Santo Domingo to Samana and Las Terrenas by Bus

Samana or Las Terrenas: two destinations and two different buses

The first mistake newcomers make is to think Samana is a single place. The Samana peninsula has two arrival points for travellers: Las Terrenas, the beach town on the north coast where most hotels and restaurants are, and Santa Barbara de Samana, the bay town where the whale watching boats and the Cayo Levantado boats leave from. The two are a little under an hour apart by mountain road. And each has its own bus from Santo Domingo, with a different operator, stop and fare: Asotrapusa to Las Terrenas and Caribe Tours to Samana. Decide where you are sleeping first and choose the bus second, not the other way round.

The bus to Las Terrenas: the Asotrapusa stop behind Plaza Lama

It does not leave from a terminal but from a street stop at Calle Barahona 129, behind Plaza Lama: tell your taxi or Uber driver exactly that and they will find it. The operator asks you to arrive 30 minutes early and our data lists about 6 departures a day, with times pending phone confirmation, so check the timetable for your travel day. It is the route with the most mix ups for one specific reason: travellers looking for a terminal and not seeing a street stop. In Las Terrenas it drops you in the town centre, from where the nearby beaches are a few minutes away by motoconcho. We confirm the fare with you before booking, once the seat has been checked with the carrier.

The bus to Samana with Caribe Tours

Caribe Tours covers Santo Domingo to Santa Barbara de Samana. It leaves from its terminal at Av. 27 de Febrero and Leopoldo Navarro, 10 to 15 minutes from the Colonial Zone, with ticket windows and a waiting room, and the operator asks you to arrive 45 minutes early. Frequency is lower than to Las Terrenas, about every 4 hours in our data, with times also pending confirmation. That low frequency forces you to plan: miss one bus and the next may be half a day away. We keep this route on a waiting list and it is not yet part of our assisted booking ladder, but we cover it here because it is the only way to reach the whale town by bus.

Whale season: when to go and where the boats leave from

Humpback whales arrive in Samana Bay every winter and the watching season usually runs from mid January to late March, according to the calendar the Ministry of Environment publishes each year, with boats leaving the Santa Barbara de Samana pier in the morning. If you stay in Las Terrenas, count on a little under an hour by taxi or local guagua to Samana to catch the boat, and book the excursion ahead in those weeks, because they are the busiest of the year on the peninsula. For the bus this means two things: services to Samana and Las Terrenas run fuller in those months, so do not count on the last departure of the day, and get to the stop with the buffer each operator asks for.

Beaches, El Catey airport and getting back

Las Terrenas is walkable in the centre and the best known beaches, such as Playa Bonita and Coson, are a few minutes away by motoconcho or taxi. The peninsula's airport is Samana El Catey (AZS), about 40 minutes from Las Terrenas along the Boulevard Turistico del Atlantico, by taxi or pre-arranged transfer, with seasonal flights from North America and Europe. To return to Santo Domingo, the Asotrapusa bus leaves from central Las Terrenas and the Caribe Tours bus from Samana. If you want us to check your outbound plan, we offer an assisted booking from 24.95 USD per person for Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas: request it 3 or more days ahead, pay nothing when you ask, and we reply by WhatsApp or email. We are an independent intermediary with no agreement with the operators.