Island day trip · Samaná
Cayo Levantado: the island from the Bacardí advert
The island's main beach, fifteen minutes by boat from Samaná town.
- The activity
- A small island in Samaná Bay, about 900 metres across and rising to 26 metres, nicknamed Bacardí Island after the rum commercial filmed under its leaning palms in the 1970s.
- Location
- Roughly five to seven kilometres offshore from Santa Bárbara de Samaná, on the northeast peninsula.
- Duration
- Half a day is plenty for the public beach; organised day passes typically run six to seven hours.
- Best time to arrive
- On the morning boat from Samaná. The public beach is quietest before the day trippers arrive and the crossing is calmest early.
- Admission cost
- Shared boats run roughly $15 to $25 return, and informal local yolas can be cheaper if you negotiate. Organised day passes including lunch and beach facilities run nearer $60 to $80.
- Getting there
- Boat only. Public boats and tour catamarans leave from the Samaná Malecón and the nearby Carenero pier, and the crossing takes 10 to 15 minutes across usually calm water.
- On the island
- A public beach with restaurants, chair rental and souvenir stalls, plus a separate five-star Bahia Principe resort occupying its own section. Bring pesos in cash, as card terminals are unreliable.
What to expect
The public area is small enough to walk in twenty minutes, and the beach is exactly the one from the advert: white sand, shallow turquoise water and palms leaning out over it. That is the whole proposition, and on a quiet morning it delivers completely.
The island is busiest in the middle of the day when the tour boats converge, and the public strip can feel crowded and commercial for a couple of hours before emptying again. The trip pairs naturally with whale watching between mid-January and late March, and many Samaná operators sell the two together.
The other common pairing is Los Haitises National Park, on the far shore of the same bay. Worth knowing before booking: the two are quite distinct. Cayo Levantado is a beach, while the park is a boat trip through mangrove channels and limestone caves, with no swimming and a considerably earlier start.
The honest takeaway
Very well liked as a short, cheap excursion, with the criticism concentrated on crowds and commercialisation at peak hours.
What visitors praise
- The beach lives up to the picture. Reviewers consistently say the leaning palms and shallow water are exactly as advertised.
- Cheap and quick. A 15-minute crossing and a fare in the low tens of dollars make it the easiest island trip in the country.
- Calm water. Sheltered inside Samaná Bay, so it suits families and weak swimmers.
- Combines with the whales. In season the same operators run both in one day.
What visitors find difficult
- Crowded at midday. The public beach takes several boatloads at once and can feel packed.
- Small. Twenty minutes covers the accessible area, so it is not a full day on its own.
- Vendor pressure. The stalls and touts on the public strip are persistent.
- Part of the island is private. The resort section is closed to day visitors, which surprises some arrivals.
Drawn from the recurring themes in public visitor reviews of the activity and the tours that reach it. We do not reproduce individual reviews or aggregate scores; for current ratings, check Viator or another booking platform directly.
Getting there
Boats leave from the Malecón and the Carenero pier at Santa Bárbara de Samaná through the morning, with the first departures around 9am. Buy at the dock for the cheapest crossing, or book a day pass in advance if you want lunch and facilities included.
From Las Terrenas allow around 45 minutes by road to Samaná town; from Punta Cana it is a long day and best taken as part of an organised excursion.
How to make the most of the day
- 1Go on the first boat. The beach before the tour catamarans arrive is a different place entirely.
- 2Take pesos in cash. Card payment on the island is unreliable and the vendors deal in cash.
- 3Buy the crossing at the dock if you only want the beach. The day passes are worth it only if you want the lunch and loungers.
- 4Pair it with whale watching in season. Mid-January to late March, the two together make one of the best days on the peninsula.
- 5Combine it with Los Haitises. The standard full-day tour does the mangroves and caves in the morning and lands on Cayo Levantado for lunch and the afternoon.
A little more background
Bacardí filmed a rum commercial on the island in the 1970s and the nickname has outlived the campaign by half a century. Long before that the cay served as a sheltered stop for fishermen, and shell middens across the islet show Taíno use of the same water.
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