Playa Cabarete
Overview
Cabarete is a curving bay on the Dominican Republic's north coast in Puerto Plata province, and it is the country's watersports capital by some distance. Steady afternoon trade winds and a reef that breaks the incoming swell have made it a world-renowned windsurfing and kitesurfing destination, and it has hosted international competitions for decades.
The town runs along a single road behind the beach, with restaurants and bars set directly on the sand and the schools and rental operations between them. It is compact, walkable and considerably more informal than the resort coasts of the east and south-east.
The bay has a rhythm to the day that visitors should understand before booking: mornings are usually calm and good for swimming, the wind builds through the afternoon, and by mid-afternoon the water belongs to the kites.
Our current condition score for this beach is .
Photo summary of last month
Each photograph is published unedited and in date order, and is replaced as newer submissions arrive, so what appears here is the most recent view of the beach rather than a promotional photograph.
Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt
Sargassum drifts west across the tropical Atlantic in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, and the eastern tip of Hispaniola is among the first land in its path. That is why the Punta Cana and Bávaro beaches on the east coast run heavier through the season than anywhere else in the country.
Cabarete is on the north coast, facing north into the Atlantic rather than east into the arriving belt. Material travelling west past Hispaniola tracks along the northern shore rather than square onto it, so this coast is on the flank of the route rather than at its face. Our readings for the north coast sit consistently between the exposed east and the sheltered south-east.
The bay's own structure matters as much. A reef across the mouth of the bay breaks the swell, which is what makes the sailing conditions here, and it intercepts floating material in the same motion. Rafts tend to accumulate against the reef line rather than washing evenly onto the sand.
The trade winds are the third factor and the one that distinguishes this beach from almost everywhere else we track. A strong, reliable onshore wind every afternoon both pushes material toward the shore and breaks it up, so what arrives here tends to come in fragments rather than in intact mats. That makes Cabarete's bad days look different from a Punta Cana bad day even at similar volumes.
The sargassum season
On the Dominican coast the season runs from roughly March or April into August or September, longer and earlier than the Mexican Caribbean because the island sits so close to the belt. The north coast feels it less sharply than the east, and Cabarete's wind means what does arrive is dispersed rather than banked.
We do not yet have a Dominican-specific season article; the reasons the belt has grown are set out in why sargassum is increasing.
Swimming conditions and safety
Mornings are the swim here: calm water, sand bottom, moderate shelf, with the reef holding the swell offshore. By early afternoon the wind is up and the bay fills with kites and boards, at which point swimming among them is neither pleasant nor sensible.
Kite lines are the specific hazard, and they are effectively invisible in the water. Stay inside the marked swimming zone, which the schools respect, and out of the launch corridors on the sand.
Lifeguard cover is limited and provided informally by the schools and beach businesses rather than by a public service. Playa Encuentro, a few kilometres west, is the surf break and is a different proposition again, with reef underfoot.
On sargassum: fresh weed in the water is harmless, if unpleasant to swim through. The sulphurous smell some visitors associate with it comes from material that has decomposed on hot sand for a day or more and is releasing hydrogen sulphide, so a strong smell indicates old weed rather than a fresh arrival.
Choosing a hotel on this stretch
Cabarete is small hotels, apartments and guesthouses rather than all-inclusive resorts, most of them within walking distance of the beach and the town's single main road. It suits independent travellers, and it is markedly cheaper than the east coast.
The choice is between the bay itself, which is central and noisy at night, Kite Beach a kilometre west, which is quieter and where the serious kiting happens, and the quieter stretches toward Encuentro. Anyone here to swim rather than sail should weigh the afternoon wind before booking on the bay.
For visitors comparing coasts, the north is the compromise between the exposed east and the sheltered south-east around Bayahíbe, with the added draw of the wind. Puerto Plata airport is close, which makes it easy to reach.
Access and getting there
Puerto Plata's Gregorio Luperón International Airport is around 20 to 25 minutes by road, which makes Cabarete one of the easiest beaches in the country to reach. Most visitors arrive by transfer or taxi.
Guaguas, the shared minibuses, run continuously along the coast road between Puerto Plata, Sosúa and Cabarete and are the cheap local option. Within the town everything is walkable.
We do not publish a car park for Cabarete, because there is no verified public lot. Parking is informal street space along the main road and private ground at the hotels and beach businesses, so it is best settled on the spot rather than taken from any page.
Check live conditions before you go
The north coast sits on the flank of the sargassum route rather than at its face, and Cabarete's afternoon wind breaks up what does arrive. On the live map we track it with dated photographs and a current condition score, so you can compare the north coast against Punta Cana and the sheltered south-east before deciding where to stay.
See live conditions, photos & cams →