Unlike recent media coverage portrays, the Dominican Republic is a safe country to visit or to live in.

Recent reports of deaths in large All Inclusive resorts highlight, in our opinion, the dangers of ultra-cheap holidays with accommodation, all you can eat food & alcoholic drinks, plus transportation, which leaves the hotels with as little as 15-20 USD per day to try and house, feed and water their guests.

This is not sustainable tourism and it leaves the hotels in a very difficult situation. At those prices, they are forced to cut corners.

Would you consider a restaurant in Europe or North America who charges 7 USD for unlimited food and alcoholic drinks, a healthy and safe place to eat and drink and then do it 7 days in a row?

The answer, of course, is no. Add existing medical conditions and over-eating or drinking, in a tropical climate, and you have a recipe for disaster.

We, the owners of Swell (from the UK and the Netherlands) have lived in the DR for 11 years, with our 2 children. The only time we ever suffered from food poisoning was when we were invited to lunch at an all Inclusive-hotel.

What is not safe to do in the DR?
– Drink the tap water
– Stay somewhere which is too cheap to be true
– Buy or consume drugs
– Sit under a palm tree in heavy winds with ripe coconuts hanging in the tree

We have never done those things and as a result, neither we or any of our 6000+ guests have ever been hospitalized, let alone died.