Punta Cana facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Punta Cana
Cap Cana Marina area in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Seal
Punta Cana Location in the Dominican Republic
Country	Dominican Republic
Province	La Altagracia Province
Municipality	Higüey
Incorporated (town)	27 June 2006
Area
• Total	475.3 km2 (183.5 sq mi)
Population  (2022)
• Total	138,919
• Density	292.28/km2 (756.99/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−4 (Atlantic)
Area code(s)	809, 829, and 849

Punta Cana is a popular resort town located on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. It officially became a town, known as "Verón–Punta Cana township," in 2006. This area is part of the larger Higüey municipality in La Altagracia Province. In 2022, about 138,919 people lived in this district.

Punta Cana is one of the most visited places in Latin America. It welcomes more tourists than any other city in the Caribbean. The Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) is located about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) inland. This airport handles 64% of all flights arriving in the Dominican Republic. It serves more passengers than the airport in Santo Domingo, the country's capital.

The region is famous for its beautiful white sand beaches and clear blue waters. These beaches face both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The weather is warm for most of the year. It gets especially hot and sunny in late summer and autumn.

Discovering Punta Cana's Geography

A beautiful beach in Punta Cana.

The Punta Cana area has a population of around 100,000 people. This number was growing quickly in 2011. To the north, you'll find the beaches of Cabeza de Toro, Bávaro, and El Cortecito. The closest major city is Higüey, which is 500 years old. It's about 45 kilometers (28 miles) away, taking about an hour to drive there. Most of the more than 50 large resorts in Punta Cana are owned by European companies, especially Spanish hotel chains.

The coastline here stretches for about 100 kilometers (62 miles). It often has a gentle breeze. The ocean waters are mostly shallow, with many natural pools where visitors can swim safely. Some of the main beaches from north to south include Uvero Alto, Macao, Arena Gorda, Bávaro, El Cortecito, Las Corales, and Cabeza de Toro. These are all north of the main cape. South of the cape are Cabo Engaño, Punta Cana, and Juanillo.

Bávaro: A Hub for Tourists

Bávaro was originally planned as a town for hotel workers. However, it has grown into a major center for tourist services. This happened as hotels expanded north of Punta Cana, especially around Bávaro beach.

A resort entrance in the Bávaro area.

Many fun attractions have been built here. For example, Manatí Park in Bávaro is a water park with manatees, dolphins, and other animals. The Punta Cana beach area is very popular with tourists because it offers good value.

Bávaro is connected by road to Higüey and La Otra Banda. It stretches about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) north to Playa Macao. Other nearby beaches are Uvero Alto, Roco Ki, and La Vacama. Bávaro itself has 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of beaches. A big meeting of leaders from 21 Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries took place here in November 2002.

Punta Cana Village: A Planned Community

Punta Cana Village is a planned community with about 3,000 residents. The Punta Cana Group started developing this area in 1969. The main road, Boulevard Primero de Noviembre, has low office buildings. Side streets lead to gated communities with homes. There are also small apartment buildings. A shopping area is located near the airport. East of the village, you'll find the Westin Resort and a golf course by the ocean. There's also a public beach called Playa Blanca. South of Punta Cana Village is Cap Cana, another upscale community.

Punta Cana's Tropical Climate

Punta Cana has a tropical wet and dry climate. This means it has a hot, rainy season and a warm, drier season. The weather stays pretty much the same all year. The average temperature is around 26°C (79°F). The hot and humid season runs from May to October. During this time, daytime temperatures can reach 35°C (95°F). From November to March, evening temperatures are around 20°C (68°F).

Punta Cana's History and Growth

Frank Rainieri with his family.

In the late 1960s, a young Dominican businessman named Frank Rainieri and a New York lawyer, Theodore Kheel, bought a large piece of land. This land was on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic. At that time, the area known as Punta Cana was mostly undeveloped coastline. The closest big city, Higüey, was a five-hour drive away.

Their first project was a 40-room hotel called the Punta Cana Club. In 1970, Rainieri changed the area's original name to Punta Cana. Later, in 1978, the Paris Mediterranean Club joined the project. They built a 350-room hotel. Other hotel groups also started building in the Bávaro area.

In 1979, the Hotel Puntacana was built. Then, in 1984, the Punta Cana International Airport opened. More roads and buildings were also developed. In 1993, work began on the Marina de Punta Cana Resort & Club. Famous people like designer Óscar de la Renta and singer Julio Iglesias joined the project in 1996. In the 2000s, the first residential communities were built.

The resort has always focused on caring for the environment and local communities. The Puntacana Foundation has a large nature reserve. This reserve is used for scientific research and protects endangered animals. The foundation has also opened two schools and a free health clinic for the local community of Véron.

Exploring Tourism and Activities

Punta Cana is a major tourist spot. It plays a big role in tourism in the Dominican Republic.

Getting Around: Transportation

The Punta Cana International Airport is the main airport for the area. In 2014, over 2.4 million passengers arrived here. This made it the second-busiest airport in the Caribbean. The Grupo Puntacana built this airport in 1984 to help tourism grow. It was the first international airport in the Western Hemisphere to be owned by a private company.

Fun Things to Do and See

Many activities in Punta Cana involve the ocean. You can go snorkeling, windsurfing, or ride a banana boat. There are also speedboat tours, scuba diving, and catamaran cruises. You can even go deep-sea fishing. Some tours let you swim with dolphins and sharks or snorkel with stingrays.

If you want to see more of the Dominican countryside, there are land tours. These include safari tours, horseback riding, and dune buggy adventures. You can also take day trips from Punta Cana to smaller Caribbean islands like Saona and Catalina.

The capital city, Santo Domingo, is a couple of hours away. You can also visit Los Haitises National Park and Samaná. The Basilica Catholic Monument, built in 1962, is in nearby Higüey. This church was designed by two French architects.

Diving Adventures

Because it's located on the Caribbean Sea, diving is a popular activity. The ocean area around Punta Cana was made a marine reserve in 2012. This helps protect the amazing underwater life.

Staying Safe in Punta Cana

Punta Cana is generally a very safe place to visit. There were some concerns in 2019 about tourist deaths. However, investigations found that these deaths were due to natural causes.

Amazing Marine Life in Punta Cana

The waters around Punta Cana are home to many different kinds of marine animals. Here are some of the species that have been found there:

Group	Common name	Scientific name	Image	Notes
Fish	yellowtail snapper	Ocyurus chrysurus
	queen triggerfish	Balistes vetula
	glasseye	Heteropriacanthus cruentatis
	whitespotted filefish	Cantherhines macrocerus
	spotted goatfish	Pseudupeneus maculatus
	yellow goatfish	Mulloidichthys martinicus
	Bermuda chub	Kyphosus sectatrix
	great barracuda	Sphyraena barracuda
	bar jack	Caranx ruber
	saucereye porgy	Calamus calamus
	French angelfish	Pomacanthus paru
	southern stingray	Dasyatis americana
	yellow stingray	Urolobatis jamaicensis
	spotted eagle ray	Aetobatus narinari
	Caribbean reef shark	Carcharhinus perezi
	goldentail moray	Gymnothorax miliaris
	spotted moray	Gymnothorax moringa
	mangrove snapper	Lutjanus griseus
	mutton snapper	Lutjanus analis
	porkfish	Anisotremus virginicus
	black margate	Anisotremus surinamensis
	blue striped grunt	Haemulon sciurus
	Caesar grunt	Haemulon carbonarium
	French grunt	Haemulon flavolineatum
	Spanish grunt	Haemulon macrostomum
	tomtate grunt	Haemulon aurolineatum
	white grunt	Haemulon plumierii
	black grouper	Mycteroperca bonaci
	coney	Cephalopholis fulva
	Nassau grouper	Epinephelus striatus
	sergeant major	Abudefduf saxatilis
	lucky grouper	Epinephelus guttatus
	yellowfin grouper	Mycteroperca venenosa
	graysby	Cephalopholis cruentata
	harlequin bass	Serranus tigrinus
	princess parrotfish	Scarus taeniopterus
	queen parrotfish	Scarus vetula
	rainbow parrotfish	Scarus guacamaia
	redband parrotfish	Sparisoma aurofrenatum
	redfin parrotfish	Sparisoma rubripinne
	redtail parrotfish	Sparisoma chrysopterum
	stoplight parrotfish	Sparisoma viride
	Spanish hogfish	Bodianus rufus
	hogfish	Lachnolaimus maximus
	bonefish	Albula vulpes
	long-spine porcupinefish	Diodon holocanthus
	red lionfish (invasive)	Pterois volitans
	yellowtail damselfish	Microspathodon chrysurus
	yellowhead wrasse	Halichoeres garnoti
Reptiles	green sea turtle	Chelonia mydas
	hawksbill sea turtle	Eretmochelys imbricata
Mollusks	Caribbean reef squid	Sepioteuthis sepiodea
	common octopus	Octopus vulgaris
	queen conch	Lobatus gigas
Crustaceans	banded coral shrimp	Stenopus hispidus
	Caribbean spiny lobster	Panulirus argus
	spotted spiny lobster	Panulirus guttatus
		Scyllarides aequinoctialis
Corals	purple sea fan	Gorgonia ventalina
	sea ginger	Millepora alcicornis
	blade fire coral	Millepora complanata
		Millepora squarrosa
		Stephanoccenia intercepta
	elkhorn coral	Acropora palmata
	staghorn coral	Acropora cervicornis
	fused staghorn coral	Acropora prolifera
		Agaricia agarities
	finger coral	Porites porites
		Montastrea annuligera
		Montastrea colemani
		Montastrea curta
		Montastrea magnistellata
		Montastrea multipunctata
		Montastrea salebrosa
		Montastrea serageldini
	pillar coral	Dendrogyra cylindrus
Algae		Halimeda opuntia
	cactus tree alga	Caulerpa cupressoides
		Coelothrix irregularis
		Haploplegma duperryi
		Rhodophyta orden
		Dictyota cervicornis
		Stypopodium zonale
Sea grasses	turtlegrass	Thalassia testudinum
	manatee grass	Syringodium filiforme
Echinoderms	donkey dung sea cucumber	Holothuria mexicana
	black sea urchin	Diadema antillarum
Mammals	West Indian manatee	Trichechus manatus
Birds	brown pelican	Pelecanus occidentalis
	common tern	Sterna hirundo
	great egret	Ardea alba
	green heron	Butorides virescens
	yellow-crowned night heron	Nyctanassa violacea
	killdeer	Charadrius vociferus
	western osprey	Pandion haliaetus
	magnificent frigatebird	Fregata magnificens

Leaders of Punta Cana

The local government of Punta Cana is led by a director. Here are some of the past leaders:

• Saturnina Vásquez, also known as "María Verón", from the Dominican Liberation Party. She was elected director in 2006.
• Radhamés Carpio, from the Social Christian Reformist Party. He was elected director in 2010.
• Ramón Antonio "Manolito" Ramírez, from the Dominican Liberation Party. He was first elected director in 2016. He was re-elected in 2020 and 2024.

See also

In Spanish: Punta Cana para niños