Caribbean's most laidback place to stay, Cabarete.  Rumor has it that Cabarete is the most cosmopolitan small town in the Western Hemisphere, there are people from all over the world living in the small village. 

This is the place to be for kiteboarders, surfers, and windsurfers.  Most times during the year there are good trade winds, waves, and nice weather, excellent value for money, every night good food and great parties.

Wind & Climate

The trade winds combined with the thermal seabreeze gives Cabarete a consistent strong wind almost all year round. The wind blows from Easterly direction. That gives Cabarete perfect side-onshore conditions for kite and windsurfing.

During the months February until August the wind is almost perfect every day. Especially in June the wind can be really strong up to 30 knots. This is also the time that all the best kiteboarders are there for the PKRA world tour.

Generally the wind in the morning is calm. At around 11.00 the wind will pick up a little bit. This is the time for beginners to go out practicing, or for 20m kites. Around 12.30 it gets warmer and the thermal wind will pick up. The wind will stay consistent hard until 16.00 o'clock. At 18.00 the wind almost immediately dies.

Kite surfing in Cabarete

The kitesurfing in Cabarete is really excellent! Warm water and various breaks and beaches to go kiting. There are training a lot of great kiters, with a really high level. Also the local kids are kiting as the best.

When you are looking for a kiteschool you don`t have to look very far. Every where on the beaches are kiteschools, especially on Kite beach. They have 5 kite schools.  Here are the most kiters and only kiters. (sometimes it`s getting crowded) Kitebeach is around 1km from Cabarete town; it has sandy beaches and areas to launch your kite. 300 meters from shore is a reef. As a beginner you don't have to kite on the reef, but as a more experienced kiter it can be a lot of fun. On the reef very flat and shallow water. Behind the reef there is some nice swell.

Not only great kitesurfing on kitebeach, but cabarete has several places to go kitesurfing. Next to downtown Cabarete is Bozo Beach, inside the Main Bay. This only a 5 minute walk from Cabarete centre.  Its easy to kite up or downwind from the kite beaches. This is a less crowded place to go. Also nice warm, flat water. Further out there is a reef with some wave breakers.  There is a nice kiteboarding school there also, together with an excellent Italian lunch place.

When you really want some good swell, go to Encuentro beach. Normally this is a wave spot for surfing. But it's also great kiting with big nice swell.  This is a place for advanced kitesurfers only, but everyone should go there to try normal surfing, that is really nice.

6 km east from Cabarete is a place called La Boca. This is a river mouth with really flat water. Just be careful of any submerged obstacles and also be aware the river is very narrow.  Afterwards you can go out of the river mouth and do a long down winder back to Cabarete.

Getting There

Fly into Puerto Plata, POP.  This is much closer than Santiago or Santo Domingo airports.

Easiest way from the airport to Cabarete is by taxi. Taxi will cost you about 25 USD and its 20 minutes from Puerto Plata (POP) to Cabarete.

Traveling in Cabarete is also no problem. Just take a Motorcycle taxi to drive you around (local name : moto conchos) They charge 10 pesos per person during day, when it`s dark they charge double price 20 pesos p.p. Taxis are the same price if you pay the taxi with 4 persons.

Other Activities

- Canyoning

-Wakeboarding

-Skate Ramp

- Horse back riding

- Surfing

- Rockclimbing

- Mountain Biking

- Humpback Whale Watchin (around January - March in Samana)

At Night

On the beach are several restaurants and bars, which have all kinds of meals. The nightlife is great, so go visit some bars. A lot of bars have local live music, like Pomodoro with live jazz every Thursday night.

The best places to go partying are Onno`s, Bambu, and Lax. They stay open until early in the morning. Most bars have happy hours where you can enjoy inexpensive drinks.

Local drink - Cuba libre.  Also interesting is the typical drink of "Mama-juana" made from rum, wine, and honey cured with leaves and bark, its said to hold many medicinal values and is traditionally drunk after dinner.  You can buy a bottle of Mamajuana from a nice big black man on the beach, but in order to take it home thru Customs it must have rum inside, as well as the leaves....