Advertorials
Amanera Puts an 18-Hole Golf Course on the Cliffs Above One of the Caribbean's Best Surf Beaches
On the quieter, Atlantic-facing side of the Dominican Republic, Amanera pairs a Robert Trent Jones II golf course cut into cliffs and ravines with casitas overlooking Playa Grande, one of the north coast's most photographed beaches.
Sep 26, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Amanera sits above the Dominican Republic's Atlantic-facing north coast, near the small town of Río San Juan, on a stretch of coastline that has stayed markedly quieter than the all-inclusive resorts clustered around Punta Cana on the island's eastern tip. Since opening in 2015, the Aman property has built its identity less around a beach than around the cliffs and ravines it sits on, carved into an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II that runs along the coastline's edge.
A golf course built for the terrain, not against it
Rather than levelling the land, the course threads fairways along natural ridgelines and drops greens into ravines, with several holes running directly along the clifftop above the ocean. It has drawn attention within golf circles less for length than for how closely it follows the site's topography, a departure from the flatter, more manicured resort courses common elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Playa Grande, just below
The resort's casitas, built with the high, peaked roofs that nod to the traditional Dominican bohío hut, look down over Playa Grande, a stretch of sand regularly ranked among the country's best beaches. Its swell makes it more a surfers' and photographers' beach than a calm swimming one; the resort's own pools and a more sheltered cove nearby serve as the gentler alternative.
What else is on this stretch of coast
Cabarete, the Caribbean's best-known kitesurfing town, lies roughly an hour's drive west, and the smaller town of Cabrera, with inland waterfall pools of its own, sits just to the east. Puerto Plata's Gregorio Luperón International Airport is the nearest gateway, also about an hour away by road.
Traveller tips
- Gregorio Luperón International Airport in Puerto Plata is the nearest airport, roughly an hour's drive from Río San Juan.
- Playa Grande's surf can be strong; ask locally about conditions before swimming out past the shallows.
- Cabarete's kitesurfing schools and Cabrera's inland waterfalls both make reasonable half-day trips from this stretch of coast.
- Confirm current entry requirements for the Dominican Republic with official sources before booking, as tourist card and visa rules can change.
Where this is
Rio San Juan, Dominican Republic