HEADLINE: DO AS MUCH OR AS LITTLE AS YOU’D LIKE / OVERALL RATING: 🍷🍷🍷🍷.7  (4.7 OUT OF 5)

SUMMARY:

A completely different experience than what you would imagine when visiting a tropical island, Rancho Baiguate is located in Jarabacoa, “The City of Everlasting Spring” as some have baptized it. Unlike the heat in many parts of the island, the temperature here is delightful and sometimes cool due to Jarabacoa’s high elevation; it is one of my favorite reasons to visit. Rancho Baiguate is an all around great place to check out. Here, relaxation is king… so is adventure. Wait? Which is it? Relaxation or adventure? Well, both. At Rancho Baiguate you can do as much or as {very} little as you’d like with both options being super accessible.

PRICE:

The price depends on season and room choice and is calculated per person. The 4 of us (+pups) had a deluxe room from Friday-Sunday and paid $260. Kids  0-6 are FREE so that room rate was just calculated for Husband and I. The price included 3 meals a day (and unlimited coffee!). Not worrying about meals was worth it alone if you ask me. Drinks at the bar and excursions are extra costs.

PET FRIENDLY:

Yes! Yes! Yes! And I could argue there is no better place to bring your pet. With sprawling green space, the dogs have free range. However, I will warn you, Olive has been known to get into some shit. No, literally, she has twice gotten into shit at Rancho Baiguate so I keep an eagle eye on her when we’re there.

 

 ABOUT GROUNDS: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 OUT OF 5)

Rancho Baiguate had 27 rooms: 8 small rooms with two twin beds, 8 deluxe rooms with two queen beds and 10 master rooms with two queen beds and balcony. It is a sprawling landscape of green space which makes it ideal if you are looking to get away from city life. Passed the Indiana Jones bridge is the refreshing pool surrounded by mountains. Beyond that is the kids’ rope course, complete with zip line that the kids can do for free. You know what else you can do for free? Take a short horseback ride. Or take a longer stroll for less than $25USD. Enjoy a game of ping pong or pool. Sign up for the adult ropes course. Sit on a rocking chair and enjoy a cup of coffee. Pull up a bar stool and order a chinola juice and rum. Hang outside of your room and hammock your day away, or as I like to call it extreme hammocking. And that’s just on-site. For the extras that RB offers, skip down to location.

 

LAYOUT: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 OUT OF 5)

When we were going to Rancho Baiguate for the first time, someone told us it was “rustic.” Rustic made me nervous; I’m not much of the camping type, not at all a friend to creepy crawlies, and I was prego-laaaarge. So when I tell you that I absolutely, 100% love Rancho Baiguate and that visiting there is deeply relaxing – rustic or not – you know I’m not messing with you. If you are looking for a fancy mountain experience by way of Robin Leach this is not it, but if you are looking for a mountain retreat to unwind and/or have fun in nature you’ve found it. There is no air-conditioning though I’ve never needed it – even when I was 7.5 months pregnant. The bathrooms have been redone and the rooms are clean and comfortable.

During this past stay we asked for the room closest to the restaurant so that when we put our kids to sleep we had the option to hang out in the evenings. Our room’s view was an open field of grass with a beautiful mountain view. Every morning our kids would wake up, open the door and run in that field like it was their personal playground.

LOCATION: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷  (5 OUT OF 5)

Like I said, if you came to do nothing but relax, you’ve found the right place. The drive up is scenic with a handful of restaurants boasting incredible views. According to one reader, Aroma de la Montaña has the most beautiful view in all of DR so I’ll make sure to check it out the next time we go…and there will be a next time. However, if you came for adventure, you’ve also found the right place and here’s why. Rancho Baiguate is the starting point for all kinds of adventure fun: river rafting, trekking, canyoning, horseback riding, mountain biking, waterfall excursions, and most recently added paraponting (they call it paragliding). All you have to do is tell the reception desk and pay and they take care of everything else. Everything.

Rancho Baiguate is also right in the town of Jarabacoa, though walking would not be advised. I can’t tell you I’ve done any exploring there but I’ve heard nice things. The truth of it is when I go to Jarabacoa, I partake in the extreme sport of hammocking and coffee drinking while reading an O Magazine. And I’m good at it. Why mess with a good thing?

SERVICE: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 OUT OF 5) 

Beautiful. Fabulous. Wonderful. All of it. Every single person that I came into contact with was beautiful, fabulous, and wonderful. The kitchen staff was exceptional. On one particular day I saw a table enjoying avocado so I asked in the back if they had avocados and that I would pay extra (since meals are buffet style). She informed me that that table had brought it themselves but found me an extra few slices and told me she’d bring me one the next day. Another lady in the kitchen staff fell in love with my dogs. Everyday she would find Olive and give her pets upon pets upon pets. Olive was in puppy love with her. The landscapers smiled at me everyday and warmly wished me a good day. Housekeeping gave us extra sheets to dress our sons’ crib and our daughter’s blow up mattress. The bartender stored my creamer in his fridge and did not mess around with my gin and tonic.

Like I mentioned before, meals are included with your stay and I have no complaints in terms of yum factor. One friend mentioned that “these are [her] favorite red beans and rice on the island.” She’s lived here for over 10 years. Every meal was different and with the buffet offering plenty of choice for everyone (including our vegetarian friends) I have no complaints besides wanting more.

Buffet Restaurant Hours:
Breakfast: 8:00am – 10:30am
Lunch: 12:00 noon – 3:00pm
Dinner: 7:00pm – 9:30pm

 

Bar Hours:
Daily: 8:00am – 10:00pm

 

RESPONSE TIME: 🍷🍷🍷.5 (3.5 OUT OF 5)

Most of the trips we’ve taken have been arranged through Husband’s school so I’ve never had to deal with booking at Rancho Baiguate personally. I did send them an email inquiring about rates an hour ago so I’ll let you know how long it takes to respond. (Update 11/10: Four days later, I have still yet to get a response. It might be a glitch so I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt and rating them 2.5🍷. I will email them again and report back/change the rating accordingly.) I should add that they have a U.S. number available (as well as a DR number) on their site’s contact page that might make contact easier.

(Update 11/11: They apologized for not responding and said the email was sent to a different email. I had, in fact, sent the email through the online reservation page and used the contact page email today. For the inconvenience they gave me a 15% coupon to use on our next stay. ME LIKEY.)

OVERALL RATING:🍷🍷🍷🍷.7 (4.7 OUT OF 5… BUT)

My mission statement about reviews is clear: I wouldn’t write it if it weren’t true. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, and I definitely wouldn’t continue to go back if I wasn’t totally satisfied. So it should speak volumes that we have visited Rancho Baiguate on several occasions.

I’ll repeat again, if you are looking for luxury travel with all the bells and whistles, look elsewhere. However, know for certain that this is far from some bleak, outdoorsy, camping experience. One of our friends referred to it as “glamping” (where glamorous meets camping) which is closer to the truth. If you’re looking for something to do, out of the typical island vacation, this is worth checking out. You would never imagine something like this exists in the Dominican Republic.

Unfortunately, the response time hurt their rating but you’ll notice that everything else received 5🍷so in my opinion it is a fabulous place to visit.

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To find out more about Rancho Baiguate or to book a stay, check out their website or contact page which also includes a U.S. number.

 

~ UNTIL THE NEXT BOTTLE ~

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I’d love to hear your thoughts & opinions if you’ve stayed at Rancho Baiguate!