Catalonia Punta Cana – a comprehensive review of this all-inclusive resort

 On the other side of Catalonia Punta Cana’s beach, you’ll find the beach bar including a creperie, which offers freshly prepared crepes, sweet ones or salty ones. This is a pretty cool feature as well which is not common in other Punta Cana all-inclusive resorts.

 Next to the creperie, you find the Privileged beach area of Catalonia Hotel Punta Cana including a bar. You can find further information about the Privileged advantages further below in this Catalonia Punta Cana review.

The rooms at Catalonia Punta Cana

 Catalonia All Inclusive Punta Cana consists of 711 rooms, which are divided into 6 room categories:

• Junior Suite
• Privileged Deluxe Junior Suite
• Privileged Romance Deluxe Junior Suite (Adults Only)
• Privileged Family Deluxe Junior Suite
• Privileged Suite Ocean View
• Privileged Suite & Jacuzzi

 While 5 of the 6 Catalonia Punta Cana room categories are Privileged rooms, this doesn’t reflect the real distribution of rooms as more than 50% are regular Junior Suites. All of the rooms are equipped with a balcony or terrace, a/c, bathtub and/or shower, coffee machine, safe, minibar, lounge area, hairdryer, telephone, ceiling fan, free WiFi and TV.

 One very important thing to mention is that the regular junior suites at Catalonia Bavaro Beach Golf & Casino Resort are pretty outdated. They are well-maintained, clean and super spacious (approx. 500 square feet), but you can see that they are a bit older than your average room in Punta Canas’ resorts.

 But this shouldn’t refrain you from booking Catalonia Bavaro Resort because there is an excellent workaround. All the Privileged rooms – except the Privileged Suite Ocean View and the Privileged Jacuzzi Suite – are completely renovated and super modern.

 They are featuring state-of-the-art design, a spacious bathroom with a double sink and double walk-in shower, a super comfy seating area and a large balcony with a hammock. Both, the balcony and the seating area in the room are super cozy and comfortable to sit in.

 The great thing about the Privileged rooms at Catalonia Punta Cana is the surcharge for those rooms when booked in advance. It starts at about 15-20 US-Dollar per person per night, which is an absolute bargain considering you are getting a fully-renovated room AND the Privileged perks, which I am explaining further below in this Catalonia Punta Cana review. You can also upgrade on the spot when you arrive, but it might be more expensive, even though they are currently running a promotion of just paying 20 USD per person per night – but I don’t know how long this promotion will be valid.

 Therefore, I can highly recommend booking a Privileged room for your stay at Catalonia All Inclusive Punta Cana. It’s absolutely worth the money, particularly compared to other all-inclusive resorts where upgrades to the VIP level are easily 40-60 USD per person per night.

 Please note that some of Catalonia Punta Canas’ rooms are located pretty close to the theater, which has a pretty centric location and is therefore not as isolated as in other Punta Cana resorts. This means you might significantly hear the evening shows from your room, especially if staying in the buildings 14, 16, 17, 26, 28, 30 and 31. However, they always end between 22:30 and 22:45 latest.

 If you are looking for a Catalonia Punta Cana adults-only section, you can book the Privileged Romance Deluxe Junior Suite. The buildings here are not allowed for children, but besides this, there are no other adults-only areas at Catalonia Punta Cana.

 If an adults-only vacation is important for you, you can check out the sister hotel Catalonia Royal Bavaro next door, which is completely adults-only and also grants access to Catalonia Punta Cana / Catalonia Bavaro Beach.

Booking and Prices at Catalonia Punta Cana

 To book a Catalonia Punta Cana vacation, you have different choices. The best option for your booking depends on your preferences. Besides checking with your local travel agent or booking directly with the hotel, you can have a look at the following online booking engines and tour operators, which all offer some very distinct perks.

 Usually, prices for Catalonia Hotel Punta Cana are starting at 85 USD per person per night in double occupancy during the low season, which is one of the cheaper resorts in Punta Cana. For the high season, prices at Catalonia Bavaro are currently pretty high, starting at 165 USD per person per night for the winter season of 2023. This is a pretty steep surcharge compared to their summer rates, but I am sure a couple of promotions are about to come during the year. Furthermore, I feel that if paying more than 300 USD for a douple room, the price-value ratio is not as attractive anymore as described here in this Catalonia Punta Cana review.

 To show you where you can score the best prices for Catalonia Punta Cana, we have compared 7 different websites in 3 scenarios and checked which rates are being offered:

Scenario 1: a couple traveling in low season (01-08 December) 
Scenario 2: a couple traveling in high season (15-22 February) 
Scenario 3: a family with 2 children (aged 8 and 14) traveling during the summer holiday (15-22 July)

(mobile users: please turn your device to landscape mode to enjoy the best view of this table)

Prices for Standard Rooms

 All prices were taken on the 20th of May 2022.

 As you can see in this table, the best prices for Catalonia Punta Cana Golf & Casino Resort are available through Booking.com*. Even though meta searchers Hotelscombined* and Tripadvisor* are showing the same prices, they also only forward to Booking.

 However, if traveling as a family (check out the best family resorts in Punta Cana here), it might be better to use other search engines as all three of them, Booking, Tripadvisor and Hotelscombined, showed either more expensive or no results when searching for a room with children. In this case, Expedia* or American tour operator Apple Vacations* are offering much better prices.

 All prices in the table above are for the regular Junior Suite at Catalonia Resort Punta Cana without Privileged status.

 As mentioned above and further below in this Catalonia Punta Cana review, it is absolutely worth booking a Privileged Junior Suite as the surcharge is very low and the difference particularly in the room quality enormous. Our price comparisons have shown that you only have to pay on average 16 USD more per person per night (as of May 2022) when booking a Privileged Junior Suite – an amazing deal considering what other all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana are charging for their room upgrades.

 To help you even more to find the best room, we have made another price comparison only with the Privileged Suite. The dates and scenarios are the same, hence you can see that the difference for a week is usually around 120 USD per person.

Scenario 1: a couple traveling in low season (01-08 December) 
Scenario 2: a couple traveling in high season (15-22 February) 
Scenario 3: a family with 2 children (aged 8 and 14) traveling during the summer holiday (15-22 July)

(mobile users: please turn your device to landscape mode to enjoy the best view of this table)

Prices for Privileged Rooms

 All prices were taken on the 20th of May 2022.

 Last but not least, when checking the prices for Catalonia Punta Cana, you should also check if a package booking might be cheaper. A package holiday describes a combination of flight and hotel (and sometimes transfer) and might be – due to contracting and yield reasons – cheaper than if booked separately. However, not always this is the case hence, sometimes a separate booking is better. To see what is better with your specific travel dates at Catalonia Bavaro Punta Cana, I would recommend checking with one of North America’s biggest tour operators, Apple Vacations*.

Restaurants and bars at Catalonia Punta Cana

Another thing which – besides the super modern rooms at the Privileged level for such a low price (at least during low season) – completely surprised us was the gastronomy at Catalonia Punta Cana. Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t expect top-notch 5-star cuisine like in New Yorks’ trendiest and most expensive restaurants, but considering that Catalonia Bavaro Beach is one of the most affordable all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana, the culinary offers were superb. We enjoyed every meal even though we have been staying at Catalonia Bavaro Punta Cana longer than in any other resort before – 10 nights (and considering we moved to the very similar Catalonia La Romana in Bayahibe afterwards it even has been 15 nights)!

 Catalonia Punta Cana features the following restaurants and food options:

• Main buffet “Gran Caribe” for breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Beach buffet “La Palapa” for breakfast and lunch
• Pizzeria “Sorrento” for pizza snacks during the day and night
• 4 à-la-carte restaurants (Asian incl. Teppanyaki tables, Spanish tapas, Italian and Steakhouse)
• Coffee shop with pastries
• Creperie at the beach during the day
• Snack bar at the pool

 Let’s start with the main buffet at Catalonia Hotel Punta Cana which really amazed us – every day for breakfast and lunch we were eating here.

 The main reason why we were so happy with the food at Catalonia Resort Punta Cana was the enormous amount of choices AND healthy options. The buffet is incredibly huge, which is particularly helpful for such a long stay we had.

 For breakfast, there was everything you can ask for. Fruits, different cereals, plenty of yogurts, a large choice of hot dishes, sweet stuff, freshly prepared omelets, a big cheese selection and – one of the best parts – a large array of freshly baked bread from their own bakery. To be honest, the bread at Catalonia Punta Cana was so much better than what is available in any other place in Punta Cana, particularly the dark breaks were like heaven.

 The same could be expected for lunch at Catalonia All Inclusive Punta Cana. What amazed us here was the incredibly large salad buffet for your DIY salads. There was everything you can ask for and so much more than the typical tomatoes, bell pepper, corn, carrot and cabbage. Among others, the DIY salad station had broccoli, green peas, chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, lentils (sometimes), olives (entire ones and cut ones), peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chili peppers, cooked eggs, wheat, diced pineapples, different dressings, super delicious feta cheese and so much more. Considering this enormous choice and the many other hot dishes they had for vegetarians I would say that Catalonia Punta Cana has been the best resort so far for vegans and vegetarians where we have stayed, particularly considering the buffet.

 There is also a vegan corner with daily changing hot dishes.

 But also meat lovers will find different options during lunch at Catalonia Resort Punta Cana. Among show cooking stations, where you’ll always find freshly grilled fish and meat, the buffet offers a lot of Dominican favorites and international classics. There is also a kid’s corner, two daily varying soups and a large selection of desserts, including ice cream.

 The only problem during breakfast and lunch at the main buffet is that there are many birds. While they don’t fly into the buffet hall, they immediately try to rob something from peoples’ plates once they leave their table for a minute. While this doesn’t bother us, I have seen people who were not that amused. But of course, it is pretty difficult to have beautiful animals in the garden but prevent them from entering an outdoor eating area.

 At the beach buffet, this has been solved by nets – you’re still outside, but the birds can’t fly in. However, the selection at the beach buffet is by far not as big as at the main buffet, even though it is much more than what most beach snack restaurants in other all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana are offering.

 For dinner at Catalonia Bavaro Beach, the buffets’ choices are also enormous, even though a lot of things are doubling with the lunch offerings. Even though there are hardly any themed buffet dinners (Fridays are Dominican nights), you’ll always find something new at the buffet. In addition, there is always oven-baked pizza with their own homemade dough at Catalonia Punta Cana’s buffet for dinner.

 As you can see, the selection is enormous at this buffet and also perfect for longer stays. As mentioned before, don’t expect extraordinary culinary highlights at the buffet, but considering we are talking about one of the cheaper hotels in Punta Cana, the buffet was extraordinary.

The same can be said for the à-la-carte restaurants. Particularly the combination of attractive decoration, attentive staff and a well-balanced menu with often surprisingly delicious food impressed us here.

Particularly remarkable was the Spanish restaurant at Catalonia Bavaro Beach Punta Cana, where Tapas was not only a name on the menu. We indeed enjoyed an authentic dinner with lots of different tapas – pretty much like in Spain.

 We also loved the Italian restaurant because of their appetizer buffet as well as the homemade gnocchi, which were soft and made to point.

 We also visited the Teppanyaki show cooking (even though we are over-saturated by those shows as basically every all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana is offering it), which was not as entertaining as other shows, but it was the first one where the food was tastefully plated.

 And, last but not least, the steakhouse was also a good visit where you can get fine cuts or a juicy salmon.

 As you can see, we were positively surprised by the food at Catalonia All Inclusive Punta Cana.

 But how about the drinks?

 In total, there 6 bars at Catalonia Bavaro Beach. The most important bars are the swim-up bar, the beach bar and the lobby bar.

 For most of the drinks, national alcohol is used, but a few international brands are included, such as Campari, Johnny Walker, Martini or Dewars. The good Dominican Brugal Anejo rum (perfect for longdrinks) is also served.

My insider recommendation: if particular liquor brands are important to you, check out the Curacao Bar next to the Asian and Spanish restaurant, as they – interestingly enough – have a few additional brands compared to the main lobby bar.

However, the best bar for me at Catalonia Hotel Punta Cana was the Ma Loo Juice Bar, which was, as mentioned above, newly built in 2022. They have freshly blended juices and the best location including a beautiful decoration. What more do you want from your Caribbean holiday?

 Besides those bars mentioned, there is also another bar at Catalonia Punta Cana, the Pure Chill Out Bar. This bar is exclusively for guests at Privileged rooms and offers some additional liquor brands such as Aperol, Cointreau, Frangelico, Smirnoff, Stolichnaya, Canadian Club or the Brugal XV rum. The setting of this bar is simply amazing.

 Check out the sections below in this Catalonia Punta Cana review for further information about the advantages of the Privileged status.

Entertainment and service at Catalonia Punta Cana

 When staying at Catalonia Punta Cana, a large program of entertainment is awaiting you. If you’re looking for activities, the beach and the pool are your No. 1 place to go, as there is always something going on. Besides the typical interactive games, pool activities, dance classes and water gym, they have a mobile water basketball installation every Monday and are holding cocktail competition classes next to the pool.

 If you are interested in sports, Catalonia Punta Cana Golf & Casino Resort offers beach volleyball, tennis, paddle tennis, table tennis, football, petanque, basketball, water polo, archery and darts. The hotel also has a fully-equipped gym.

If you are into water sports, you can rent a kayak or Hobie cats for free. Considering the super shallow and calm waters here at Catalonia Bavaro, this is also a perfect activity for beginners.

 For those of you loving golf, Catalonia Punta Cana has an in-house golf course, which is surrounding the resort. For guests staying at Catalonia Punta Cana or Catalonia Royal Bavaro, the green fee is for free, just the rent of a golf cart is mandatory (currently 50 USD). The rent of clubs is optional.

 If you are looking into nightly entertainment, Catalonia Resort Punta Cana also gets you covered. While I wouldn’t define Catalonia as a party resort in Punta Cana, it was pretty noticeable that a lot of younger people were around (besides families and best agers) and social activities were always very popular. There is a weekly beach party and a weekly pool party, which got the crowd moving and was better visited than the average resort party.

 There is also a daily evening show at the central theatre and after 11 pm, you can join the disco, which was – at least during the weekend – well visited.

My personal highlight regarding entertainment was a saxophonist playing in the Privileged beach club during the day. I am not sure how often he is performing (I guess just once a week), but the combination of this well-known songs in the background, a personal interpretation with the saxophon, an amazing view from the beach club and a cold drink was pretty amazing.

 Another plus, if you want to party at Catalonia Bavaro Punta Cana, is the neighboring Pearl Beach Club. Even though this is not included in your all-inclusive stay, it is a perfect opportunity to join occasional parties with regional importance or to just hang out in an elegant and upscale beach club. Furthermore, as a guest of Catalonia Bavaro Beach Golf & Casino Resort, you’re receiving a 20% discount at Pearl Beach Club.

 If you are traveling as a family to Catalonia Punta Cana, you can enjoy a kids club (4-12 years) and teens club (13-17 years) with a diversified program. Furthermore, don’t forget to check out the best family activities in Punta Cana.

Catalonia Punta Cana doesn’t have a water park. If you are looking for one, check out the best resorts in Punta Cana with a water park.

 WiFi at Catalonia Punta Cana works perfectly well.

 The service at Catalonia is adequate for an affordable resort in Punta Cana. Not everything is perfect, but everyone is trying hard and is super friendly. Usually, the service staff is also more authentic here than in some of the luxury resorts in Punta Cana, even though there is always room for improvement when it comes to some of the processes. Except for one waiter who was definitely not professionally trained (out of probably at least 30 or 40 waiters which served us during our stay), there wasn’t anything to complain about.

Privileged advantages at Catalonia Punta Cana

 Most all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana do have their own VIP tier, which comes with additional benefits and premium services. As mentioned above in this Catalonia Punta Cana review, it is called Privileged status at Catalonia. This comes with the following advantages:

• Exclusive superior rooms
• 10% discount on hotel services
• Privileged identification
• Early check-in and late check-out upon availability
• 10% off romantic dinner on the beach
• Room service
• 10% discount in boutiques and stores
• Dedicated beach zone
• Rooms with modern design
• Discounts of 10% on massages or treatments
• Turndown Service
• Beach towels in the room on the day of arrival

 Compared to other VIP levels in Punta Cana, the Privileged status at Catalonia All Inclusive Punta Cana doesn’t have an exclusive restaurant or a VIP lounge. However, compared to other Punta Cana resorts, the surcharge for the Privileged status is also very moderate.

 The most important advantage of Privilege at Catalonia Bavaro is already mentioned and shown above: the much more modern rooms, which are beautifully designed and so much different from the regular rooms.

Furthermore, important additional features are a separate beach section with big Bali beds and a nice beach bar and lounge, which also feature additional liquor brands such as Aperol, Cointreau, Frangelico, Smirnoff, Stolichnaya, Canadian Club or the Brugal XV rum.

 The other Privilege advantages are – at least in my opinion – not that important. But as I mentioned, the surcharge for Privilege is also pretty low, so it’s worth it anyway to book your Privilege room.

Interchanging facilities between Catalonia Punta Cana and Catalonia Royal Bavaro

 The entire Catalonia Resort in Punta Cana is consisting of two properties:
– Catalonia Punta Cana (also named Catalonia Bavaro or Catalonia Bavaro Beach)
– Catalonia Royal Bavaro

 Catalonia Royal Bavaro is the higher-tier resort of both, offering usually a more exquisite cuisine (even though this is only partially true as you can see if you read my Catalonia Royal Bavaro review) and a higher level of service. This is also why you don’t have access to Catalonia Royal Bavaro when you’re booked at Catalonia Punta Cana.

 On the other hand, when staying at Catalonia Royal Bavaro you have full access to Catalonia Punta Cana (except for the à-la-carte restaurants I think). This being said, you can use the beach of Catalonia Punta Cana (which is much nicer than the one over at Royal) and take advantage of the huge buffet, which is rather small at Catalonia Royal Bavaro.

Safety Protocols and Hygiene Standards at Catalonia Punta Cana

 Even though the pandemic, at the time of writing this Catalonia Punta Cana review (May 2022), is luckily declining, it is still an issue when traveling in 2022. Fortunately, the Dominican Republic has terminated all regulations and restrictions due to Covid-19 in February 2022, hence you can enjoy your holiday in the Dominican Republic to the fullest.

Still, the hotels in Punta Cana are keeping some of their Covid-19 protocols, even though they are pretty relaxed at Catalonia All Inclusive Punta Cana. Employers are still wearing face masks (even though pretty often below the mouth 😉 ) and hand sanitizer and gloves are available when entering the buffet (but not mandatory).

 However, in general, you don’t have to worry about Covid-19 in Punta Cana and the Dominican Republic – at least currently. There are hardly any infections in the entire country, even though it is worth always being cautious and following the general hygiene rules. Please also mind your fellow travelers.

Excursions from Catalonia Punta Cana

When visiting Catalonia Hotel Punta Cana, you also should plan a few days for exploring the surrounding area into your agenda. While there isn’t much to do directly around the hotel (except for walking along the beach until you reach a beautiful pristine beach section), there are plenty of exciting Punta Cana excursions you can experience during your stay.

If you would like to have a full overview, you can check out this article with the best activities and tours in Punta Cana.

If you are looking for some fun and adrenaline, ziplining or dune buggy adventures might be your best choice while in Punta Cana. Both are easy ways to see a few of Punta Cana’s surroundings.

 For some nature, I can highly recommend either Saona Island, the top spot in the Dominican Republic, or Los Haitises National Park, one of the most diversified national parks. While you most likely have to share Isla Saona with lots of other visitors (but can see truly paradisical sceneries, which are like from another world), Los Haitises National Park is more this kind of hidden gem where you can admire the wildlife the Dominican Republic has to offer.

 And if you are just visiting Catalonia Bavaro Punta Cana for fun and party, you shouldn’t miss one of Punta Canas’ famous booze cruises with a snorkeling option and stop at the natural swimming pool. Furthermore, a night out at Coco Bongo, Punta Canas’ biggest show and disco, is well worth it.

Summary

 Catalonia Punta Cana is an impressive and affordable resort that definitely surprised us. Particularly the super modern Privileged rooms – which are not much more expensive than the standard rooms – and the culinary diversity with excellent options for vegans and vegetarians (at least at the buffet) were just some of the highlights of this Punta Cana all-inclusive resort. The lovely decorations and a massive amount of palm trees throughout the entire resort, the picturesque beach and the newly-built juice bar were other advantages of our stay at Catalonia Bavaro Beach Golf & Casino Resort.

 Of course, not everything is perfect – it would be wrong to expect this from a Punta Cana hotel for less than 200 USD per night per couple incl. all-inclusive meal plan. But in general, you can have a great vacation here at Catalonia Punta Cana. Compared to other all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana at the same price level, it is one of the most interesting ones, especially if premium drinks are not too important for you.

 Taking into consideration the huge number of amenities, Catalonia Punta Cana is suitable for all kinds of travelers – and we have seen them all during our stay: couples, groups of friends, families, singles, younger people, older people, etc. . However, considering the large number of activities, I think there are better family resorts in Punta Cana, but hardly better options for travelers looking to socialize, have fun or just relax on a picture-perfect and quiet beach. If this sounds interesting to you, you definitely should put Catalonia Bavaro Punta Cana on your shortlist of resorts in Punta Cana. On the other hand, if you are looking for an adults-only version of Catalonia Punta Cana, you can also check out neighboring Catalonia Royal Bavaro.

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CHRIS

Author, Travel Coach & Punta Cana based digital nomad

Hey, I am Chris, a born and raised German, travel-addictive and Caribbean Soul. Since 2011 I have been living in the Caribbean, among them 5 years in the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana is my home-base here in the country and I’d love to tell you more about how to experience Punta Cana off-the-beaten-track and give you all the advice you want to know for your vacation in Punta Cana.