My Husband and I just got back from our honeymoon at the Windsurf. The resort is beautiful! The beach is right across the street. The pool is warm and the waterfall and swim up bar are a nice touch. We stayed in a one bedroom unit, everything was very clean and nice. The housekeeping staff did a wonderful job. Everyone that works at the windsurf is really friendly and willing to help, Fernando and Dani are the best! We had a great time just hanging out by the pool and relaxing. The restaurant at the resort is amazing, we ate most of our meals here because the food was so good and at very reasonable prices... there were a couple drawbacks, the A/C in the room was not as cold as we are used to, but we did adjust as the week went on... and the bed was much firmer than we are used to, we ended up sleeping on the futon in the living room area, it was much more comfortable for us, and we didn't mind... it was cooler out there anyhow because that's where the a/c is...all in all we had a great honeymoon and the resort is really nice! I would recommend it to anyone!

Loved it! Clean, basic, very friendly resort. Fantastic staff, beautiful grounds, great location. Units themselves are very basic but spotlessly clean. We had a two bedroom, with two baths and full kitchen. The one bedroom could be "locked off" from the rest for more privacy, or left open to the rest if you had young kids in there. Furnishings were a bit dated and the sofa bed was not comfortable for our 16 year old son, but the staff quickly brought up a twin bed which fit in nicely and did not crowd the living room area. After that we were all comfortable.

The only negative was the trek across the street to the beach. It got a little interesting at rush hour and I would not have wanted to do it with young kids in tow. If you avoided rush hour, it was fine. The location was otherwise great--everything was in walking distance. Huge beautiful beach with wind surfing area, sailing area, kite boarding area and swimming areas. Walking distance to national park, grocery stores and the most incredible array of cheap, good, restuarants I have seen in one small area. What fun to eat right on the beach under palm trees with colored lights, while strolling musicians serenaded us! The people in this town and at the resort were ultra friendly and we never felt the least bit unsafe!

We can't wait to return!

My wife and I, with our teenage son and daughter and our daughter's friend from school, just got back from a week at the Windsurf Resort. We had a great time, and all of us would go back again in a heartbeat.

The resort facility is clean and pretty well maintained. We had two units (430/431), both of which were at least approximately air conditioned. We had to get some help from the maintenance staff to get the a/c working correctly in the big unit, but one visit from maintenance took care of it.

We ate dinner in the resort restaurant the first night because everyone was too tired to go exploring. The food was quite good, particularly the fresh fish, and it was not too expensive. Service can appear a bit slow to a Norteamericano, but that's the Caribbean. Relax.

The staff could not have been more pleasant. Of particular note were Silvia, Carlos, and Giselle at the front desk -- always smiling, helpful, etc., etc. Sandra is the on-site boss, and she can cut through most problems.

There were some minor communications glitches -- for example, it turns out you can buy 5 gallon jugs of bottled water in the on-site store for 35 pesos, but we didn't find that out until after we had bought smaller and more expensive jugs from Janet's supermarket, about 100 yards away across the street. Then there were supposed to be dispensers for the big jugs, but there were none, so we had to pour from the 5 gallon jug into pitchers. Problem solved. (You can use tap water to wash dishes, bathe, and brush your teeth, but they don't recommend drinking it.)

We didn't really participate in many resort activities -- we did go to the Castle Club, which was a good dinner but a little strange. We hired a local taxi driver (Rafael Mercedes) to take us to a couple of beaches one day, which worked out fine. That included lunch at a "real" Dominican restaurant, which was pretty good.

The big focus of our trip was for our son to learn to kiteboard, which he did, at Dare2Fly. He absolutely loved it. We also went on an evening trip that Dare2fly organized to a place called the Blue Moon. It's an Indian restaurant where you sit on cushions on the floor and eat off banana leaves with your right hand only -- pretty interesting for me and my son, who are both left-handed. Food was quite good, but it was really weird being out there in the jungle eating Indian food in the D.R.

Restaurants in town were quite good -- we went to La Casita (Camarones a la Papi -- must try), Cafe Ho-La-La (paella and fresh fish), Ocean Taste (also good), Il Pomodoro, and the Dick bakery (so named for its owner or founder, Rolf Dick). Really good pastries, breads, and breakfast at Dick's.

Most restaurants do not accept credit cards; Ocean Taste and Ho-La-La are the exceptions.

We were going to go to Restaurante Mercedes, but it was closed. It's supposed to be good, "real" Dominican food. If you go, take a taxi. It's not on the beach, and the neighborhood is interesting. There is another restaurant, Los Locos de l'Enfrente, on the same street. It looked very good, but I was a little hesitant to go there with the whole family, so we wound up making a second visit to Ho-La-La instead.

In spite of my comments above about the interesting neighborhood, I never felt threatened or hassled. Having said that, though, I don't think I would take two teenage girls into that neighborhood on foot after dark.

Bottom line -- Cabarete ain't fancy or luxurious, but it's pretty cool. Take lots of cash (see above re credit cards in restaurants, and ATM service is spotty), and relax to Caribbean speed.

We stayed at the sands last month. I must say that I just read the BAD review on this web site and I have to disagree.
We went to a tropical country and left North America behind.... I would go to Banff if I wanted a North American feel. This place was beautiful and peaceful. We met a few other couples and they loved it as well. We had a great time and would recommend it to anyone.
When we went the the Windsurf ("sister resort") the pool and restaurant were BOTH brand new and OPEN.
If you are looking for a peaceful hot vacation I would not have a problem with either resort... we WILL go back, and can't wait!