Introduction
La Romana, on the Dominican Republic's southeast coast, pairs the country's most exclusive resort-and-golf enclave, Casa de Campo, with the working fishing village of Bayahibe — the departure point for boat trips to Saona Island, one of the most photographed stretches of coastline in the Caribbean.
Overview
Casa de Campo is less a hotel than a private resort community — thousands of acres holding several golf courses (including Teeth of the Dog, consistently ranked among the world's best), a marina, private villas and Altos de Chavón, a recreated 16th-century Mediterranean artisan village built in the 1970s as a genuine architectural folly that's since become a real cultural venue, hosting concerts and housing an archaeological museum of Taíno artefacts. Away from Casa de Campo's private enclave, Bayahibe remains a working fishing village that also happens to be the main departure point for boat trips to Saona Island and the smaller Catalina Island — Saona's palm-lined beaches and shallow, brilliantly turquoise sandbars have made it one of the most photographed places in the Dominican Republic, typically visited as a full-day catamaran or speedboat trip from Bayahibe, with excursions also running from Punta Cana resorts further east.
Discover La Romana
Casa de Campo's golf reputation rests substantially on Teeth of the Dog, a Pete Dye-designed course with several holes running directly along the Caribbean coastline, regularly ranked among the best courses in the world. Altos de Chavón, built within the resort in the 1970s as a deliberately artificial recreation of a 16th-century Mediterranean village, sits on a bluff above the Chavón River and has genuinely outgrown its origins as a developer's folly — its amphitheatre hosts real international concerts, and its Regional Museum of Archaeology holds a serious collection of Taíno artefacts from the surrounding area.
Ways to Experience This Destination
World-ranked golf, Altos de Chavón's artisan village and amphitheatre, and a private marina.
A working fishing village and the main departure point for day trips to Saona's beaches and sandbars.
Frequently asked questions
This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.