Cayo Levantado, responsible luxury in Samaná, the jewel of the Dominican Republic

When you look across the green tongue that is the Samaná peninsula, the perception of time dilates.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
06 May 2024 Monday 10:32
6 Reads
Cayo Levantado, responsible luxury in Samaná, the jewel of the Dominican Republic

When you look across the green tongue that is the Samaná peninsula, the perception of time dilates. A tropical color palette runs through this paradise with hardly any wounds or scars showing. An impression that lasts when you approach the dock, a group of people welcome you and you enter Cayo Levantado, or the future of the Dominican Republic in the form of an all-inclusive resort whose philosophy is nourished by three fundamental pillars: local culture, sustainability and well-being.

Yubarta knows it, the relaxation area where the natural version of an open-air cinema invites you to practice yoga under a house with a thatched roof, or the four paths of inner rhythm that guide you between healing ointments and holistic therapies. Do you need anything? your ambassador will ask you. Butterfly gardens, restaurants that recreate a Dominican market, an eternal beach, the spa as an extension of a jungle swollen with sounds. And you close your eyes. In Cayo Levantado, all the paths of harmony are integrated to induce you to tremendous peace.

The inbox overflowing with emails, the tired look in front of the mirror and the certainty of a life that seems sharp and frenetic. They say that the exterior always reflects our interior and, in your case, the call of the Caribbean invites you to revive the forgotten self among organic gardens, beaches with crystal-clear waters or a suite where every last detail recreates Dominican culture to adapt it to future narratives. .

Cayo Levantado Resort is an accommodation conceived around the inner rhythm to transport us to a dreamy place where every small great detail conspires to balance the senses and rediscover new ones. Popular for being the set of a Bacardi advertisement in the 90s in which a group of shipwrecked people savored a slug of rum in the middle of a virgin island, Cayo Levantado has today been transformed into a group of villas, suites and facilities that respect the legacy and nature has remained intact. Nothing changes, it just transforms.

Today, after receiving a warm welcome on the wooden pier, entering the hall means feeling in a new refuge where your ambassador becomes your link with the best comfort thanks to a rope and wood bracelet whose magnetic strip allows you to open your room and even make contactless payments in any service.

Meanwhile, the resort's beach promises afternoons at the beach bar and trendy massages. Your suite awaits you, you watch the palm trees play with the wind from your private pool and the organically charming interior design embraces you in the form of an unexpected oasis.

You feel something in your stomach as you cross between the butterfly gardens and orchards where the resort cultivates the future we dream of. There are innovative facilities in the gym, and the wellness area evokes a winding path between spas, solarium and Yubarta, oh Yubarta! The wellness concept of Cayo Levantado proposes its own micro-universe where the palapas encompass yoga sessions surrounded by the songs of tropical birds.

The liberation of the senses is nourished by holistic treatments but also flavors that make up an honest and diverse fine dining concept: Palma Real is a restaurant that represents a Dominican market with 9 pavilions - the anti-buffet -, under the fulfilled promise of enjoying of the best bites of local and international food thanks to the proposals of a chef who prepares your food to the minute.

The gastronomic recital continues in Senda, whose interior design represents a reverence to the ecosystems of the Dominican Republic and its gastronomy under a poem by the Dominican Pedro Mir as the common thread. Surrender to the slow food concept of Santa Yuca, among creative menus prepared by chefs and mixologists with products from the organic garden; the elegance that surrounds Carey and his modern gastronomy; or the meat cooked over a wood fire that evokes that primitive legacy at the Manaya grill.

All this, without forgetting the hopping bar: from the Olah beach club, with its infinity pool, to the signature cocktails at Coa, the lobby bar of Cayo Levantado; the La Placita terrace bar, inspired by the maritime character of the DR; Crab and a cocktail among the trees, or Savia, the fusion of bar and wellness where each juice complements your own path with tailored ingredients.

You feel it. The pace changes, the fast-paced life is an old friend that you left along the way. Here you get lost, nature had a plan and it surrounds you, it takes you back to the origin. And there, from the suite's pool, you discover that the exterior reflects the interior: the palm trees continue dancing in the breeze and a butterfly emerges, but you don't know if it comes from the garden, the butterfly garden or from your own interior.