montaña redonda

Approximate reading time: 4 minutes

Advertisements

Montaña Redonda is one of the most sold excursions in the Dominican Republic. With about 1.5 hours distance and a close proximity to Punta Cana, many full tourist buses arrive there and transport a lot of visitors to the top of the mountain.

The name describes nothing more than a ’round mountain’. And it’s true! From there, you have a stunning 360° view to the adjacent valleys and can enjoy nature at it’s best. Thanks to the perfect sights, there are some funny and beautiful motives for photographers possible:

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0f/a9/b9/12/360o-de-emocion.jpg

Definitely worth a visit, huh!? I thought the same and wanted to do the same excursion. But of course on my own initiative and not as part of an overpriced tourist bus from Punta Cana.

I visited this place on the same day directly after my trip to Laguna Redonda:

Laguna Redonda – The little neighbor of Montaña Redonda

If you are familiar with tourism in the Dominican Republic and like to travel, you probably have heard already of Montaña Redonda. This is a famous tourism excursion on the top of a hilly area where you have a stunning 360 degrees with to the adjacent valleys. But have you ever heard about the little…

by Phil Harmony January 23, 2020February 23, 2020

First thing to say is, that you definitely need a SUV or Jeep. Something really powerful, because the way to the top of the mountain is in extreme bad condition and very narrow.

Montaña Redonda en la República Dominicana — This was after passing the entrance. And the surface got much worse than that!

The admission is with 200 Peso (4 USD) quite cheap. Guided tours from Punta Cana start at Trip Advisor from 70 USD. Wow!

I would recommend to go of course off-season (MAR – DEC) and avoid if possible the high season (JAN + FEB and Easter/Christmas holidays). You’ll have definitely a better experience alone without a ton of strangers. next to that, also the way is a bit safer. If a car or bus is coming down while you plan to drive up or vice versa, it can be extremely challenging to pass each other. Highly advanced driving skills are more than necessary and welcome!

Bad weather conditions at Montaña Redonda

During climbing up the round mountain with the jeep, the weather conditions got really bad. It started to rain and dense cloud band came from the Atlantic side to the island. Unfortunately, my experiences were a little bit different, when I arrived on top of the mountain:

Well…As you can see, there wasn’t any 360° view possible. I had literally a 0° view, because the clouds were all over the place. No idea, where the meteorological difference between a cloud and fog is. But it felt, that I had both of it.

The only shelter a visitor can find on top of the mountain is a little shack in the middle of the plateau.

Enjoying the beauty of Montaña Redonda en la República Dominicana — No real shelter possible: The only shack on top of the mountain has, of course, no walls. Rain and wind entered from all sites and made me wet anyways.

It didn’t really matter anymore to look for cover or not. At the end, I was completely soaked of water anyway.

Let’s make the best out of Montaña Redonda!

So why not making the best of it and at least pretending having a good time? 🙂

Easier said than done, but I tried to have the same amount of fun and happiness as people during a clear day. For example with…

The hammock at Montaña Redonda

Could’ve been a wonderful photo without the water drop on the lens AND with a clear view!

The broom at Montaña Redonda

Also this optical illusion didn’t really work out for me!

The swing at Montaña Redonda

Advertisements

Montaña Redonda is a beautiful tourism destination, I suppose…?!

Needless to say, that you barely can make the way back, because you don’t like it there anymore. So my girlfriend and me waited for two hours, hoping for a better view. And we got ALMOST rewarded for that patience. The sky brightened up for a little bit and offered a little view through the dense cloudscape…

…but that was nothing more than just 5 short minutes. Well, at least we tried it! I think, that Montaña Redonda can be a really beautiful tourism destination with a little bit of luck!

It was definitely an adventure to get up. But in the late afternoon and with the bad vision, rain and muddy surface it was a challenge to get down as well. I’m very glad, that nothing bad happened during the way down and that we arrived safe and secure. But there is one announcement I want to bring up to Montaña Redonda:

Be sure, that I will visit you again!

Approximate reading time: 6 minutes

Advertisements

Table of contents
- Where is Laguna Redonda?
- What is Laguna Redonda?
- How to reach Laguna Redonda?
- Is it easy to get to Laguna Redonda?
- Why is the water of Laguna Redonda green?

Where is Laguna Redonda?

Laguna Redonda can be found in the northeast of the Dominican Republic. It’s part of the district El Seibo and in a rather scarce populated area of the country.

As you can see on Google Maps, it is quite close to Montaña Redonda and shares even the same name. Both are ‘redonda’ which means ’round’ in Spanish. Okay, if I see it on Google Maps, it might not be perfectly round but I think that you get the idea what I mean.

Laguna Redonda filmed from the top of the hill.

Advertisements

What is Laguna Redonda?

Laguna Redonda is one of the many aquatic and hidden places in the Dominican Republic. The country is rich of lagoons that create habitat for both flora and fauna. Laguna Redonda has an extension of 1.93 mi² (5 km²) and consists of salt water. It’s connected with the near sea through Caño Celedonio.

View from the shoreside

Laguna Redonda has been a livelihood for hundreds of poor families who fish with rustic instruments to survive in this place of just a few opportunities. Some species of fauna that can be observed in the lagoon are: crabs, tilapia, bass, shrimp and guabinas.

Lagoons in the Dominican Republic are a pure paradise for bird watchers. The birdlife around Laguna Redonda is also rich and is represented by Pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), the common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), great egret (Ardea alba), black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), northern pintail (Anas acuta).

Copyright of www.traphil.com — This sign welcomes you with additional information about Laguna Redonda

Unfortunately I haven’t had sufficient time and boats to discover the whole lagoon. But what I saw from the shore was kind of beautiful already.

Advertisements

How to reach Laguna Redonda?

Laguna Redonda is not touristically developed and accessed. Meaning, that you need to invest a high effort to reach it. But it’s worth it if you want to have an individual and exclusive feeling.

Usually, tourism destinations and excursions in the Dominican Republic are completely overrun. This one’s not. I had the luck to be there on my own. If we zoom a bit out at Google Maps, we can see, that there is only one single pathway to reach Laguna Redonda:

Only one pathway from the south leads to Laguna Redonda

The Atlantic is in the the north and there are no connections both from east and west towards the lagoon. This makes it a bit more difficult to reach.

Here is how you get there: On the highway 104 (RD-104 Carretera Bávaro) you see a quite an unremarkable green traffic sign with ‘Laguna Redonda’ on it. It’s probably around 1.5 miles (2,5 km) away from the entrance to Montaña Redonda. Just continue driving for about 10 – 12 minutes and you’ll reach Laguna Redonda.

That’s the official part you would guess by planning it from the outside. But I was beneath the surface and can tell you, that you should park the car approximately where you can see the little white square on the screenshot. Why?

Advertisements

Is it easy to access Laguna Redonda?

It’s better to walk the rest of the route to the lagoon. Shouldn’t be more than 1/2 or a 3/4 mile from the marked checkpoint. You should see a gate:

Copyright by www.traphil.com — Takes probably 5 -7 minutes walking time from here until you reach Laguna Redonda.

The road conditions are not stable enough and look the following:

Muddy conditions on the way to Laguna Redonda

You better not wear sandals, flip flops, etc. and rely on sturdy shoes. That’s what I can recommend, because I wore flip flops and looked more than dirty after reaching the lagoon 🙂

But on dry days without rain it won’t be easier either. Here is how the path looks like:

Beautiful landscape around Laguna Redonda

To be 100% sure to reach Laguna Redonda safe and to not get stuck in the muddy terrain, you should only access it with a jeep or a SUV. Everything that has a 4×4 engine is the only secure car to go there.

Of course you could as well motorbikes, quads, etc. These vehicles would be even more suitable to enter the difficult terrain. But once you reached Laguna Redonda, it’ll be more than worth it!

Advertisements

Why is the water at Laguna Redonda green?

That’s a good question, isn’t it? If you took a closer look to the videos and photos above, you’ll see a green shimmer at the water surface.

Green water at Laguna Redonda in the Dominican Republic

The reason for the green water are the mangroves and the rotten leaves from the surrounding trees. In combination with the very salty water, this rare effect of green water is produced. It corrodes at the bottom of the water surface. There are no rocks or stones that could wash the water and make it a little more clear.

That’s why the water at Laguna Redonda shimmers in a light green hue.

I have seen a lot of green water places like stagnant ponds, natural pools or puddles. Mostly, because they are not moving waters. But this was the first time, that I saw a moving water with this green hue.

I decided to not swim there, rather enjoy a few silent minutes at the shore and observed the little fisher boat before I continued the trip to Montaña Redonda.

Laguna Redonda is one of these many hidden destinations in the Dominican Republic that are barely known and communicated. Few information are available of it and you have to search for places like that. But once you discovered one of these places, you can be sure to be the only person there.