Published on Jul, 2024
Best Experience for Excursion in Punta Cana! First, Angela was awesome to communicate with through whatsapp and answered all my questions thoroughly. After a $50 deposit was paid, I received all of the transaction and trip instructions quickly. We were picked up promptly at 7:10am from our resort by Charlie, the owner of the company. The van was nice and clean, plus Charlie talked about his German to DR perspective giving insights into the places we were traveling through. He was funny and informational. When we arrived, we went through a quick briefing on the buggies and safety. It was funny and informal and we loved their personalities and passion shining through as they talked about having a great excursion. Then, we got fitted for goggles and for a buggy that fits the driver's stature, and you can purchase a face/head mask if you want one and don't have one for $5. Their buggies are real VW engines, not small side by sides or a lawn mower engine and yes, you do need to know how to drive a manual transmission to be able to operate one. Charlie and Marianne described the way they would give us hand signals on our tour and how to get in and out of the buggies. We loaded up and headed out. We went down dirt roads, dusty roads, muddy roads, paved roads, through a farm, and stopped first at a lady's house in the country to see her garden and to try Dominican coffee and chocolate. We got muddy on some of the trails and loved it. Wear old clothes, swim trunks and old shoes if you have them with you. After that, we rode the countryside, drove past an old rock quarry, and went through some more rural trails until we stopped next in the middle of a Dominican farm. Next, we rode through some more paved roads into a little town and stopped at a corner store for a snack of coca-cola, ham and cheese. Then, we rode through town and stopped at public Macao Beach. It was beautiful and full of people. After putting our toes in the water and washing off some, we hung out and then met back up at the buggies. Our last trek was through town, down a highway at a decent speed and back to the buggy shop. Our half day tour lasted from about 8:15am until about 12:30pm, and we were back at out resort by 1pm. Marianne (spelling?) was our tour guide and was just fun to be with. She is Swiss and has the most awesome personality and sense of humor. She was an incredible host and really wanted us to have a great time. She took lots of pictures which were high quality along our trip and those are available for purchase when you return for $20 for a QR code which allowed us to download them all that afternoon. After our tour, Angela, the other owner, loaded us up and took us back to our resort. She was also very informational and friendly along the ride. I don't know what other buggy companies are offering, but I am glad we chose Xtreme Buggy Adventures with Charlie, Angela, and Marianne. We would do it again and highly recommend! 5 stars all the way if you are looking for a rugged, well ran excursion to see the DR in a unique way. - S. Emison
