My husband and I just got back last night from the Grand Bahia Principe El Portillo just outside of Samana, and Las Terranes. What an amazing spot, and a super hotel/resort. Great beach, and your kids can snorkel in 18" of water and see 7 - 10 different types of tropical fish on the reefs that are close to shoreline. There is plenty of safe swimming as well without reef rock. Food excellent, people as always in the Dominican, friendly, helpful and willing to please. The best ever check in was done on the bus on the way to the resort, so when we got there at noon, we could go directly to our already made up rooms, and head straight to the beach. There were plenty of families, and retired people and all ages in between. German, French, and Canadian for the most part. Would highly recommend going before this area get really built up like Puerto Plata, and Punta Cana.

Amazing ocean with nice clear waters... very cool and refreshing this time of year.

The restaurants, hotel grounds, and room where all very nice, clean! Great variety of cuisine from seafood, chinese, and international gourmet restaurants as well as a great buffet with delicious dominican food.

The drinks were very good not water down at all. Try the mojito and caipirinhas! highly recommended. They serve the
national beer Presidente which @ other cheap hotels don't.

Overall great hotel and service with one of the best beaches in the island for sure ... that is if you're looking for a calm ocean and serene relaxing vacation :)

Tip of the day:
If you're looking to be adventurous take a small plane from the private airport in front of the hotel and go and visit the capital's colonial zone. You'll just pay $75 each way and get there in 25 min!!!

We just spent a week at the El Portillo and we liked it overall. Just as some people already noted, this is definitely not a 5 star hotel.

The resort : Very clean, very spacious and well maintained enough. The cleaning staff definitely works harder than the waiting staff! We had a standard room in villa number 2, close to the beach and very quiet. Beautiful palm trees all over the beach and very well maintained luxurious gardens. It's good to know that you can ask the staff to climb and cut coconuts and prepare them for you. Of course, a dollar or two would be appreciated.

The food and beverages : OK, not wonderful. The A la carte restaurants were good in general, the buffet lacks variety in my taste but my boyfriend liked the food. I guess it really depends on your taste. Anyhow, this is not really a priority when you go on vacation, is it? Drinks were average, ask for more alcohol in them if you don't like sweet stuff... Red and white wines were better than some places we visited before, they don't give you headaches the day after, they were quite dry. Beer is good, draft is Presidente and in your mini-bar (included in your room), you get Brahma. Definitety a better choice over the drinks. Don't expect too much from the waiting staff though, they don't always seem to know what they are suppose to do. Lack of experience but hey, you're on vacation, and there is nothing to stress about so give them a break. Staff at the A la carte dining is really good and efficient compared to the one at the buffet.

THE BEACH now : definitely the best part of our trip. You can swim and dive right there and there is a lot to see. Tropical fishes to be seen and you don't have to go that far to see them. Remember to bring some bread with you, it's worth it. We recommend diving in front of the water sports club as the coral reefs over there is much more well preserved than the other side. If you don't like to swim and dive, you can take long walks as the beach goes on and go, one way or the other. You can even reach both pueblos, Las Terrenas and El Portillo, walking mostly on the beach. You'll sometimes have to get to the road to avoid getting wet but you can make it mostly by the beach.

Lastly, we would like to mention that it is very windy in Las Terrenas. Everyday, as of 2 PM, the wind starts to blow and it is not always fun to stay on the beach. It is good as long as you don't literally burn under the sun but for the swim and dive, it is not always feasable. With that in mind, you should have lots of fun at the Portillo.

This resort looks nice from the outside. But it is not a 5 star resort like they claim it to be – it is far from that. The rooms are terrible. They are not very clean and a lot of things are broken and simply do not get repaired. The food is OK, but most drinks are a joke. The beach is very small and very crowded. At least the staff is nice.

I was very much looking forward to leave this resort. My advice: Don’t go there.