Lopesan Costa Bávaro Resort Spa & Casino

We recently stayed at Lopesan Costa Bávaro for an all-inclusive holiday, and overall we had a really enjoyable experience. The hotel itself is absolutely beautiful—very large, modern, and well-maintained, with plenty of amenities to keep you entertained throughout your stay. There are multiple pools, a great selection of restaurants, and the beach is stunning with soft sand and clear water. It’s the kind of place where you can easily relax and not feel the need to leave the resort. We upgraded to the Unique package, which definitely enhanced our stay. A special mention goes to Senel, who looked after us during our time there. He was fantastic—always attentive, friendly, and genuinely went out of his way to make sure we had everything we needed. His service really made a difference and stood out compared to the rest of the experience. One area for improvement would be the vegetarian options. My wife is vegetarian, and unfortunately there weren’t many suitable choices available across the restaurants. It would also really help if menus clearly labelled vegetarian dishes, especially for guests who don’t speak or read Spanish. Overall, we were very happy with our stay and would recommend the resort. The only reason we’re not giving it 5 stars is that some of the other staff members didn’t quite match the same level of customer service we experienced with Senel. With more consistent service—and better catering for dietary needs—this place would easily be a top-tier experience. That said, we had a lovely holiday and would definitely consider returning.

We stayed at Lopesan Costa Bávaro Resort Spa & Casino for 7 days with our family and kids, and honestly… this was one of the best vacations we’ve ever had. We travel a lot — 3–4 times a year around the Caribbean, including Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica — so we’ve seen many resorts. And this one? It just hit different for our family. The hotel is huge, but at the same time very well maintained, clean, and full of beautiful greenery. You don’t feel overwhelmed — you feel comfortable and relaxed. Food was a big highlight. Breakfast is consistent (which is actually a plus), but lunch and dinner at the buffet are always changing, so it never gets boring. And the restaurants? Really, really good. Way above what we expected. Service deserves a separate mention. The staff is attentive, friendly, and genuinely caring. You can feel that they try. I read so many negative reviews before coming here, and now I honestly don’t understand where those are coming from. It makes you wonder what kind of expectations people have… or what they eat at home for breakfast to complain about this level of food. Everything felt clean and fresh. Even the gym — no bad smell, no humidity, just a pleasant space to work out. Rooms were cleaned regularly and properly. For us, this is one of those rare resorts we would come back to again and again — and definitely recommend to friends and family. Absolutely loved it.

We just returned from a one week stay at the Lopesan for the Canadian high school spring break week. For context we are a Canadian (early 50s) couple who travelled with our 16 year old daughter and have previous stayed at numerous 4-5 Star AIs in DR, Mexico and Cuba. In a nutshell we enjoyed our stay. I was expecting the resort to be very busy due to spring break but as the resort is quite large it wasn’t too bad. BUT at $4000 PER PERSON (from YYZ) I was expecting a little higher end experience (from a food, drink and service perspective) and we would likely only return if the price was lower as we have stayed at other resorts during school breaks that were significantly cheaper that were just as good if not better. At a glance review: Atmosphere and property/grounds: 5 Stars (this resort is gorgeous!!!) Service: 3 out of 5 Stars overall (poor to mediocre service) Food: 3 out of 5 Stars overall (super underwhelming) Bars/Drinks: 2 out of 5 Stars overall (drinks are lacking alcohol) Shows: 3 out of 5 Stars (average) Overall I am giving this an average rating of 3 out of 5. Now the details….. Check in: we arrived around 4 pm and check in was quick and friendly. I love that your bracelet is also your door key and also upscale and nice looking and not an ugly bright plastic band. Room: We stayed in a King tropical view Jr Suite (third floor room 3076) There is a couch that folds into a single bed that our 16 year old slept on. Both the bed and couch were very comfortable! The rooms are very modern in design. I absolutely HATED the open concept zero privacy bathroom that is right when you walk in the front door. There is a nice large vanity area between a frosted glass shower and separate frosted glass toilet stall which is all completely open to the main room. I wish there was some kind of sliding door or at least a solid door on the toilet part for a little more privacy. The air conditioning worked well (almost too cold actually) but room was VERY damp as is typical in any AI I have stayed at. Thankfully the balcony had a nice place to hang wet bathing suits that dried nicely. We had one day of heavy rains and the room smelled VERY bad (sewer) but the rest of the time was fine so was likely due to the rain. Housekeeping service was horrendous. In the one week we stayed our room was serviced only two to three times. When they did show up it was at super random times and usually late late in the day. We had to flag down someone in the hall to ask for more towels and water several times. I actually don’t care about the room being cleaned daily but supplied with basics at a minimum is my expectation. Silver lining: At least we saved on tip money! When the room was serviced it was done well and fully stocked but I have never stayed at an AI where my room was not serviced daily (if not more than once daily). It seems like they are understaffed in the housekeeping department. Property: this resort is absolutely spectacular. Gorgeous well maintained grounds and public areas. Definitely upscale in design and bougie as my teen called it. 11 out of 10 for looks!! Pools: We visited the large main pool area the first few days and then found a “secret” pool that we ended up spending the rest of the week at. The large infinity edge pool is spectacular looking but the water was quite cloudy when we used it. We much preferred the smaller pools. We never had a problem finding lounge chairs even at 10 am or later even though the resort was at full capacity. As usual there are a-holes who “reserve” loungers and show up only late in the day. Don’t be afraid to get a staff member to remove their “reservation” after an hour. There are two pools located up near the adults only pool; one of which is for Unique guests but the other one can be used by anyone. We felt like we had the pool to ourselves most of the week despite how busy the main pool was. There was poolside bar service to this area and it was nice and relaxing so we ended up spending most days there. Even at 11 am there were chairs available. The water in these pools also was much clearer and cleaner looking. Beach: I was really disappointed in the beach. We are more pool people anyways but the beach is right next to a public beach so there are lots of boats out in the water (party boats/excursion boats) and the swimming area is small. Also as the beach is next to the public beach there are a lot of locals at the one edge of the property and we witnessed security selling locals use of the lounge chairs. The beach chairs are very far back from the water so I would not have felt comfortable with all of us in the water to watch our things. If you’re a beach person you might want to do a little more research on this before deciding. There was some seaweed in the water and on the sand. Entertainment: fairly standard and actually one of the lower ends of what we have experienced at other resorts. The Michael Jackson show was the highlight but the other shows were average at best. The theatre was nice but I found the sound to be very loud and the use of strobe lights and other lighting was over the top and got rather annoying and overstimulating. The shows were very poorly attended-Possibly bc the shows start at 10 pm which is quite late. There did not seem to be much nightlife afterwards and even the multiple bars near the theatre were never busy. The Boulevard: we really liked this area of the property. It’s a bit of a walk depending where your room is but the coffee shop, ice cream shop and “YOLO” were some of our favourite places. The French à la carte is also over there as well as the Sports Bar, English pub, Casino, Spa and Disco. There are some shops for souvineers and the prices were decent (way better than the airport!). The kids waterpark, teen club and bowling alley/arcade are also there. And now what everyone wants to know about…..Food and drinks. Drinks: I personally think the drinks at the pool area bars are watered down (or just lacking alcohol). One day I had multiple tropical drinks in a row and felt nothing after them and could not taste any of the alcohol. Typically the ones at the à la carts were much stronger. While the selection of cocktails was excellent they lacked actual alcohol. There is a juice bar by the pool which was nice but these are more fruit beverages than real fruit juices but refreshing none the less. All water at the resort is bottled and there was plenty of it. Food: for the price of this resort I was expecting far better quality. The buffet food in both the main buffet and the Beach buffet was mediocre at best AND I had concerns about food safety as the food was never hot. In fact I would say most of the hot food was cold. Thankfully we only had to eat the first night at the buffet for dinner and found other places for lunch. Breakfast was the best meal at the main buffet but even then the hot dishes like eggs and meats were never hot! The à la carts were much better and we were able to easily get reservations each night via the app for the rest of our stay. The only restaurant we did not eat in was The Valley (does not require a reservation). The à la carts were very accommodating and let you get mains as appetizers or really whatever you wanted. Service was hit or miss at them…some good some not. The French restaurant was just average (maybe what we ordered????). They have a very cool interactive flaming chocolate ball dessert though. The duck was horrible (tough and cold) and my family got beef filet also overcooked and not hot. Gondola (Italian) was very good. The pizza and pastas were excellent as was the service. Inari (Asian) we did the teppanyaki which was pretty standard but good. You get chicken, beef, shrimp and salmon along with the rice and veggies and of course your standard cooking show. Desserts were awful here. Mareas (Mediterranean) was excellent! Also the desserts here were very fancy and amazing Mexican - very underwhelming. Service was rushed and horrible and all the food was cold and below average. My daughter commented that Taco Bell was better lol! Steakhouse (adults only) - mixed reviews on this one. The octopus main (which we got as an app to share) was incredible but the steaks were overdone and in fact my husband was served the wrong kind (striploin instead of rib). Service was slow but good and the desserts were also incredible. Room service - my daughter had too much sun one day and ordered room service and it was great (she had a burger and dessert). In fact she liked it so much she wanted it for dinner while my hubby and I went to steak house (as she’s too young). It did take a while to get one day but she enjoyed it. We ordered from the app. So to recap…..the à la cart dining was far far superior to the buffet but still overall I was disappointed based on the price point of this resort. You definitely won’t starve and will find something to eat but be cautious from a food safety perspective and eat the cooked to Order food as much as you can. In my opinion, this is not five star resort dining. Pro tips: there is a local market mall right next to the property (near the Beach grill) that is a great place to get souvineers/beach wear/art etc. in typical fashion you will be bugged by the shop owners and have to negotiate but we enjoyed it and bought several items One hidden gem for lunch is “Yolo” restaurant hidden in a corner of the Boulevard next to the ice cream shop. Food was excellent and I got to try some interesting and delicious Dominican dishes as well as really good burgers and sandwiches. The service was excellent here as well and the food was shocking HOT unlike a lot of other places Bavaro coffee was excellent (both hot and cold coffees). Bring your own “to Go” cup as the take out cups are teeny tiny. Add a shot of espresso to your iced coffee as otherwise it was a bit too watery some days.

Such a healing and relaxing stay at Lopesan Costa Bávaro! Huge thanks to our butler Jimmy for taking such amazing care of our family — so attentive and thoughtful the entire time. The staff here are all super friendly and welcoming, and the little cats around the resort made everything even cuter. Food was decent with lots of options, but overall the experience and vibe made this trip truly unforgettable. Would definitely come back!

The hotel is beautiful as is the beach. However, the AC in our room had to be fixed 4 times. The room was very damp and smelled. Our butler-Jimmy was useless other than making dinner reservations. The staff was just not friendly or engaging. Very very disappointed. One bright spot was Firenze(Hapoy)the gentlemen. In charge of the wine , he was awesome. The food was mediocre at best except for the French restaurant. I unfortunately would not recommend the hotel.