Saona Island with Private Transfer and Personal Service

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

8 to 9 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Saona Island is one of the most popular destinations in the Dominican Republic. Avoid long bus rides with private ground transfers just for your group, including hotel pickup. Enjoy shared catamaran and speedboat rides to the island, a buffet lunch, and an open bar with rum drinks and beer. Benefit from a later pickup and earlier drop-off to maximize your time on the island.

Spend the day at Saona Island with private ground transfers including hotel pickup
Save time with a later pickup and earlier drop-off
Travel in comfort in an air-conditioned van
Shared boat transfers, lunch buffet, and open bar included

What's Included

Private transportation in comfortable van with a/conditioning (only the group booked on board)
Shared Catamaran and Speedboat ride to Saona Island (with other customers)
Lunch buffet style at Saona Island
Rum Drinks (OPEN BAR all day long) and beer at the island
Animation

photos
tips

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

Pick up available from any hotel in the Punta Cana area.. For people staying in private villas/apartments/condos or other accommodations we will arrange a pick up point close to their location.

Operating hours
.8:00 am

Itinerary

Punta Cana (Pass By)

Bayahibe

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Saona Island

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Saona Island

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Bávaro (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
Children must be accompanied by an adult. Minimum age is 3 years.
Due to the nature of the excursion (party boat style with large crowds) not recommended for families with babies.
Not recommended for travelers with back problems

Not recommended for pregnant travelers
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
Bring beach clothing, bathing suit, towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, camera, money for souvenirs and tips
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 100 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Brian_C

This was a spectacular tour. We cant say enough good about the tour and especially our personal guide Alexandra. If you have a chance to book this tour, ask for her. You will not be disappointed. We will be returning to Punta Cana in February. We will definitely do this tour again.

Reviews

3.9

based on 20 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Personal Awesome Experience

Brian_C, Sep 2025

Response from Host, Jan 2026

Hi Brian, we're happy to know that you enjoyed the trip to Saona Island and our staff made a good job! If you're coming back to Punta Cana soon, feel free to get in touch! best, Claudio

Terrible experience - not recommended

Jake_C, Mar 2022

Having read how much of a must see attraction Saona island is, it was a no brainer to book this tour. Unfortunately the entire day and overall experience was extremely disappointing. Firstly, I paid for private transportation to remove the usual hassle of driving to multiple hotels and to make the trip easier for my girlfriend and I. To begin with the transportation was apparently unable to gain access to our hotel which I find highly unusual considering we were staying in one of the most well known resorts in Punta Cana. However I can let that slide as it was only a 10 min walk to the entrance of our resort from the main reception area. Upon getting into the transportation and making our way to the port, the driver proceeded to stop 3 or 4 times to pick up other members of staff and it felt that I’d instead just paid for the staff bus rather than ‘private transportation’. Upon arriving to the port, very little instruction was given and we were just stood or sat around waiting for almost 2 hrs before finally the boat that was taking us to the island arrived. The journey to the island itself was fun and we enjoyed the provided drinks and overall atmosphere so kudos to those involved on the boat aspect for making that happen. Upon arriving to the island, considering the time is roughly 13:00, we are told to be back and meet at the beach for 15:00 to leave the island. Food was provided but not particularly appetising and there was little to do on the island aside from sit on sun loungers. I was under the impression considering the trip mentions a tour guide that we would be taken around the island somewhat but that was not the case. After spending some time relaxing in the sunshine, we made our way back to the main area for the return journey but watching all the other big groups leave, we were waiting for almost 2 hours again for the boat to come and collect us. Once on the boat, we were taken back via the natural swimming pool which is just a shallow section of water off a beach - nothing interesting. The drive back was quick and our driver was prompt - a relief after an extremely long day of disappointment after disappointment. Overall I was extremely disappointed with the pretty much every aspect of this trip. The page on viator mentions that the photographers are not associated with the tour but they hound you all day to take pictures and there was no ‘tour guide’ aspect of things at all. The timings and sitting around waiting but not knowing what is happening was also not great. The island itself is beautiful and so is the beach but the whole trip is extremely touristy - easily hundreds if not thousands of other people arrive to the island with other tour operators - hardly an enjoyable experience. The beach where our resort is located in Punta Cana looks 99% the same as Saona island. With almost 12 hrs away for what was 2 hrs of time on the beach, I find it very hard to recommend this. What should have been an enjoyable day out visiting a beautiful piece of the world was turned sour by poor management and planning. Overall - don’t waste your money with this trip and save it for something else.

Response from Host, Apr 2022

Hi Jack, thank you for sharing your feedback and I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it. For experience Saona Island is a tour that customers love or hate, can be "absolute fabulous" or "a big disappointment"... it all depends on the customer expectations I guess. Saona is the most popular tour in the whole country and tourists from any part of the country (not only Punta Cana) go to visit it every day. It's very crowded and March is one of the busiest months so I'm pretty sure that the many delays you talked about were due to the many people doing the tour the same day you did it. When there are large crowds operations usually don't go smoothly and unfortunately there are delays during the tour. I'll investigate better the part you talked about the driver picking up different members of staff because except the guide (which you said was not even in the tour) no other person should be allowed in the vehicle. take care, Claudio

Don’t book this trip

Lucas_R, Jan 2022

Our horror story is as follows, yet per Viator our trip went as planned (when I emailed them about a refund) : 0815: picked up late at the hotel, driver spoke no English except for the word “toilet” and when we said yes he just kept driving. The drive proceeded to also show us his phone where a poorly translated story about needing $60 USD so we can get a picture of his family’s farm land because tomorrow was Agriculture day. He did this twice and twice I stated no thank you. The drive was one of the most nerve racking things of my life. The driver would slam on breaks because we was texting and driving and almost hitting other cars or motorbikes. There were times he was rubbing people off the road and he would drive on the shoulder to get around things. 9:56: arrived at the areas where we were to get on a boat, we were dropped off and left standing there with no information on what to do or where to go for over 15 mins. 11:15: we finally boarded a boat to take us to a natural swimming pool, then the island 11:50 we get to the natural swimming pool where he are told to stay next to the boat and not go ashore because of licensing (fine, no huge deal the water was still pretty). When I asked about snorkeling they just said no. 12:50: we get to the island where we are told it’s time to eat so we ate food right away and then I asked about snorkeling again and was told no. The beach experience was really just us sitting and looking at a bunch of boats. The tour guide was the nicest and did what he could to help. 2:50: we get told it’s time to leave (around 2hrs on the island) 4:50: we get back to the mainland. We purchase our photos for $300 usd. Rip off for price but our tour guide was so nice we wanted to pay him anyways. 5:20: Our tour guide was finally about to get ahold of our driver who was 3 cars down from us but not answering his phone so we could not actually find him. We get loaded into the car with the same driver and fall asleep. 6:45: I wake up to the sound of our driver scream at people. We are in the middle of a town crowed with people. It was not the same way we drove in the morning. Again the drive kept showing me the poorly constructed and translated story about needed $$ and he will send us a picture of his family’s farmland. 2 more times I told him no and in which he flung his hands up angrily. 7:50 we finally get back to our hotel. Almost gone for 12hrs. Of those 12hrs that we were gone we only got to be on the Island for 2hrs but had to stand in line and eat because otherwise we would not get the chance again until we got back to our resort. So we really got about 1-1.5hrs of Island time. No snorkeling or activities. The trip was not as described and we actually feared that we were going to end up dead from our non-English speaking driver who would not stop for bathroom breaks and constantly asked us to give him money. This tour was not as described and was terrible! Our tour guide was the best part because we was nice and spoke English and helped us with what he could.

Response from Host, Jan 2022

Hi Lucas, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are sorry to hear you didn't like the tour. First of all I wat to clarify that in this tour there is no snorkeling activity, and no where in the description or in the inclusions there is written that you can snorkel. Saona is a tour to enjoy the beach (one of the most beautiful in the country), but there is not interesting underworld and marine life around, that's why in this tour is not offered. So the staff could answer only no when you asked for the snorkeling equipment, because we don't offer it. The stay at the island is normally 3 hours, 1 for lunch and 2 for relaxing and enjoying the beach. Every day is the same, so I doubt yesterday you spent only 2 hours. Yes, once there, the beach is the main attraction so having a bath or sitting on a bed chair is what you usually do...exactly as it's written in the tour description. The duration of the tour (9-10 hours usually) has been longer for you as your hotel was not located in Punta Cana, but in Uvero Alto, which is 45 minutes away from Punta Cana around, in the opposite direction of Saona Island... that means more time needed to reach Bayahibe and more time needed to get back to your hotel compared to any hotel in Punta Cana. Definitely for all the details you reported, the driver in charge yesterday didn't act professionaly and we will assume the consecuencies for his behavior. With that said, we can't agree with a full refund as you requested, as the tour took place regurarly with all the inclusions written on the tour page. We're sorry you didn't have a good time and the tour didn't meet your expectations. saludos, Claudio

They really care

Chris_B, Dec 2021

The amazing personal service was above expectations . I paid for a private taxi and got so much more

NEVER AGAIN!

Manny_M, May 2021

NOT WHAT WE PAID FOR! There was no small group.the speed boat was packed,not one seat available.Half the people were not wearing masks.The catermeran looked as you just pulled from a juckyard.Also the catermeran was full to probably more than capacity.

Response from Host, May 2021

Hello! Please reed again what you booked! You booked the Saona Island tour with private GROUND transportation.. means only the ground transportation is private while the rest of the tour is the regular Saona tour. We gave this option for small groups that prefer to have a PRIVATE transfer to the beach and back from Bayahibe to Punta Cana without passing to other hotels to pick up/drop off other customers. On the van there were only you, so we provided exactly what we are selling. From the review we're getting seems you are the only one who didn't read the itinerary. regards, Claudio

Private day trip

Tee_D, May 2021

Rico our pick up driver was excellent. Angelo our guide was fun and helpful We also enjoyed mama.and boat crew. Food was excellent.

Saona Island

Cindy_G, Aug 2018

Best choice was getting private transportation and our driver was great. This place has the most beautiful water I have ever seen. It was worth the long boat ride there.