Loved staying here. Short walk to the beach. Private, clean bungalows. Great service. Unbelievable breakfast! Beachy elegance. Annette was a wonderful hostess and I would not hesitate to stay here again.

The Iguana has it all: quiet, friendly owner and staff, good location and a great breakfast. . The owner, Annette, knows the entire Samana Peninsula very well and can arrange any type of tour , car rental, flights, etc you might need. The hotel is a little more than a five minute walk to the beach where you can find a nice bar and restaurant if you don't want to have a nice 20 minute walk along the beach road to a major cluster of seaside restaurants. You can even buy fish directly from the fishermen on the beach and cook it yourself on the hotel's grill.

In Feb, 2008 I returned to the Iguana Hotel for the second time. I am a lucky lady! Annette (the owner) is an exceptional lady and greeted us with open arms. My 3 girlfriends & I shared a 2 bedroom bungalo. My daughter and her husband joined us for the long weekend (they were living in Santo Domingo at the time--and the Iguana was their favorite retreat spot on the island, I don't know HOW MANY times they've gone to the Iguana).
The rooms are very tropical and neat with original Haitian art on the walls. Wooden shutters on the windows keep a nice air-flow going, and you close them at night if you want. When we arrived, beautiful red flowers were placed on our beds, on the nightstand and even in the shower, which was a beautiful blue tile. We had a delicious breakfast everyday of cooked eggs, the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted, fresh baked bread, and an illustrious assortment of fresh fruit. Annette was eager to please, and let us eat at whatever hour of the morning we desired.
It was only a short walk down the dirt road to the beach. We became very familiar with this road, and met some locals several times. They were all very friendly. We would usually have breakfast and head to the beach a few hours.
It was nice to just relax in the open breakfast area, play board games or cards. We returned to the beach several times a day. And the beach--was amazing! We went down the little dirt road, and took a left at the end, the beach wasn't as crowded there. as it is in front of the "all inclusive" hotels.
Whenever we needed advise, where to eat, or how to get somewhere, Annette was there to help us. She even arranged for our driver to come and get us at my daughters apartment in Santo Domingo, and then drive us back.
Did I say, the 4 of us, 3 of us "fifty something" and one 28 year old beautician (daughter of my friend) decided we just didnt want to leave, so even extended our stay!
Unfortunately, my daughter and her husband had to go back to Santo Domingo and their jobs.
I would definately recommend the Iguana to ANYONE who goes to the Dominican Republic. Los Terranas is a vibrant little community. I only hope that they will not spoil it with too many "all inclusive" hotels.

We loved the Hotel Iguana. From the moment we arrived to the moment we left we felt we were at our home away from home. Annette was so welcoming and kind. She let us "borrow" her dogs during the day and we took them with us to the beach, just a short walk from the hotel.

The free breakfast was out of this world, and my friends and I usually sat eating, talking, and drinking coffee for a few hours each morning.

The staff of the hotel was friendly and kind. One night my friend left her purse on our terrace, and the night staff put it away for safe keeping until we could get in in the morning. We found this to be very thoughtful, after we realized that it hadn't been stolen.

We would not recommend this hotel to young people looking to stay up late making a lot of noise. We're college kids, and we had to do our drinking by the beach so that we wouldn't disturb the other guests.

Lastly, I didn't observe Annette acting unkind towards her staff as another reviewer reported. This was not our experience at all.