Overview
Renovated in 2020, this family-friendly all-inclusive resort is nestled amid lush gardens on a beautiful white-sand beach with calm crystal blue waters. A natural reef in front of the hotel makes the water calm and perfect for children.
Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo is located 34 kilometers from the Samaná International Airport and 138 Kilometeres from the Santo Domingo International Airport. Transfer times will vary accordingly
Check in
3 p.m.
Check out
12 p.m.
Rooms
606
Inclusions
- Daily activities
- Round-trip airport transfers
- Unlimited wine and cocktails
- Access to the Pueblo Principe entertainment and commercial centre, wtih live music, nighly shows, shops and discos
- 3 à la carte dinners per week (reservations required, dress code in effect)
- Intro scuba lessons in the pool
- All taxes
Rooms
- 1 king bed, or 2 double beds
- No more than 3 guests in the room
- 1 king bed, or 2 double beds
- Minimum 1 adult, maximum 2 adults
- Maximum 1 child
- No more than 3 guests in the room
- Ceiling fan
- Jetted tub
- Smoking rooms available (upon request)
- Balcony or Patio
- A/C
- Coffee maker
- Hair dryer
- Mini-bar stocked daily
- Safe
- TV
- Balcony or patio
- 1 king bed, or 2 double beds
- No more than 4 guests in the room
- 1 king bed, or 2 double beds
- Minimum 1 adult, maximum 3 adults
- Maximum 2 children
- No more than 4 guests in the room
- Ceiling fan
- Jetted tub
- Seating area
- Balcony or Patio
- A/C
- Coffee maker
- Hair dryer
- Mini-bar stocked daily
- Safe
- TV
- Balcony or patio
Amenities
Aerial
Beach
Pool
Pool
Pool
Pool Bar
Pool Aerial
Pool
Lobby
Beach Bar
Beach Bar
Beach Bar
Beach Bar
Beach Restaurant
Patio
Buffet
Buffet
Buffet Entrance
Buffet Entrance
Fish Market
Fish Market
Fish Market
Fish Market
Griego
Restaurant
Restaurant
Restaurant
Restaurant
Sports Bar
Sports Bar
Sports Bar
Sports Bar
Stage
Teen Club
Teen Club
Waterpark
Gym
Location
Reviews
Beautiful Beach Vacation
Paul R on Apr 07, 2024
We had an excellent week at El Portillo and we would recommend it to anyone looking for a laid back relaxed vacation Things you’ll like The beach …. plenty of space and shade for those who need. Not a lot of waves so good for kids. Also you can walk the beach either way a good distance The property and grounds are clean and well kept The food was tasty and there was always plenty of variety at the buffet. We tried several the ala carte restaurants (French, Italian, and Brazilian) and they were excellent The entertainment team did a great job through the day and certainly tried hard to get people involved in activities and the nightly shows Our room was large and comfortable. The cleaning staff kept it very clean and well stocked Improvement / organization is needed with the service at El Limon and bars as some staff are not as attentive as they could be. We often were seated at a table and had to wait a lengthy period for silverware water or coffee (we didn’t expect these things immediately but at times it seemed some staff looked past you).
Beautiful beach, too bad about the smoke
Livetotravel4ever (Nova Scotia, Canada) on Apr 05, 2024
This review is for our recent stay at Grand Bahia Principe El Portillo. We have visited the property previously (2013 & 2019) with our young children. This vacation was for 2 middle aged adults - my spouse and myself. We are loyal guests of the Bahia Principe chain and have vacationed at their properties in Jamaica, Riviera Maya, Punta Cana, and Samaná. We chose a standard room for this vacation as went planned to spend most of our time on the beach. We were given room 16203. The room was basic but adequate. The balcony was nice and the location was close to the main lobby. We had people next to us smoking on their balcony so unfortunately we didn’t enjoy ours as much as we should have been able to. We found the bed hard and requested a topper for the mattress. Our room attendant brought us one without delay but the bed was still hard after the addition of this topper. I’ve seen quite a few complaints about the hard mattresses here so I think it’s time that the hotel replace them. Our room was always kept very clean. Coffee, water, beer, and pop was replenished daily. There were always plenty of facecloths, towels, kleenex, and toilet paper. We asked for an extra blanket and it was delivered without delay. The AC in our room was just marginal. The room was warm some nights despite the AC being set to as cold as possible. The food at the buffet is ok at this property. Not horrible, not fantastic, just ok. A suggestion for improvement and a safety concern is that the food at the buffet never seemed to be the proper temperature. Everything was lukewarm instead of being hot or cold. There is no room service at this property for regular guests - maybe privilege club guests get room service? There are no snacks served at bars, courtyard area, or the lobby. There is a snack bar restaurant on the beach but it’s a dine in lunch buffet that becomes the Brazilian restaurant at night. There was a food hut by the beach shop that you could get take out in the afternoons for burgers, hot dogs, nachos, and sometimes a paella type dish.The burgers tasted ok (lukewarm) but the buns were very hard and dry. My partner had a hot dog/sausage and said it was decent. We dined at 3 a la cartes while we were there: the Brazilian, Italian, and French. We wanted to try the Greek but there was no availability. The Brazilian was a major letdown. We sat in between two larger tables who were repeatedly offered different fresh skewers of meats but unfortunately we were not offered the same service. The meat we did get to try was lukewarm, overcooked, and dry. The food at the Italian a la carte was ok - nothing was terrible but nothing was fantastic. We ordered the minestrone and zucchini soups (both lukewarm), lasagna (ok but lukewarm), and the beef with risotto (ok but almost cold). The service was good here and staff were friendly. The welcome drink was very good at this restaurant. The food at the French restaurant was ok. The staff were very friendly and provided excellent service. Out of the 3 a la cartes we tried, this restaurant had the best service. We never had to ask for more water, wine, cutlery, anything at all. The welcome drink was a champagne based drink and it was very good. The shrimp appetizer and the egg “soup” were good, the beef tenderloin was good, the turkey was very strong and “gamey”. The chocolate dessert was interesting, similar to a cross between a mouse and a jello. The passionfruit sauce on the dessert plate was delicious. We didn’t find the drinks to be very good at this resort. They either tasted like they were made with gasoline or with mainly water and a spritz of lime. Sadly, they don’t offer the mango margaritas that we have really enjoyed at the Bahia properties in Mexico and Jamaica. They seem to use syrups and cheap alcohol for the drinks here. Drink mixes made with fresh fruit would be nice to have. We tried the strawberry (syrup) margaritas, pina coladas, chocolate monkeys, banana mamas, and other numerous mixed drinks on their menu. The pina coladas were ok. The mimosas were good. The daytime entertainment was awesome. Lots of great activities - yoga, various games, dance lessons, aqua aerobics, bingo, etc. On Tuesday afternoon at 4pm there was a foam party in the pool that seemed to be a big hit. The entertainment team has amazing energy and they were always singing, smiling, and dancing. The evening shows were entertaining and the crew does a great job of engaging guests. Wilson is very funny and makes sure everyone is having a great time. The adult show didn’t get going until 930pm or so and we found that late. The beach is outstanding at this property. The water is various shades of blue, there’s an expansive beachfront, you can walk in both directions for miles, and there are lots of loungers. The trees on the beach provided shade when we couldn’t secure a palapa. There is, unfortunately, a lot of smoking on the beach and people leave their cigarette butts all over the beach. If you want to stay on the resort’s property to use the loungers/palapqs please know it is VERY crowded, and again, smoky. Staff will confiscate any personal items left on chairs if you try to reserve them before 830am. We didn’t try to do this but heard from other guests that this had happened to. Wifi is spotty on the beach and there are no beach waiters at this resort for drink service unless you are a member of the privilege club. Go see Albania at the Tropicana bar - she is fast and very friendly. The pool has a swim up bar and there are games and music played around the pool area throughout the day. The shade is limited and there needs to be more umbrellas. Again, lots of smoking around the pool. To finalize, there were A LOT of smokers everywhere at this property. As mentioned above we have been to several Bahia properties and we have not encountered half as much smoke as we did here. We could always smell cigarette and cigar smoke unless we were inside our room or inside a restaurant. It wafts into the patio dining area of the buffet and snack bar from those smoking in proximity. The sand at the beach is littered with cigarette butts from end to end. This should be cleaned up and the resort should create and enforce the use of designated smoking areas. There were a lot of young children at this property who are being subjected to unnecessary second hand smoke and that’s very sad. Employees that made a positive impact on our vacation include the following people. Thank you so much for providing excellent service and for your kindness. Nathaniel - guest relations Lewin A - breakfast and dinner buffet service at El Limón Albania - Tropicana bar Wilson - entertainment team Housekeeping (room 16203) Paola - sports bar
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