Caribbean Luxury for Less: Discover the New Dominican Republic

That must be where they keep the dinosaurs,” I said.

Driving between jungle-covered Caribbean cliffs, we’d come upon a sprawling wildlife park closed for maintenance. Opening in a few days, the attendant said.

We joked that a T-rex must have escaped.

This island seems like the kind of place where you could come across anything around the next corner…

This was our fourth day in the Dominican Republic: Oliver—one of Ronan McMahon’s real estate scouts—my wife Sandra, and me. And so far it had been a dizzying array of impressions.

Driving at night from Punta Cana airport to our Airbnb, there were definite Vegas vibes with the Coco Bongo Show & Disco arena lit up in neon (and everything surrounding it, too). There’s even a CNN quote on the side of the circular arena, proclaiming it “better than Vegas.”

That night, we passed luxury development after luxury development, palm trees rising high behind the marble walls. We gaped at the US-style “downtown” Punta Cana mall, which has a Pizza Hut, multiscreen movie theater, and plenty of other home comforts.

Now, we were driving across a 30,000-acre master-planned development project, Cap Cana, complete with stunning Caribbean-side golf, state-of-the-art equestrian center, theme park, luxury marina… and wide open spaces of grass, palm trees, and those jungle-covered cliffs.

Right now, today, it’s clear the DR is on the cusp of something big.

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Along the 20-minute stretch of highway from Punta Cana south to Cap Cana, on both sides of the road, it seems like every lot has a sign saying “Se Vende” (For Sale) or “Propiedad Privada” (Private Property). Every billboard has the smiling face of a local RE/MAX or Keller Williams agent urging you to get in touch.

It’s largely still rainforest along that stretch. But you can literally see a “Path of Progress” in motion—new condos and businesses springing up. The vegetation being cleared. One day, not too far in the future, that whole arc between Punta Cana and Cap Cana will be alive with commerce and the comings and goings of day-to-day life.

It’s exhilarating to watch: Communities being born and fortunes, presumably, being made. They’re not exactly building new cities back home in Canada anymore.

Just a four-hour flight from New York and two-and-a-half from Miami, the Dominican Republic is a popular playground for North American vacationers, an affordable Caribbean experience. In 2023, the country welcomed 10 million tourists—its highest number ever. The many, many all-inclusive resorts come complete with white-sand beaches, turquoise waters, and package deals on snorkeling.

Sure, all that stuff is the DR.

But the DR is so much more.

As Georgette from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia told me: “You don’t understand. It’s like paradise. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before. On a resort, what they push is not the true lifestyle. When you’re off-resort, it’s completely different.”

The DR is laidback Caribbean. It’s the kind of freedom that went out of style back home decades ago. It’s Monaco-level luxury at jaw-droppingly affordable prices.

On this trip, we focused on three hotspots: Cap Cana, Punta Cana, and Las Terrenas. Along the way, we hit upon another gem of a town off the beaten track. I’ll take you on a tour of everything we discovered… .

But, full disclosure: There are no dinosaurs. (Or, at least, they’re keeping them well hidden.)

Luxury yachts docked at Cap Cana Marina.|©iStock/pashapixel

“Bad Girl.”

That was the name of the sleek white superyacht sitting snugly in Cap Cana Marina on the sheet-smooth, blue-green water. It was the biggest boat of the bunch. But all along the water’s edge, shiny catamarans and bowriders filled the slips.

This is one of the most sheltered marinas in the world because it’s built so far inland—and it’s quiet. Not a soul wandering the cobblestone, neo-colonial, palm-lined street that led us here.

This is the neighborhood Mario Crestman calls home.

Mario, from Queens, has been all over the DR, and could have settled anywhere. But he’s chosen marina-side at Cap Cana.

Mario first came to the DR 20 years ago, and started his first business here (a bar in Santiago) in 2010.

“My story is a little bit different than most,” he says. Growing up in New York, he fell in love with Dominican culture. “Since I was 15 years old, most of my friends have been Dominicans. So I was immersed in the culture, the music, the food.”

He ran a real estate brokerage back in the East Village, and eventually that’s the path he took in the DR, too, with TCG Dominicana. He’s lived in Santiago; the capital, Santo Domingo; on the DR’s north coast; and in Punta Cana—and now he’s selling the Dominican Dream to others.

Why has he chosen Cap Cana as his own home base?

“I like that it’s quiet. I like the golf. I like the marina… I watch the boats come in at the end of the day.”

The mix of expats and middle-class Dominicans who call Cap Cana home is “his crowd,” he says.

Cap Cana is the sort of project that, if you were to read about plans to build it in America, you’d say to yourself: “That’ll never happen.” Think of the tech billionaires who were roundly mocked (maybe rightly so) when they recently unveiled plans to build a new “green” city between San Francisco and Sacramento.

Given that California can’t even build a rail line between LA and San Fran despite three decades of trying, a new city might seem hopelessly idealistic.

“Come for the climate, stay for the freedom.”

But here on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic, they’ve built utopia. It’s a master-planned new “city” on a portion of Caribbean seaside twice the size of Manhattan.

It’s a misnomer, really, to call Cap Cana a city. It’s a community of private communities.

You have golf residences, marina-side residences, and little tucked-away developments with their own facilities like tennis courts and gyms. You have beach clubs reserved for owners and guests, with a shuttle service to the beach (if you don’t live beachside or don’t fancy a short walk).

There’s pickleball, an equestrian center, a library, medical facilities, a lagoon for paddle-boarding and swimming (as if having the Caribbean right there wasn’t enough). And of course, restaurants, cafés, and shopping.

Despite all it contains, Cap Cana is so peaceful, as Mario says, because everything is reserved for residents and guests.

Things are also spread out. You would need a car, say, to drive from your condo to the equestrian center or for dinner at the marina if you didn’t live marina-side. Although, many residents use golf carts to get around day-to-day.

It’s designed for quiet, not density. As one member of a developer team operating in Cap Cana told us: “You will never, ever hear the noise of a motorcycle.”

The ultra-rich have flocked to Cap Cana. We spent a morning at Eden Roc, an uber-high-end luxury resort with private villas renting from $1,000 a night. Along a cliffside, multiple mansions worth tens of millions overlooked a pristine golf course with views out over the peacock-blue sea.

Oliver found a listing for a six-bedroom, seven-bathroom villa with two maids’ quarters and pool, plus “gourmet kitchen,” going for $20 million.

But you don’t need millions to live a millionaire’s lifestyle here.

Cap Cana: A master-planned paradise with luxury marinas, golf courses, and tropical beauty.|©iStock/Wirestock

The vision and reality of Cap Cana are both symbols and proof of the DR’s “Path of Progress.” This small nation that occupies nearly two-thirds of Hispaniola, the second-largest island in the West Indies, has an interesting history.

It was settled by Taíno Caribbeans in the first millennium, and Colombus arrived on his famous first voyage in 1492. The Spanish named their settlement for Saint Dominic (Santo Domingo), patron of astronomers.

Spain eventually gave up control of the west of the island to colonial rival France. Today, this is Haiti. Hispaniola is one of only two Caribbean islands divided into two nations (the other is Saint Martin). And, it’s fair to say, the fortunes and modern history of each could not be more different.

Democracy is well established in the DR today—200 years since it declared independence from Spain. And for a country so strongly associated with tourism, it has a remarkably diverse economy. Services account for 60% of GDP—which hit a record $108.7 billion in 2022. It’s known as a welcoming place for businesses, with well-developed banking and insurance sectors. Just as in colonial times, gold is an export—but these days, so are medical instruments and plastics. And of course, produce.

The Dominican peso is the official currency. But bring dollars, too—USD is accepted, even preferred, wherever there are plenty of tourists.

Strong economic growth—the IMF predicts 5% for the rest of the decade—means more opportunities and rising living standards. But also rising prices.

Over two decades, Mario has watched the eastern seaside hub of Punta Cana go from basically “nothing” but a few resorts to the biggest tourist region and most developed area of the DR.

But the astonishing growth is not confined to one area of the country.

“I explain to people all the time, whether they want to hear it or not,” Mario says, “I no longer consider it a cheap country.”

But “cheap” and “amazing value” are different things.

How you look at costs also depends on what your expectations are and where you’re coming from.

If you’re coming from a small town in the Midwest, prices probably look to be on par with what you’ll find back home.

“If you’re coming from Toronto, if you’re coming from New York, you’re coming from Boston, you’re coming from Miami—you’re going to say, wow, it’s cheaper,” Mario says.

The average price of real estate in Miami is $640,000—and that’s for any kind of property. In Cap Cana and Punta, you can get premium real estate starting at about a third of that. You’re getting a Miami lifestyle for a fraction of the cost.

The savings don’t just apply to real estate.

In the Dominican Republic, you can choose to live much more cheaply than you do at home by shopping and dining at local stores, markets, and restaurants. You can stock up on the basics at a corner store for a few bucks. Shop and dine at the tourist spots, and you’ll pay US-style prices… though it’s probably still better value than back home when you factor in the quality of the experience.

Cap Cana and Punta Cana are two of the most upscale destinations. We stopped by the Green Village, a cool little retail area in Cap Cana with a café; organic-products store selling balms and lotions; small gourmet grocery store; and a relaxing koi pond out front. Like everything in Cap Cana, it screams upscale. The market was mostly stocked with posh beers and barbecue food, including whole suckling pigs, and an assortment of aromatic cheeses (fruit of the forest goat cheese, $8 per pound). Oliver joked that barbecues and parties are the only times anybody cooks. Probably correct, given the assortment of dining-out options. (Although, it has to be said, you have other grocery options in Cap Cana, too.)

At the café, we paid $7 each for scrumptious sandwiches made on fresh baguettes (your choice of bread) with edam and prosciutto. It’s less than I pay for lunch in the small Ontario town I’ve come from. And the ingredients back home aren’t anywhere near as high-quality. You can taste the fuller flavors in every bite.

Dinner out, whether excellent tacos, pasta, seafood, or barbecue, was around $20 to $30 per person, including drinks. The ubiquitous national beer, Presidente, goes down very easy with pretty much anything.

(At a supermercado, you might even find a bottle opener right there at the checkout—because you shouldn’t have to wait till you get home to enjoy your Presidente…)

Parasailing over Bavaro Beach, where adventure meets the beauty of the DR.|©iStock/nantonov

Oliver, Sandra, and I sat down with a couple of developers operating in Cap Cana and the wider Punta Cana region—to get the inside story on real estate straight from the source.

One of the reasons Oliver is here is to scout potential deals that Ronan can bring to his Real Estate Trend Alert members. I have an ulterior motive for tagging along to these meetings.

Even after just a few days in Cap Cana and the Bavaro Beach area of Punta, I can see that there’s definitely something about the place.

Where Cap Cana is quiet, Bavaro is bustling. You’ll get stopped by folks selling tours on the way to the beach… The golden-sand strand is busy, while you might have the white-sand beaches in Cap Cana nearly all to yourself.

We stayed in an Airbnb five minutes’ walk from Bavaro Beach—two bedrooms and a private rooftop terrace with a jacuzzi—for less than $76 a night. It was a little more ($118) for the secluded setting of Cap Cana (and a more modest apartment).

The location of Cap Cana to downtown Punta Cana—just a 20-minute drive, and a similar distance to Punta Cana international airport—means there’s a wider range of experiences right on your doorstep.

There’s the mall and the movies (and Pizza Hut!)… and a wider range of international cuisine, if you get bored of the restaurants in Cap Cana, from Mexican to burgers to Italian and Chinese to Peruvian, Venezuelan and, of course, Dominican. Anything you could want. You have the Vegas-style shows and, of course, bars and clubs to suit any taste. Elton John played here recently.

And any time you want a real adventure, you can make like any tourist and go snorkeling, scuba diving, kitesurfing… Or how about a “party boat”?

One of the days, Sandra and I were persuaded to sit in one of the tour offices while a dancing salesman tried to sell us on a “party boat experience” later that afternoon.

I guess I’m just too old—but jiving and sweating with dozens of drunken strangers (free bar!) on the open ocean for six hours—dance music pounding your eardrums—is not my idea of fun.

Sitting by the sheltered, pristine marina in Cap Cana and watching the luxury yachts come and go… Or golfing at Cap Cana’s Nicklaus-designed course set against startling emerald waters that fade to deep blue… Even people-watching on a long walk along Bavaro Beach, the throb of the Caribbean lulling me into a meditative state… that’s more my speed.

I could see myself living on a Caribbean island with jurisdictional taxation (no tax on foreign-source income) and year-round temperatures in the 80s F—rather than continuing to endure six months of winter and eye-watering tax rates in northern Ontario.

I haven’t said this to Sandra yet. But it adds an extra level of personal interest when we meet with the developers.

The big takeaway from those meetings was just the sheer scale of what’s happening. One developer team had eight projects on the same street.

They described for us a project they have under construction in Cap Cana, designed by an award-winning Spanish team, built on Las Iguanas Golf Course and just a 10-minute walk from Juanillo, the most beautiful beach in Cap Cana.

You have pool and golf-course views, and every amenity you could want in the complex: spa, fully equipped gym, minigolf, a co-working space.

The condos are designed so that you just have to lock a door to create two separate apartments, each with its own route to the balcony. The idea, of course, is that you could live in one half and rent out the other—”or for your mother-in-law,” our contact on the developer’s team explains.

That could be perfect… since Sandra and I are living with her parents right now, who need a little extra help in their twilight years. We don’t have to abandon them in Canada—we can take them with us.

Sandra sees the glint in my eye… We’ll have a lot to talk about later.

Cap Cana is “master planning” on an off-the-charts scale. But it’s far from the only example of the “attention to every detail” development going on around these parts.

We got a peek at the site of 197 new condos being built at Coral Golf Resort. It’s the first time homes adjacent to the P.B. Dye-designed course have been approved.

“No tax on foreign income, and year-round temps in the 80s F.”

You’re 10 minutes from a medical center, three minutes from the upscale Pearl Beach Club, and just 10 minutes from the Downtown Mall and the Blue Mall.

Every amenity is planned, from pickleball courts to a cigar lounge.

Standing on a dirt track by the side of the golf course lake, the sun beating down but a cool breeze off the water… you can just imagine it. I’m standing right where a new dining room will be, apparently.

The living here will be easy.

Our guide from the developer’s team explains that, although you’re only 10 minutes from the airport, you’ll never see an airplane overhead. Flights are routed away from the course—just as they’re routed away from Cap Cana.

“Golf is a sport that demands tranquility,” he says.

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Colorful wooden houses in Samaná.|©iStock/Vladone

Our journey north to Las Terrenas was anything but tranquil.

Well, part of it.

Google Maps sent us offroad.

Or, more specifically, off the highway. We weaved along some back road absolutely strewn with potholes.

You couldn’t slow down—there were cars behind. Cows and goats by the roadside.

It was wilderness.

We’d just come through a railway crossing; a single rail line cut into the road, disappearing on either side into fields of sugar cane. There was a guy selling pipas—coconuts—at the roadside where cars would have to stop if a train was passing. That was the only sign that there was a rail crossing here.

The potholes were as deep as washing machine drums. Oliver blasted merengue music to keep him alert while he drove.

Sandra helpfully suggested that if we hit a cow we could sell the meat to pay off the damage to the rental car.

This was the first dodgy driving experience that we’d had in the DR.

And it was entirely our own fault—not realizing that Google Maps was taking us on a “shorter” route through the sugar plantations. Should have stuck to the highway.

The drive west from Punta Cana toward the capital, Santo Domingo, and then north toward the Samana peninsula, was otherwise smooth. The highways were perfect. The typical fee on the toll roads is 100 pesos ($1.70).

On the way from Punta Cana heading toward Santo Domingo, we stopped at Bayahibe—recommended as one of the country’s best beaches, and a beach community also seeing explosive growth.

This is a true traditional Caribbean town.

The beach is divided between a Hilton resort and the public beach, the latter playing host to all human life. Mostly it was Dominicans enjoying the afternoon. Musicians wandering… folks carrying around parrots and lizards that you can stroke and take a photo with—presumably for the benefit of tourists, although there weren’t that many.

Tour boats from Punta Cana come this way and sit in the bay while the tourists go snorkeling… The water is calmer here.

I spoke with Chris and Kathleen Malstrom from outside Baltimore, Maryland, who made Bayahibe their base in the DR precisely because of the diving and snorkeling. They spend part of every year here.

“It’s so beautiful underwater,” Chris told me. “The coral and the fish, you don’t see that on the north side of the island.”

The town of Bayahibe itself is another attraction.

“The heart of the village is still the same,” Kathleen says. “There are people living in little wooden houses right here on the beach with million-dollar views.”

She adds: “They are trying to, as best as possible, keep the heart of the original village. But the town is growing tremendously outside, surrounding the village with condominiums and high rises.”

Some of the development is not happening with the same attention to detail and high standards as, for example, Cap Cana.

Chris wants to use his experience from a long career in the construction industry in the States (he’s now retired) and “pay it forward” to the community here, teaching construction skills.

The Malstroms are deeply involved with the local community, running a ministry out of their rentals when they’re in town, as well as clinics at local churches.

Their involvement with the ministry has given them a keen insight on costs for expats. Folks come from other parts of the world to work with the ministry, and Chris and Kathleen create packages based on preference.

Costs just “don’t compare” to back home in Maryland, Kathleen says. You can live “very cheaply” if you don’t need air conditioning (heat is never needed, of course) and shop at local stores. They’re paying $1,000 a month for a two-bed, two-bath condo, but rentals are available for $600 and lower.

Head to the American-style Jumbo grocery store and you’ll pay home-style prices, but you’ll have all your favorite name brands. But at a supermercado like Las Palmas or Iberia, you’ll find the same products, but they’re local brands and cost 40% less.

“The challenge is that you need to be able to speak Spanish,” adds Kathleen. Or be comfortable using Google Translate.

The Malstroms spend their spare time in the water, when they can—and the ministry of course is their priority, along with the church clinics.

“It’s free medical, dental, and food distribution,” Kathleen says of the clinics. “We do prayer, and we have children’s salvation activities… We’re also looking for property where we will found a full-time ministry complex.”

Developers, salesmen, adventurers, and missionaries… they’re all flocking to the DR.

And the way they talk about it—it’s the chance to live better, to make your fortune, to be on the ground of something brand new. Like the earth is young again and human possibility infinite…

“I could see you guys living here in a few years,” Oliver said to me and Sandra.

We were eager to see what else the country had in store for us.

But Las Terrenas, a popular beach town on the northern Samana peninsula—and our next destination—had just experienced a “once in 100 years” flood the week we arrived in the DR.

“The DR is the chance to make your fortune.”

The DR’s location and mountain ranges (including the highest in the West Indies, Cordillera Central) protect it from hurricanes, unlike its neighbors. The strong tidal currents of the Mona Passage between the DR and Puerto Rico disrupt storms and force them away. But the DR does have a rainy season (May to November) the same as any tropical destination.

There were videos circulating on social media of cars wading through streets where the water came up to the windshield… Although, people were saying that the footage was of a different flood in a different country.

We did have to rebook our accommodation because the place was evacuated due to flooding.

So, who knew what awaited us…

Affordable Real Estate and a Slice of Freedom in

“Sit at one of Las Terrenas’ beach bars, enjoy the breeze coming off the ocean and a rum punch…”|©iStock/Klemen1977

As the road brought us closer to Las Terrenas, we passed a guy on a bike leading his cow behind him by a rope. There was a dude on a motorcycle on the other side of the road, with his kid on the back. The biker was wearing a helmet—the child, not. (“Put on your own oxygen mask first,” and all that, I guess.)

The road rose and cut through sheer red rock on either side. Then all of a sudden we could see the ocean far below, white surf and sapphire. At the right time of year, the spray of surf could be whales breaching.

Except for the fact that it’s the wrong ocean (and there are no houses), this view could be Beverly Hills.

Technically Las Terrenas is not on the Caribbean but the Atlantic—but up close it’s sure as hell got a Caribbean feel.

There were some signs of flooding when we reached level ground and downtown—but remarkably few, given that just a few days ago, water was rushing into businesses in the town center. It was all dry now, except for a few side roads where you’d want to drive slowly. It says a lot about local tenacity that everything was back up and running so quickly.

Playa Las Terrenas is easygoing Caribbean with a cosmopolitan twist. The beach is another marvel: a little slope of gold beside sparkling azure. The sheer length of it means we never saw it too busy. We could walk all the way along the beach from town to our hotel a couple miles outside. In fact, the full stretch of beach on this coast is almost 19 miles long, separated by juts of rock at only a few points. Alongside the beach in town, there’s a cute little malecón (waterfront promenade) lined with eateries.

The town is busy—and loud. Motorcycles are how everybody gets around—and there aren’t many rules of the road being observed. Only uptight people obey rules, after all… and how can you stay uptight when you’re surrounded by sun, sand, and sea?

Sit at one of the beach bars, enjoying the breeze coming off the ocean and a rum berry punch… and before long, you won’t notice any noise at all.

There are plenty of those beach bars, of course. But there’s also a whiskey lounge boasting the largest selection on the island (over 100, including 11 Japanese and 12 Canadian, as well as plenty of Scottish and Irish), tucked away in a little Spanish colonial square; Italian and French bakeries; and a crêperie (try the crêpe bacon) inside a modern plaza designed to look like a cruise ship. Las Terrenas will surprise you like that.

Eighteen years ago, IL Senior Editor Suzan Haskins was here, and wrote that the town was becoming popular with Europeans who were opening local businesses, “but as yet, few expats from the US… I suspect that will all change.” Las Terrenas was a “Caribbean frontier poised to boom.” Boy, was she right. At the time, it took eight hours to drive here from Punta Cana and five from Santo Domingo. Now, it’s four hours from Punta Cana and less than two from Santo Domingo.

Even as late as 2019, you could get a two-bedroom condo here for less than $90,000.

Then… COVID-19 happened. And it put this town on the map like nothing before.

North Americans wanted to get away from lockdowns back home. And what better place than a Caribbean beach town where few rules are observed?

Whether it was word-of-mouth about a beach town paradise of freedom… or good marketing by local realtors and the tourist board… the town has hit the top tier of expat destinations. Prices for most everything have risen 30% to 50% since 2020, local expats tell me. There’s one last remaining undeveloped beachfront lot for sale in town… and it’s going for $1.8 million.

I got that last tidbit of information from Canadian Steven Hattie, who became our impromptu guide for the weekend we spent in Las Terrenas, taking us under his wing.

Steven’s pitch for Las Terrenas, and the DR in general, is pretty simple: “Come for the climate, stay for the freedom.”

We met up with Steven at the French bakery (Boulangerie Français), where Oliver and Sandra had enjoyed an excellent croque monsieur and berry tart.

What Steven meant by “freedom” became clear pretty quickly, as he took us on a town tour.

“You can ride in the back if you want,” he said, pointing to the flatbed of his truck. Sandra eagerly hopped in; she hasn’t ridden in the back of a pickup since she was a kid, as it’s illegal in Canada.

“Wear your seatbelt, don’t wear your seatbelt—up to you,” he remarked to me and Oliver as we climbed into the passenger seats. The cops aren’t going to give you a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt round here.

That relaxed approach to life is the essence of the freedom you’ll find—a laissez-faire, choose-your-own-risk attitude that’s gone out of style in Canada and even the US, where seemingly every aspect of our lives is now regulated and controlled (whether for good or ill).

Not having to wear a seatbelt might seem like a trivial freedom in the scheme of things. But it’s a kind of metaphor, I guess. When you’re always being scolded about what you “can’t” do or what you “need to” do, it has a certain effect on your outlook on life. The world doesn’t seem so fun or full of possibilities. Back home—again, whether for better or worse—some of the choices we used to have are no longer choices we can legally make (seatbelts; riding in the back of a pickup). Here in the DR, you take responsibility for yourself.

Steven says: “I feel free and relaxed in this country, and I always feel uptight, worried, and nervous in Canada—from driving to taxes, everything is so hard and so strict. And here it’s just much easier in terms of every type of rule, regulation, restrictions. Taxes are much less. In every sense, it’s freer here.”

Steven came here from a small fishing village in Nova Scotia 16 years ago. He was looking for a different kind of life—and International Living played a big part in helping him dream, he says.

At first it was the year-round, shorts-and-flip-flops lifestyle that appealed to him. But now he says: “The climate’s nice, but the freedom is even nicer.”

One thing Steven did not know how to deal with when he first got here was healthcare. Coming from Canada, he wasn’t used to paying for that.

Here he pays $150 per month for a platinum insurance policy. “And there’s no such thing as waiting. Not for a cut on your hand that needs a few stitches, not for a visit to a specialist, not for surgery.”

There are two large private clinics in Las Terrenas as well as multiple small clinics and a public hospital.

Steven is a co-owner with GoDominicanLife brokers and took us on a tour of properties on the market, including a four-level new-build villa a few minutes from town, up where you get those Beverly Hills vibes—$650,000 for million-dollar views.

You can still get a one-bedroom in Las Terrenas for under $200,000. We visited a bachelor pad in a nice complex with a pool that was going for $180,000. Preconstruction it would have cost you $150,000.

Sandra joked that the $650k place was our dream home—and the bachelor pad is where I’d be living after the divorce. Still a perfectly nice slice of the Dominican Dream, I’d say!

Although prices have risen big-time in Las Terrenas, the value you can get is still pretty spectacular. You have to consider, too, that home values are probably going to continue to go up.

And if you find Las Terrenas too rich for your blood or too busy these days, there are plenty of spots down the coast, further back on the curve of development—still waiting for their moment to hit the big time. Given the Path of Progress rolling through this Caribbean country, that moment is sure to come.