El Salto del Limon, Samana Province: Address, El Salto del Limon Reviews: 4/5
El Salto del Limon
El Salto del Limon
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4.0
1,178 reviews
Excellent
596
Very good
341
Average
134
Poor
42
Terrible
65
Michael G
2 contributions
Dec 2021
Harassed by staff for additional money, separated from my other party members and strongly told to hand over more money. Made me regret coming to this country.
Written 19 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Janet W
93 contributions
Jan 2022
I think the thing to point out is that there are several ways into the falls, and each appears to have their own horses. We were given beautiful horses, not neglected at all, and my guide/companion obviously cared for them too. When we stopped in the river for photos, he was splashing water onto my horse’s back to cool him down. I certainly would never have ridden on an abused animal.
We visited after heavy rains, and if we hadn’t ridden, we would have had to wade through waist high water. The mud was deep too. I had never been on a horse before, but managed perfectly well, and my guide, Dowery, was very attentive. But bear in mind that no riding helmets were provided, and that you’re probably not insured for horse riding. This only occurred to me some way along the long trek.
The guides are indeed unpaid, so during lockdown must have really suffered. They were expecting more than thirty dollars each, especially as tourist are still in short supply, so this starts making the excursion expensive.
The falls are worth it, but bear in mind there’s still a steep rocky walk after you get off the horse.
You can buy drinks and snacks at a little cafe at the top of the falls.
One way to avoid all the hassle of tipping etc etc, is to book through SANTI EXCURSIONS, limonsanti@gmail.com, +18293429976. I believe that their prices include everything, and lunch if you wish. They were recommended by our hotel, but for complicated reasons, we didn’t end up using them.
We visited after heavy rains, and if we hadn’t ridden, we would have had to wade through waist high water. The mud was deep too. I had never been on a horse before, but managed perfectly well, and my guide, Dowery, was very attentive. But bear in mind that no riding helmets were provided, and that you’re probably not insured for horse riding. This only occurred to me some way along the long trek.
The guides are indeed unpaid, so during lockdown must have really suffered. They were expecting more than thirty dollars each, especially as tourist are still in short supply, so this starts making the excursion expensive.
The falls are worth it, but bear in mind there’s still a steep rocky walk after you get off the horse.
You can buy drinks and snacks at a little cafe at the top of the falls.
One way to avoid all the hassle of tipping etc etc, is to book through SANTI EXCURSIONS, limonsanti@gmail.com, +18293429976. I believe that their prices include everything, and lunch if you wish. They were recommended by our hotel, but for complicated reasons, we didn’t end up using them.
Written 4 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
misspenguin22
Edmonton, Canada4 contributions
Feb 2022 • Friends
Please don't take a horse to the falls, they are clearly neglected. I've never seen horses with their hip bones protruding like that, I felt so bad that I didn't look at reviews before and that I contributed to the problem. When I went to get on the horse it was clear that it was afraid to go and kept trying to avoid the stairs where riders get on the horse. Instead of coercing the horse with compassion, they hit it hard on the face and yelled at the horse.
The path wasn't safe with so many uneven boulders and mud hiding dangerous spots, the horses were constantly slipping. When the horses wanted to slow down to find their footing in the worst spots, the guides would force the horses to go faster. The guides were pulling on the horses tails the whole time quite hard to help themselves get up all the hills. Even the spot where the horses are kept while you go to the waterfall had no flat spots to stand on, it was all uneven boulders with no water or feed for them. The saddles are also poor quality with the straps done up too tight to keep them on.
It ruined the whole thing and I couldn't help but cry when I saw all the horses at the top and the condition that at least 80% of them were in. I also think it's terrible that they don't pay the guides and that they only work for tips.
The path wasn't safe with so many uneven boulders and mud hiding dangerous spots, the horses were constantly slipping. When the horses wanted to slow down to find their footing in the worst spots, the guides would force the horses to go faster. The guides were pulling on the horses tails the whole time quite hard to help themselves get up all the hills. Even the spot where the horses are kept while you go to the waterfall had no flat spots to stand on, it was all uneven boulders with no water or feed for them. The saddles are also poor quality with the straps done up too tight to keep them on.
It ruined the whole thing and I couldn't help but cry when I saw all the horses at the top and the condition that at least 80% of them were in. I also think it's terrible that they don't pay the guides and that they only work for tips.
Written 22 February 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Rita A
St. Albert, Canada50 contributions
Feb 2022
Please don't take the horses or mules to the Waterfalls. They are very neglected and roughly handled. The trail is very rocky and is always in bad condition for these poor animals. It is very dangerous for you and it's hard for the animals to navigate.
Written 22 February 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Sean Trombley
Cleveland, OH3 contributions
Jan 2022
It was quite the trip to make it to this 131 ft tall waterfall but the view once there was incredible. The horseback ride was great, but the horse guides sure do beg for more and more tips
Written 6 February 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Michael B
La Jolla6 contributions
Jan 2022 • Couples
Do NOT take the horses/mules to the falls. The trail is very dangerous. Muddy, rocky, unstable. The attendants are unpaid “volunteers” who work for tips. My handler was no where to be found when my ride, a mule, bolted. I fell off the ride, got a concussion, and 5 stitches in my hand. ( I had excellent medical care.).
The excursions are fun, but NOT on horses
The excursions are fun, but NOT on horses
Written 29 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
MichaelBNielsen
Odense, Denmark345 contributions
Jan 2022
I took a local bus from Las Terrenas to Limón - 65 DOP and a scooter the rest of the way 50 DOP. The way to the falls are very challenging and it is recommended to hire a horse. The price for a horse is about 1.000 DOP and you have to tip the assistant on top of that. At the moment they are not many tourists so they don’t work everyday, therefore I paid him 1.500 DOP for his efforts. But it is a very nice ride, very hilly and passing rivers and steep muddy paths. The horses are calm but still you just hope they don’t slides on the slippery path. After 30 minutes ride you have to walk down to the falls on some steep steps, so you need to be in a good shape to take this tour. The falls are quite nice, and you can swim in the quite cold water. But I find that the tour to the falls are the most exciting.
Written 28 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Erin M
Wilmington, NC7 contributions
Jan 2022 • Friends
This place is beautiful And worth the trip… IF YOU ARE GOING TO WALK… it was very sad and distrurbimg to see clearly famished tiny horses carry and slip on rocks with overweight tourists 2 miles up a rocky slippery slope. They are not given food or water and grunt as they walked passed us. The hike was fun by foot and the waterfall was beautiful, no need to abuse animals on the way :)
Written 25 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Greta V
Orlando, FL4 contributions
Jan 2022 • Couples
The horses are treated badly, there cannot be any joy in riding those poor animals who are clearly not treated well or cared for at all. The hike is super muddy and honestly nothing about it was fun, me and my boyfriend decided to walk because we couldn’t bear the idea of making the horses suffer even more. Every horse also has a guide who makes the horses move with sticks they found on the ground, because they clearly do not want to walk anymore after probably carrying 20 tourists a day back and forth. The waterfall is mediocre, not worth the money and not worth the pain for the animals. Please don’t do this
Written 21 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Ann2412
Sydney, Australia95 contributions
Jan 2022
This was a very easy day trip from las Terranas. We left our hotel around 9:30 and were back by 2:30. You could do it in reverse from Samaná or el Limón town.
Grab a guagua in the direction of el Limón/Samaná from opposite the Cemeterio in Las Terranas (we paid 50 pesos each) Apparently guaguas run every 15mins from 7am - 7pm - I Cannot verify this but I can say we didn’t wait more than 5 mins for a guagua in either direction.
There are at least 3 trails to the waterfall starting from different points of the main road that we learned of. There are likely many more, these are just the ones we know of. Only one is marked on Google maps (henceforth I will refer to that trail as the ‘marked trail’).
I believe the reason why there are conflicting reports of the health of the horses is because the horses are different, depending on where you start the hike.
Don’t believe the reports that you must have a guide - it is completely unnecessary. The trails we saw were very clear, you literally couldn’t lose the trail unless you tried. In fact, the whole experience for us was much better without a guide since we could go at our own pace, and we could go in one way and out on a different trail.
We got on the guagua intending to start the hike at Rancho Español (marked on Google maps), where we could see the start of a trail on Google maps. But after the guagua passed through el Limón town, the driver asked where we were heading and we told him ‘Salto el Limón’. (‘Salto’ is Dominican Spanish for waterfall, but most people also understand ‘cascada’). To our surprise, he dropped us on a point directly west of the waterfall. On Google maps, I think it was ‘rancho Limón adventure’. There is a clearly marked entrance, guides, horses and bathrooms. The horses here looked pretty healthy. The guides told us we should take a horse because it is very muddy and slippery, they had rain boots to rent also. Maybe a good option if you are wearing flip flops (which I think won’t work in the sticky mud) or nice shoes you don’t want to get dirty. I went in doc martens and I was perfectly fine, it was a little muddying slippery in some parts but I just went slowly. The mud was not deep, but it does stick to your shoes. (We hiked in early Jan, dry season. Maybe it would have been much muddier in wet seasons?)
After a 15min hike heading east, our trail connected with the marked trail. We saw big tour groups coming down this trail, their horses looked a lot skinnier! So I assume the horses you pick up at rancho Español are worse condition :(
Maybe another 30mins of not very interesting hiking along the marked trail and we arrived at the main waterfall. It was crazy busy like a theme park. If you go a little further, there is a second waterfall. Smaller, less busy, with cleaner water. I recommend if you want to swim, to swim here if the main waterfall is busy.
After the second waterfall, there is a set of stairs leading to a different trail. Feeling adventurous, we took this trail a little while to see where it would lead (there were tourists and horses coming from this trail so we knew it would lead to a trail head eventually…) it was a good choice because this was better than the trail we came in on. It was drier, barely any mud, and went over the mountains where you got some wonderful views. It goes to Bar Cascada Limón where we had a little picnic, then continues North and pops out at Limón Waterfall Experiance (on Google Maps). Follow that little road north until it meets the main road at Paraje el Cafe and catch the guagua back to Terranas. It was the same driver we got back to town, he shouted us some bananas he got from a fruit vendor ;)
Having travelled independently all over Dominican Republic (which is not well set up for independent travellers) we were prepared for a challenge. But it turns out, this was dead easy - the easiest self guided day trip we did in the country. Highly recommend!
Grab a guagua in the direction of el Limón/Samaná from opposite the Cemeterio in Las Terranas (we paid 50 pesos each) Apparently guaguas run every 15mins from 7am - 7pm - I Cannot verify this but I can say we didn’t wait more than 5 mins for a guagua in either direction.
There are at least 3 trails to the waterfall starting from different points of the main road that we learned of. There are likely many more, these are just the ones we know of. Only one is marked on Google maps (henceforth I will refer to that trail as the ‘marked trail’).
I believe the reason why there are conflicting reports of the health of the horses is because the horses are different, depending on where you start the hike.
Don’t believe the reports that you must have a guide - it is completely unnecessary. The trails we saw were very clear, you literally couldn’t lose the trail unless you tried. In fact, the whole experience for us was much better without a guide since we could go at our own pace, and we could go in one way and out on a different trail.
We got on the guagua intending to start the hike at Rancho Español (marked on Google maps), where we could see the start of a trail on Google maps. But after the guagua passed through el Limón town, the driver asked where we were heading and we told him ‘Salto el Limón’. (‘Salto’ is Dominican Spanish for waterfall, but most people also understand ‘cascada’). To our surprise, he dropped us on a point directly west of the waterfall. On Google maps, I think it was ‘rancho Limón adventure’. There is a clearly marked entrance, guides, horses and bathrooms. The horses here looked pretty healthy. The guides told us we should take a horse because it is very muddy and slippery, they had rain boots to rent also. Maybe a good option if you are wearing flip flops (which I think won’t work in the sticky mud) or nice shoes you don’t want to get dirty. I went in doc martens and I was perfectly fine, it was a little muddying slippery in some parts but I just went slowly. The mud was not deep, but it does stick to your shoes. (We hiked in early Jan, dry season. Maybe it would have been much muddier in wet seasons?)
After a 15min hike heading east, our trail connected with the marked trail. We saw big tour groups coming down this trail, their horses looked a lot skinnier! So I assume the horses you pick up at rancho Español are worse condition :(
Maybe another 30mins of not very interesting hiking along the marked trail and we arrived at the main waterfall. It was crazy busy like a theme park. If you go a little further, there is a second waterfall. Smaller, less busy, with cleaner water. I recommend if you want to swim, to swim here if the main waterfall is busy.
After the second waterfall, there is a set of stairs leading to a different trail. Feeling adventurous, we took this trail a little while to see where it would lead (there were tourists and horses coming from this trail so we knew it would lead to a trail head eventually…) it was a good choice because this was better than the trail we came in on. It was drier, barely any mud, and went over the mountains where you got some wonderful views. It goes to Bar Cascada Limón where we had a little picnic, then continues North and pops out at Limón Waterfall Experiance (on Google Maps). Follow that little road north until it meets the main road at Paraje el Cafe and catch the guagua back to Terranas. It was the same driver we got back to town, he shouted us some bananas he got from a fruit vendor ;)
Having travelled independently all over Dominican Republic (which is not well set up for independent travellers) we were prepared for a challenge. But it turns out, this was dead easy - the easiest self guided day trip we did in the country. Highly recommend!
Written 10 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Michelle G
26 contributions
Hello, I will be staying in Las Terrenas. I see we can rent ATVs/four wheelers ( i am not comfortable driving a motorbike), am I able to drive an ATV from Las Terrenas to the waterfalls to then hike?
Nayrasulata_2011
Cordoba, Argentina25 contributions
Hola José .Iremos en febrero a Samaná y estoy organizando el viaje al Salto del Lión. Quiero saber si se puede hacer sin contratar la excursión . O si o si hay que hacerlo con excursiones pagas. Y si es asi cuál recomendarías? Gracias
Zazzi19
Brescia, Italy1,209 contributions
Ciao. Puoi fare tutto da sola se hai un mezzo di trasporto disponibile ( auto o moto ) . Puoi prenotare in hotel od in agenzia l'escursione perchè c'è una unica organizzazione che gestisce tutto e non serve cercare altro. Buone vacanze.
verca1234567
Brno, Czech Republic1 contribution
Dobrý den,
jak se dá dostat k vodopáadu (autobus/moped) bez cestovní agentury a jaké jsou ceny?
Děkuji
Zazzi19
Brescia, Italy1,209 contributions
Ciao.
Puoi arrivare con auto o moto. La visita alla cascata e gratis ed arrivi con 800 metri di sentiero. Se vuoi cavallo e guida costa circa 20 euro.
gsobera
Santander, Spain4 contributions
¿Donde se puede contratar el tour y cual seria el precio para enero del 2019? gracias y saludos. Gema
mrebmulp
26 contributions
hi can anyone suggest if a prepurchase day trip el limon is available? or would it be better to purchase when we arrive in samana?
can anyone suggest who we can purchase from?
thanks Ash
Zazzi19
Brescia, Italy1,209 contributions
Ciao, da Samana ci sono escursioni giornaliere, ( salvo cattivo tempo ) che si possono prenotare nel tuo hotel o presso le agenzie dei Tour Operator.
Tutti i " day-trip" sono quasi uguali : cerca il prezzo migliore.
Buon viaggio.
monkdora70
San Pietro in Casale, Italy22 contributions
Ciao ma posso entrare senza guida a piedi. Si paga un ingresso?? O è obbligatorio pagare passeggiata a cavallo con guida. Eventualmente a che ora si organizza la visita? Grazie a tutti
Zazzi19
Brescia, Italy1,209 contributions
Se hai la possibilità di arrivare al piazzale di arrivo con un auto o altro puoi proseguire a piedi senza obblighi ,ma il sentiero di discesa è terribile e l'ultimo tratto sono gradini che in salita tolgono il fiato. Puoi fare il bagno sotto la cascata e nel lago inferiore senza dover pagare nulla. Portati un paio di scarpe di ricambio perché quelle indosso saranno piene di fango.
Se scegli un escursione a pagamento si arriva verso le 12 ed il pranzo è compreso. La discesa alla cascata dura 30 minuti circa.
hertsBabs
Hertfordshire, UK57 contributions
My question is whats the health of these poor horses , some of them look so under nourished ? Not to mention the weight of some of these people on what seems to be a very small horse for the size it's carrying. This is a very sad sight indeed.
Mathieu D
9 contributions
The horses was healthy or my wife would’nt have done the tour.
Ann Hug
The Netherlands96 contributions
Hello there,
In which period is there enough water coming from the waterfall/mountain? When is dry season?
Frequently Asked Questions about El Salto del Limon
- We recommend booking El Salto del Limon tours ahead of time to secure your spot. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel up to 24 hours before your tour starts for a full refund. See all 25 El Salto del Limon tours on Tripadvisor
- According to Tripadvisor travellers, these are the best ways to experience El Salto del Limon:
- El Limon Waterfall and Bacardi Island Tour from Punta Cana (From ₹ 12,912.59)
- Private Hiking to Salto el Limon with a Local expert Guide from Samana (From ₹ 5,093.98)
- El Limón Waterfalls plus Las Terrenas with lunch on the beach (From ₹ 6,265.28)
- Full Day Samana Whales from Punta Cana with Waterfall, Bacardi Island & Lunch (From ₹ 12,912.59)
- Samana: Cayo levantado ( Bacardi Island) & El Limon Waterfalls from Punta Cana (From ₹ 10,314.79)
- Hotels near El Salto del Limon:
- (0.71 km) Santi Rancho
- (0.79 km) La Canada El Limon
- (5.94 km) Casa de Gilles
- (0.91 km) De Luz Hotel
- (10.91 km) Dominican Tree House Village
- Restaurants near El Salto del Limon:
- (0.86 km) Santi Ranch
- (12.04 km) Empanadas y Mas
- (11.23 km) L' Industrie Pizzeria LT
- (11.40 km) El Dieciocho Las Terrenas
- (11.05 km) El Lugar