This post is sponsored by The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana.
I had the absolute pleasure of vacationing at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana and can’t get over how incredible my experience was.
Where do I even begin? The property is beautiful beyond words, but I think the people I encountered during my stay made it all the more special.
To give you some context, I partnered with the Hard Rock to experience the Punta Cana property so I could share it with all of you. They were kind enough to allow me to bring a friend, so I brought my childhood best friend Ellen to come experience it with me. She also doubled as my photographer (thanks Ellen!).
There are 10 restaurants and 23 bars on the property, so finding a place to eat or drink is a breeze.
On our first night, we had dinner at Ipanema. We sat outside and had the most beautiful ocean view, which was just beyond the lazy pool. There weren’t too many other people sitting outside for dinner that night so we really had the chance to make friends with our waiters and waitresses.
We were indulging in some of the best Brazilian food I have ever had when our waiter told us another waiter is a singer. His name is Troy and he came right over prepared to sing for Ellen and me. He asked where we are from so he could sing something we would be familiar with and wanted us to sing along if we knew the words.
He started singing “All Of Me” by John Legend and little did Troy know, I am a singer too. I started singing along and he was so surprised! We were singing together and people sitting outside were looking over in awe. AND THEN… a man at the table next to us started singing with us and he had a phenomenal voice too! The entire place went nuts. It was a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. And it was so pure that I’m glad I don’t have a video of that happening. No matter where you are in the world, music can bring anyone together. In that moment, even though I was in a country I had never been to before, I felt at home.
The next day, we spent time exploring the property. We ran around from pool to pool (there are 13 pools and you truly cannot go wrong) before we spent the rest of the afternoon on our beach cabana reserved for the two of us. The service at our beach cabana was unmatched. Our piña coladas were never empty. You could say we really enjoyed our relaxing afternoon!
That night, we had dinner at Los Gallos. Los Gallos is a Latin American restaurant on the property and I don’t think a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about the burrito I had that night. Also the tequila man… I miss him! There was a man walking around the restaurant with a cart of different flavored tequilas and I tried them all (for research of course…) ;).
The next morning, we spent time running around checking out the few pools that we hadn’t had a chance to dip into yet. Then we had lunch at Isla for some Caribbean food before we left the resort for the rest of the afternoon to go snorkeling!
One of the best parts about the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana is that they have plenty of vacation planners on site to help you book excursions outside of the resort. You owe it to yourself to explore this beautiful island. We chose to go snorkeling - it’s one of my favorite things to do!
That afternoon, a bus picked us up in front of the resort along with ~50 other people and we were off to our snorkel booze cruise.
We hopped on-board a gorgeous two-story boat with two hot tubs and a bar and headed out into the glowing crystal clear waters of the Dominican Republic. One of my favorite things in the world is Caribbean water so I was in my happy place. The reefs were beautiful and were flourishing with tons of curious reef fish.
After we were finished snorkeling, we went back to the top floor of the boat where we enjoyed a few rum & cokes. We made one more stop on the boat at a sand bar before some rain hit and we had to head back to the shore where a delicious dinner was waiting for us.
It was a long day but such a fun one. You truly don’t have to leave the resort for anything but I would recommend taking advantage of having vacation planners on the property to set up at least one excursion off the property so you can really explore the island.
And on our last day, we indulged in the best breakfast at Ciao (I highly recommend the pancakes) before getting a few more hours of sun.
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana is truly paradise. Four days was not enough! It is an all-inclusive resort and every single part of it is perfection. From the food, the staff, the rooms, the pools, the beach, the bars, the nightlife… I can’t say enough amazing things about it. When can I go back?!