Hey all I would like to share my experience on this resort. First off I would like to say that there were a lot of positives with this resort such as food potentially the best I've had while visiting resorts, the beach was amazing and had no waves or sargasm and the resort was very easy to navigate.Some of my negatives include the amount of smoking going on everywhere on this resort. There are designated smoking areas but no one uses them. People are smoking in the pool, in their loungers, right outside of the restaurant, in the hallways of the hotel and as someone with breathing problems this made my stay very uncomfortable. Still recovering from the amount of smoke 2 days later. Secondly there is a real lack of vibe at this resort. They play music at the one pool and then just randomly shut it off for 2 hours midway through the day. They also have a strict no speaker policy which they enforce. Which is weird as they do not enforce the smoking policy. Overall our experience was mixed with positives and negatives. I would recommend this resort if you're okay with smoking.
User:moebella
Trip type: Friends getaway
Perfect, relaxing tropical vacay!
04 Apr 2026
Travelled in March and it was packed but we knew it would be. This was my 2nd time here. It's a resort with a small footprint, everything is very easily walkable within a few minutes of each area. I love all the authentic decor, the tiles, furniture, plants, trees and vegetation. Spotlessly clean, very well maintained, but you must walk up stairs to the rooms, buildings have 3 floors. There is a small maybe 1-2 inch step at each building entrance so not completely accessible even if you are on the ground floor. Lobby and buffet area has a ramp, the pool has a gradual entry on one side so those areas are easy to navigate with a walker/wheelchair etc. Food was great, fresh and I love that it is served in round silver warming trays with lids. They have a couple plant based options each meal that are free from all animal oils, butter, etc. One day I had sweet potato empanadas and they were delicious! Lots of fresh mixed salads, and a great salad bar. No problem to find food if you're vegetarian. Pasta and omelet stations were great. Breakfast donuts were my favourite! Only complaint about the food area is it was VERY lacking in staff. There is one person to fill water, one for drinks, one to clear tables and one to re-stock table items. It was quite hard to get water, or drinks with most meals. The resort was sold out, it was very busy so we tried to be patient. We always tipped when we asked for water but the reality was there just wasn't enough staff to go around and they were working their butts off. Definitely need more serving staff in the buffet. After a couple days we just grabbed our own drinks on the way into the buffet.Three a la Carte restaurants. Beach Grill, Italian and Octopus, all were delicious! Lots of options, fresh and tasty. They will accommodate any dietary requests. The Italian restaurant is in front of the lobby, just a two minute walk away. It's located at the other building of rooms, also has a great pool, nice quiet lobby and a great bar where you will find Jackie in the daytime, ask for a frozen Jackie special! YUM! We upgraded to Premium and while pricey, for us it was worth it as we wanted the Bali beds at the beach, love the vintage lounge, private check in and wanted to make sure we had help with food as my friend has Celiac. The staff in the Vintage lounge are so kind and helpful, and great when you ask for a fun drink! Also make great coffee specialty drinks there. Our favourite part was the beach. Aquilo at the Premium side beach made our days by helping us learn Spanish, constantly filling our drinks even without being asked, and just was a joy to chat with always answering our questions about the country and his life. The beach is fabulous, soft sand, nice refreshing water and you can walk for a long long time in both directions.(I walked alone for hours and never felt unsafe) It was quite windy every day but we enjoyed it and considered the blowing sand free skin exfoliation! Only one red flag day where we were not allowed in the ocean. There are a lot of rock reefs all at the front of the waters entrance but there are clear pockets to swim in, and areas with rock free water. Lots of people were snorkeling right in front of the beach area. There are so many vendors on the beach and it gets annoying to be interrupted every 2-3 minutes but once you say, "no gracias" they just keep walking. We got to know Josef, one of the jewelry vendors who gave us great deals, and was awesome to chat with. Look for Ishmael if you want excursions from a vendor. Great guy!I'm happy to say the new entertainment team was a very welcome change! Something to do every night, started at 9pm and over by 10:30/11pm. The beach party and silent disco were the best! The activities are posted daily by the stairs near the buffet, and also in the area where you exchange towels where the pool tables are. Also, there is a large section of book shelves with loads of books in several languages if you need a book!Drinks were plentiful and delicious, there is a menu at the bars and they will make anything a slushy drink, just ask. They serve the drinks in paper cups so if you don't like that, bring your own refillable cup. We saw so many people yelling at the bartenders because they wanted glass, which at the pool or beach is ridiculous. Bottled water and bagged ice available everywhere. There were water coolers on each floor of the buildings, we had no trouble at all getting water. They have Pepsi products here, pepsi, diet, zero, 7 up and an orange pop. The pool was constantly packed, very loud and the brutal chair saving game was just awful. There were lots of games and activities at the pool but with the chair situation and the loudness, we just were not interested. And the smoking....UGGG no one followed the no smoking rule. So, we spent all our time at the beach.I love this resort because it's authentic, small, clean, with great food and a fabulous beach, it has everything you need if you want to relax, take part in activities and keep it chill. Not fancy, not a lot of bells and whistles but it doesn't need it. It's a 20 minute drive from the airport and has lots of excursion options for every interest. It's a chill resort, with mostly older clientele, not a big party place. You can tip in Dominican Pesos which is great for Canadians. I will be back!
User:Rob P
Trip type: Couples
Gran Vedana
03 Apr 2026
We enjoyed our experience at this resort. The grounds were mantained meticulously and the staff were awesome. Food at the buffet was exceptional for a resort with great variety every day. Bar staff were super friendly and definitely didn’t skip on the alcohol when making drinks.The ala carte restaurants were so-so, not up to par with buffet.Beach was somewhat crowded as it’s a public beach with many vendors trying to sell their wares.If there is any negative to the resort, it is that they do not have enough staff during meal times. Trying to get coffee in the morning or a drink with dinner sometimes took much longer than it should.Having said that, the servers are doing the best they can do, this rests solely with management for not putting enough staff on duty. They are cheerful and friendly and deserve every tip they receive.
User:Sue G
Trip type: Couples
Vintage Club, get the upgrade
02 Apr 2026
Just returned from 10 days at the VH Gran Ventana. Enjoyed a fabulous vacation and highly recommend the upgrade to Premium or Royal Service. Well worth the price. The beach is amazing and the Premium area with drink service was exceptional. Amobie was the best. He took great care to ensure we had the best vacation.
User:Sightsee07671775699
Trip type: Family
Not Great
02 Apr 2026
Just got back and we honestly do not understand the rave reviews. We'll start with the positive- while the rooms are quite dated, ours was spotlessly clean and we were always left with plenty of towels. The rooms were quiet, which we appreciate. The fridge is only stocked every other day, it should be done daily in our opinion. Our room was situated close to the buffet and main pool, also a plus. The main buffet was nothing to get excited about but always something to eat, we never went hungry, and hubby was very happy to have bacon each morning. The made to order omelets and french toast were yummy too! I should also mention the great wings at the beach grill were tasty! Now the not so positive- not even close to being enough loungers for the number of guests at the resort. Loungers were "saved" early in the morning and we only saw hotel employees removing them on one day of our stay. Any shade was almost non existent anywhere around the pool except for a small slice around the kiddie pool. Very few umbrellas as well, people would move them where they wanted to, leaving large swaths with no cover, terrible! Lucky we aren't beach people as we took one look at the beach set up and thanked goodness we weren't! Loungers packed side by side row on row, one almost touching next. If you had rolled over on your lounger, I'm sure you would have touched your neighbor! We found while the food was ok in the buffet, the service was terrible often waiting long stretches for water and/coffee. Very chaotic as well, seemed to be no rhyme nor reason to how they maneuvered themselves in the dining room. I've traveled a fair bit and not seen this before, and if I'm being honest, they didn't seem to worry about the guests all that much. Understaffed perhaps...? When checking out we realized later that our luggage had been left outside all day while others had had theirs placed in a room until departure time. It just seemed like all employees were not on the same page about many things and what one would tell you would differ ftom what another might say. So, for us the bad service and the poor pool experience will keep us from returning.
Playa Dorada, Puerto Plata
About Gran Ventana Beach Resort
User Rating & Reviews
04 Apr 2026
04 Apr 2026
03 Apr 2026
0204 505 9777