends about 15 km north to
Playa Macao. Other nearby beaches are: Uvero Alto, Roco Ki and La Vacama. Bavaro has 10 km of beaches. The XII Ibero-American Summit was held on this site on November 15 and 16, 2002, where the heads of state and government of 21 Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations met.
Population
![Punta Cana Dominican Republic People](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Punta_Cana_Dominican_Republic_People.jpg)
The area has a low population density with the majority of the inhabitants being
Haitian migrant workers. In 2010, Haitians represented 81.1 percent of the total population.
Activities and landmarks
![Club Med in Dominican Republic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Club_Med_in_Dominican_Republic.jpg)
Punta Cana is a tourist destination,
and the area is a key contributor to
tourism in the Dominican Republic
Tourism in the Dominican Republic is an important sector of the country's economy. More than 6 million tourists visit the Dominican Republic, making it the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean and putting it in the top 5 overall in ...
.
Many of the excursions in Punta Cana are near the water, it being a beach destination. These activities include snorkeling, windsurfing, banana boat rides, speedboats, scuba diving, catamaran cruises, party boats, deep sea fishing, as well as
swimming with dolphins
The popularity of swimming with dolphins increased in the 1980s and 1990s, occurring in over 65 countries, both as a form of therapy as well as a tourist activity. Proponents of dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) say that interacting with dolphins can ...
and sharks and snorkeling with stingrays. For visitors who prefer to see more of the Dominican countryside, there are land-based excursions such as safari tours, horseback riding and dune buggies.
Visiting the Dominican Republic's smaller Caribbean islands of
Saona
Saona Island ( es, Isla Saona) is a 110 square kilometer tropical island located off the south-east coast in Dominican Republic's La Altagracia province. It is a government-protected nature reserve and is part of '' Parque Nacional Cotubanamá''.
...
and
Catalina
Catalina may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''The Catalina'', a 2012 American reality television show
* ''Catalina'' (novel), a 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham
* Catalina (''My Name Is Earl''), character from the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl''
...
is a day trip from Punta Cana. The capital city
Santo Domingo
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional)
, websi ...
, and
Los Haitises National Park
Los Haitises National Park is a national park located on the remote northeast coast of the Dominican Republic that was established in 1976. It consists of a limestone karst plateau with conical hills, sinkholes and caverns, and there is a large ar ...
,
Samaná, are within a couple of hours. The Basilica Catholic Monument, built in 1962 and designed by two French architects, is in nearby Higüey, the 500-year-old capital of the province.
Infrastructure
The electricity is powered by Consorcio Energetico Punta Cana Macao (CEPM), a fossil fuel, renewable, and biomass energy producer led by US-based Argentine businessman
Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster
Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster (born c. 1947) is a US-based Argentine businessman. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of InterEnergy Group, an UK-based energy company active in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Chile, Jamaica and Urugu ...
.
Tourism
Because of its location at the
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
, diving is one of the tourist activities. The marine area surrounding Punta Cana was declared a marine reserve in 2012.
[Domínguez Brito, 2017, p. 1]
Transportation
![Punta cana airport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Punta_cana_airport.jpg)
The
Punta Cana International Airport
Punta Cana International Airport is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana, eastern Dominican Republic. The airport was built with open-air terminals and roofs covered in palm fronds. Grupo Punta Cana built the airport, which was de ...
is the primary airport. In 2014, Punta Cana received over 2.4 million passengers, making it the second-busiest airport in the Caribbean. Grupo Puntacana built the Punta Cana International Airport in 1984 to facilitate tourism in the area. It was the western hemisphere’s first privately owned international airport.
Marine biodiversity
The following species have been registered in the waters around Punta Cana:
Satellite images
File:Punta Cana-29.07.1999-Landsat 7 ETM+ L2 True Color.jpg, Satellite image of Punta Cana (1999)
File:Punta Cana-02.03.2018- Sentinel-2 L2A True color.jpg, Satellite image of Punta Cana (2018)
See also
*
Puntacana Resort and Club
Puntacana Resort & Club is a resort and residential community located in Punta Cana, La Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic. The resort was established in 1969 by businessman and hotelier Frank Rainieri and Theodore Kheel, a New York labor la ...
Dominican Republic Real Estate
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
Populated places in La Altagracia Province
Resorts in the Dominican Republic
Underwater diving sites in the Caribbean