Amber Cove & Taino Bay Shore Excursion: 2 person Buggy Tour
» Puerto Plata » Puerto Plata » Puerto Plata
From $129.00
40 reviews (3.95)
Price varies by group size
Lowest Price GuaranteePricing Info:
Duration:
Departs: Puerto Plata, Puerto Plata
Ticket Type: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Free cancellation
Overview
Drive your own Dune Buggy through the sugar cane fields, up to the mountains and down to the beach. With all the instruction and equipment included, even beginners can learn how to drive a dune buggy.
After being collected from the outside of Amber Cove Port, you will be taken to the tour starting point which is just 35 minutes away.
Enjoy amazing scenery, muddy paths and a picturesque beach.
What's Included
Amber Cove pickup and drop off
Bottled water
Guide
Taino Bay pick up and drop-off
What's Not Included
Pictures available to purchase
Traveler Information
- TRAVELER: Age: 0 - 120
Additional Info
- Face masks required for travellers in public areas
- Guides required to regularly wash hands
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
- Temperature checks for travellers upon arrival
- Face masks required for travellers in public areas
- Guides required to regularly wash hands
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
- Temperature checks for travellers upon arrival
Cancellation Policy
What To Expect
Amber Cove
You will get pick up from the outside of the main gate of the terminal entrance by the high way.
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Puerto Plata Province
Real Location: Montellano, Puerto Plata Province. Here is where the tour starts. After a short briefing, your memorable off road adventure will start. No License and no special skill are required. All Buggies are safe and easy to drive. This is a half day full of fun for those looking for a tour to see the natural beauty of Dominican Republic. Please remember to wear clothes that you are willing to throw away and sunglasses, as the road can be dusty, muddy and wet.
3 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Taino Bay Puerto Plata
We pick you up from the front gate of Taino Bay
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Golden Beach (Playa Dorada)
Real Location: Playa Bergantin, A stop with the Buggy at Playa Bergantin, where you have an opportunity to go for a swim.
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Reviews
Life changing experience
Angela_L, 15-09-2022
This is an absolutely phenomenal experience a real excursions. Unexpected adventures and so much fun. Definitely a must do. Worth every penny and more
Buggyin’ in the D.R.
kellarstanley2022, 09-09-2022
This was, without question, one of the most fun excursions I’ve ever been on. If not THE best. It was incredible and so much fun. Every single person we met in the D.R. (including staff) were SO friendly. Our buggy did suffer a minor complication throughout the ride, but the crew was suuuper quick and had us on a back-up buggy right away. Beware of the Bergantin beach. This is part of the tour, and you stop for a moment to enjoy the beach…but 1 problem. The vendors. Immediately after you get off the buggy for the beach break, the vendors IMMEDIATELY swarm you trying to get you to spend an outrageous amount of money on their cheap jewelry, braids, etc. once we were back on the buggy’s for the 2nd part of the tour, the rest was a blast. You WILL get dirty, and you WILL take a half-hour shower back on the ship once you get back. They do offer a shower right at the end of the excursion while you’re waiting for your bus back to the ship. They have a very organized and well structured setup. I encourage you to spend the outrageous money on a bandana and glasses because you WILL need them. It’s VERY muddy and dirty. They’re 5 bucks each. Seriously one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Will do this excursion every single time I come back to the D.R.
GIVE THEM A SHOT!! 65 bucks a person is MORE than fair for the experience!!!
GIVE THEM A SHOT!! 65 bucks a person is MORE than fair for the experience!!!
Everyone needs to try this!
Jennifer_G, 16-08-2022
I had so much fun doing this experience! They were so nice and for 60 dollars more they send you all the pictures/video they took. I am talking about almost 200 pictures and a 13 minute video! The experience was so awesome too. It was really fun they took us through the Campo and through rivers. Do not wear something nice as you will get dirty/wet. They also took us to taste cigars and to drink a standard dominican drink. And they even took us to the beach! Also the timing was great. They got us back early to the Port that we were able to explore the city.
Must do!
Lucia_R, 10-08-2022
This was a great experience! So much fun and the tour guides were very friendly! We got very muddy but the end offered a refreshing way to clean off all the dirt
So glad we did this.
damnimbeautiful, 23-10-2022
Sooooooo fun. Hanson was a great guide and was patient. Even the ride back to the ship was a great experience, was like 2 tours in 1. Be sure to wear water shoes and cover as much skin as possible because there will be mud and cow poop(good for the skin
Fun, mud flinging adventure
Donna_B, 12-08-2022
Crazy time!! So fun!! It was cool to see the free roaming cows and horses as we trekked out to the beach. Bring small bills for the beach if you want to purchase beverages or souvenirs from the locals. When my son took over the driving, he sent a tsunami of water up and Over us! Bring a trash bag for anything you care about, it will get drenched in mud! I was thankful for the outside showers when we returned. However, I did throw away all my clothes when I returned to the ship. Things that are good to know: it was a half hour ride from Taino bay and then a half hour ride to the beach by buggy. I do recommend bringing a bandana to cover your mouth, they do sell them for $5 a piece. I also didn’t know I had to rent the goggles, another $5 a piece. We had some buggy trouble on the way back, but they gave us one of the ATV’s until a new buggy arrived. We had left ourselves plenty of time, so each time a buggy needed attention, it wasn’t a problem. It was a fun and exciting time to drive these buggies!
Best Fun I've had while getting dirty
Rogan R, 05-12-2022
This excursion was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend this activity. You can also do a search on trip advisor for "Amber Cove & Taino Bay Shore Excursion" and read the reviews. I plan to do this again in a few months as I have another Carnival Cruise booked on the Mardi Gras that will stop here. I did have two issues with the first Dune Buggy I was placed in. The first issue was that the steering was all over the place. I told one of the guys on the ATV at one of the stops and he said it was just very loose. I told him it was more than just loose and that I could hear a lot of banging in the steering wheel column. It was a group of 8 ATVs and 3 dune buggies, and one buggy was used by the guide. As we were leaving the premise there was a huge group of about 15 dune buggies and 15 ATVs on their way back. And they were giving us all thumbs up as they passed us to let us know this excursion was fun and worth it. I did notice also when we left that there weren't any dune buggies left at the hub. I think this is why we possibly got a dune buggy that obviously needed some repairs to the steering hardware. Another issue was the lack of power the dune buggy had (or at least I initially thought - more on that later). The lack of power had the guide would leave me in the dust literally and pretty easily. This was getting frustrating along with the fact the steering was horrible. I decided to press down hard on the gas pedal because I could see that it had more room to travel down to the floor. When I did that the pedal passed a hard spot and it went all the way to the floor. Things immediately got interesting because I sped up significantly and the gas pedal stayed on the floor.
The beach was the topping
Raquandra_D, 17-10-2022
Driving through the local town and sightseeing was amazing even before we got to the trail that led us to a beautiful beach. Awesome experience.
Safety concerns
Catharine_B, 17-11-2022
We'd recommend the experience but not with this company (Eric Tours International).
The experience of driving through the bush/scrub was fun but we had several safety concerns that, from conversations with other tourists and from seeing YouTube videos posted by tourists, are not an issue with other companies. We're not health and safety mad but these were the concerns that we had:
1. Very ill-fitting helmets. I don't have a particularly small head (it's never been an issue before!) but there wasn't a helmet that fit me. The helmet itself was way too big and the strap was unable to keep it on my head - it dropped to the back of my head.
2. The seatbelts in the buggy were ill-fitting and the buckles didn't work properly. In terms of offering protective restraint, in the case of a collision, they were almost useless and potentially dangerous as the release clasps in the buckles needed a really good bash to release them, potentially leaving the occupant trapped.
3. All four tyres on the buggy were completely bald - no tread whatsoever. The tyres also wobbled about and I wondered whether they might fall off! Perhaps the wheels were buckled. It was a particular concern as you're required to drive on the roads for 5-10 mins, to and from the bush/scrub. The buggies did not have rear view mirrors, indicators or working brake lights, which also made driving on the roads a concern. As they have bucket seats, it's difficult to observe any oncoming vehicles coming from behind. You also have to be really vigilant when driving behind another buggy as you don't know when they're braking.
4. Protective eyewear was not provided. Ordinarily we wouldn't complain but there were many occasions where the dirty water I(full of cow poo), stones, twigs and actual cow poo, splashes into your face and gets into your eyes. As your hands and clothes get covered in watery muck, we didn't have access to anything clean to wipe our eyes without putting more muck/cow poo into them. Nasty.
Annoyances were the hard selling of photographs taken by one of the guides and having to pay inflated prices for drinks when bottled water was supposed to be included in the trip, but wasn't. Also being told by the same guide that we had to pay a tip. We would do this anyway but don't want to be told that we have to.
As I say, the experience would be a good one, but not with this company.
The experience of driving through the bush/scrub was fun but we had several safety concerns that, from conversations with other tourists and from seeing YouTube videos posted by tourists, are not an issue with other companies. We're not health and safety mad but these were the concerns that we had:
1. Very ill-fitting helmets. I don't have a particularly small head (it's never been an issue before!) but there wasn't a helmet that fit me. The helmet itself was way too big and the strap was unable to keep it on my head - it dropped to the back of my head.
2. The seatbelts in the buggy were ill-fitting and the buckles didn't work properly. In terms of offering protective restraint, in the case of a collision, they were almost useless and potentially dangerous as the release clasps in the buckles needed a really good bash to release them, potentially leaving the occupant trapped.
3. All four tyres on the buggy were completely bald - no tread whatsoever. The tyres also wobbled about and I wondered whether they might fall off! Perhaps the wheels were buckled. It was a particular concern as you're required to drive on the roads for 5-10 mins, to and from the bush/scrub. The buggies did not have rear view mirrors, indicators or working brake lights, which also made driving on the roads a concern. As they have bucket seats, it's difficult to observe any oncoming vehicles coming from behind. You also have to be really vigilant when driving behind another buggy as you don't know when they're braking.
4. Protective eyewear was not provided. Ordinarily we wouldn't complain but there were many occasions where the dirty water I(full of cow poo), stones, twigs and actual cow poo, splashes into your face and gets into your eyes. As your hands and clothes get covered in watery muck, we didn't have access to anything clean to wipe our eyes without putting more muck/cow poo into them. Nasty.
Annoyances were the hard selling of photographs taken by one of the guides and having to pay inflated prices for drinks when bottled water was supposed to be included in the trip, but wasn't. Also being told by the same guide that we had to pay a tip. We would do this anyway but don't want to be told that we have to.
As I say, the experience would be a good one, but not with this company.
Good fun but…
Karen_A, 13-11-2022
We really enjoyed the experience. It was fun and you got very dirty but that’s part and of the experience.
However there’s no health and safety so you need to judge for yourself. The carts are well used and could with a bit of maintenance.
However there’s no health and safety so you need to judge for yourself. The carts are well used and could with a bit of maintenance.
