Amber Cove

The Amber Cove port area is nice, but we opted not to explore much there. The pier is quite a long walk and they have local bicycle peddlers who will take you down the pier for a tip. The port area has the usual assortment of shops and a pool area, and some local cultural dancers, but not much beach area or other activities to do at all in this port that we could see. We also opted not to take an excursion through the cruise line, so we instead opted to rent our own local Taxi van driver for the day who took us to all of the tourist sights around the Puerto Plata area.

The van tour first took us to a local family farm, near the Amber Cove port where we learned about the local culture and tasted some local coffee and Mama Juana medicinal drink. I purchased a raw amber there at a good price. Then we went to the butterfly garden where you get to walk through a garden surrounded by swarms of butterflies. We also toured the amber museum, and the coffee bean museum, and walked around the city of Puerto Plata.

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The cost for our party of 5, for the 4 hour trip, was $15000 DOP ($250 USD) plus tip which had to be paid in cash in the local Dominican Peso currency. The cruise port has a few ATMs which dispense local currency, but it was a bit hard for me to navigate the prompts all in Spanish and calculate the exchange rates. Considering local Taxi car rates to Puerto Plata were $45 USD each way plus entry fees into each attraction, splitting the van tour cost between two couples was a very affordable and personalized option. Hopefully the next time we visit this port they will support credit card payment options for the van tours.