IFA Villas Bavaro Resort & Spa Punta Cana

This resort is a good place to stay for a first-time visit to the Dominican Republic. It's right on Bavaro beach, all the amenities (i.e: food, room, entertainment, etc) are pretty average. The staff is very friendly, but can be pretty slow to address maintenance issues. On my return to the DR, I would stay somewhere nicer, but for my first trip there I enjoyed the stay.

I just got back from staying 4 nights at the IFA Bavaro Villas for the Fourth. My friends arrived 2 days earlier, so I was the addition to the room. I was happy to find out that it was only $60 USD per night, instead of the $70 I was quoted for prior to the trip. The employees working the front desk were unhappy though, that I had bypassed security for half the day and had alreay parked my luggage in the room.

You really get what you pay for.

Location: The hotel is right next to the beach. It's actually not a far walk, I was surprised to hear that they actually have shuttles to the beach, when it is really just behind the hotel.

Food: We mainly ate at the buffet place (for breakfast, lunch, sometimes dinner). The food has a large variety, but there are a few flies here and there (bc it is an open area). While eating, there are also sometimes little chickens that venture in, but they aren't bothersome. The best things are the fresh fruit (usually watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, passionfruit, papaya) and oatmeal (seasoned with cinnamon?). I am a vegetarian, so I didnt' eat meat there, but it did look quite good.

There are 3 restaurants that you have to make reservations for and are only available for dinner. There is Caribe (I didn't go to that one, but I heard it was mostly meat, so I'm not too disappointed), Bambu (what they call "Japanese") and a Mexican restaurant. I was surprised to discover the "japanese" restaurant to be a lot better than the "mexican" restaurant! The Mexican place was a buffet and it was pretty awful.

Near the pool is a pizza/snack bar with fries, chicken nuggets, and pizza. We frequented this too often.

On the beach, there is a place where they have the nightly discotheque and during the day, another snack place with burgers, fries, and pasta.

Room: We had a wonderful view of the pond with ducks. It was quite beautiful. There was air-conditioning and the decor was pretty nice. I liked the sink especially. Only, our cleaning maid came at really odd hours, and refused to come back later. She was always mad, so for 3 days, we ended up not having our room cleaned (which turned it into a disgusting den of grossness) and only had our TP, water, and towels replenished.

Service: The people were really nice there usually. Only the maids seemed really angry everyday. The watersports people on the beach were really nice and we became friends with them (or should I say, my friend became really close with them).

So, all in all, the food was average, the room was nice, beach was beautiful, and the service really varied. I'm quite satisfied because I only paid $60 per night. So don't go to IFA expecting a whole lot, then it will surpass your expectations!