I stayed here for a week in early June during my trip to the Dominican Republic. It's just outside the center of town in Sosua and on a side street off the main road, making it extremely quiet. My first impression of the place was how quiet and secluded it felt. I checked in at the reception area and while walking to my apartment the place just seemed totally deserted. On of the staff members said that this time of year, there is only a few expats here who have long term leases and live here year round. The gardens were beautiful and the pool is absolutely huge and well maintained.

I was brought to an apartment on the third floor that was absolutely huge! I had booked for a studio apartment but this was much larger than that. there was a huge living room with high vaulted ceilings. there was a king size bed in the living room in addition to the living room furniture, etc. There was a small but functional kitchen with a gas range, microwave, sink, and small refrigerator. The cabinets were stocked with basic kitchenware and a few dishes. There was a bedroom which also had vaulted ceilings and another king size bed. The best feature of the apartment was a huge balcony that went the whole legnth of the living room with a view of the pool and grounds and , a little further in the distance, the ocean. The place could have used a little sprucing up. Some of the paint on the walls was peeling, and the furniture was kind of old and worn. Also, there was air conditioning only in the bedroom. I kept the sliding glass doors to the balcony open the whole week I was there and just had the fans in the rest of the apartment. It was June so it got pretty hot in the daytime, but at night it wasn't bad at all in the living room. The TV had over 80 channels and with a variety of channels from all over the world which was wonderful, (US, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Germany, UK) A maid came daily to change the towels, sweep and mop the floor, and straighten things out. She even washed the dishes I had left in the sink!

I stayed a full week (7 nights)in this place and the price was $259 all taxes included. At that price, I would say it's an excellent value. Certainly not a first class resort but a great value. If you stay 10 weeks or longer, the price really drops, like to a little more than $100 a week, but then they meter your electricity and gas and that's added then too. For just a 1 week stay everything is included in the rate.

Although the place is very quiet and secluded, being set back from the main road, it is an easy 10 minute walk to the center of Sosua. The complex is right next to a dairy farm, and then after that is a small supermarket, then another 5 minutes or so walk and your'e in the middle of Sosua. There's a huge supermarket on the main road there called Playero where I did all my shopping for the apartment. They have everything you could possibly need there. And once you're there you are in the center of Sosua. The beautiful beach is just steps away. I found Sosua to be a pretty nice town. Nice and quiet during the day, lots of great places to eat out. At night though the main part of town gets wild and the streets are overun by prostitutes and their pimps and I didn't really feel comfortable roaming around at night.

In August (Summer 2004)we went to the Paraiso de Colon. The weather was excellent. It rained one day.
The Hotel was very nice and quiet. The room was clean, the maid came daily. The pool was cleaned every morning at nine. Ramon (owner) very nice and accomodating. The rooms were clean no sign of insects, or ants. In addition some rooms are equipped with a refrigerator and stove. The supermarket is a two minute walk. Cabarete was very nice. The beach was clean, the only place I 've seen with actual shops on the beach... I travel frequently.
My only problem which was no ones control was the lights went out every four or five hours. Because it is another country at times if you travel you learn to adapt.

All and all we had a wonderful time.......

This is the most horrific trip we have ever been on. We have travelled in Europe in the tropics, Canada and the States and have never experienced anything like this!!The room that we reserved and booked was not even close to what we were initially shown. The bathtub was rusted, there were missing lightbulbs AND it was dirty. They showed us to another room that was even worse!! Neither of these two rooms included a kitchenette...which we paid for!!The third room was slightly better, still not clean though...so we waited 3 hours until it was cleaned (or enough that we could sleep there).Then we discovered ants in our room....when the staff came to look into it they discovered thousands of ants in the headboard....shall I continue...we left and found a much nicer, clean hotel. There is nothing positive to say except that hopefully no one else will be fooled with the great job they did with their website as the pictures look great.