What Do You Do at Club Med Punta Cana?

TRAVEL THERE: KEEPING BUSY IS EASY!

The list of potential activities is quite long at any Club Med and that is very true at Punta Cana.  I would think that most people in the world would find more to do than they can imagine.  So, what did we do?

And They’re Off!

If you like to wake up early and get busy, you can do that at Punta Cana.  The buffet opens early and early tee off times beat the heat.  The gym opens early and if walking or running is your thing, well then there’s 42 acres to trot around in 24 hours a day.  The beach also beckons 24 hours a day and it’s so beautiful all the time, that’s always appropriate.

Official activities begin around 9.  Some a little earlier.  Some a little later.  We were usually ready to roll around 10.  And what are those activities?

• Water Sports – Kayaking, Stand-up Paddle Baords, Snorkeling, Windsurfing, Sailing (some fees)
• Creactive by Cirque du Soliel
• Archery
• Tennis – courts, lessons and tournaments for all ages and levels of skill

• 

  Land Sports – Jogging, Walking, Beach Volleyball, Soccer, Triatholon, Marathon, Bocce Ball, Basketball

• Fitness – all kinds of classes, everyday, in the gym, in the pool and by the beach, from Aqua Zumba to Yoga
• Golf – Lessons for all levels and a mini-golf (putt-putt) course – actual rounds are off the property and must be paid for seperately
• Excursions (fee required)
• Kid’s Club – for all ages from nurseries for infants to teens
• Shopping – a variety of boutiques from art and jewelry to cigars and whiskey -they don’t charge you for looking 🙂
• Spa Treatments (fee required)

What’s even more amazing is that the lion’s share of all this won’t cost you a penny extra.

So What Did We Do?

Well, Bill was a regular on the tennis courts, the archery field and he took advantage of the golf lessons.  Around noon every day, there would be a Crazy Signs lesson after the Aquasize class, followed by volley ball, water polo and other games where Bill’s height and excellent coordination made him a popular player.  Bill also played in a ping pong tournament.  I was the official sidekick and cheering section.

On the first day, I thought that after the orientation was over I might hang around the pool until the Aquagym class at 11:30.  Someone else, who will remain nameless, thought it might be better for me to follow him to the tennis courts and observe his lesson – and that’s pretty much how I spent my five days at Club Med Punta Cana.  It wasn’t what I had imagined, but it wasn’t bad at all.  I read a great book and made wonderful memories with my husband.  Not a bad use of my time.

Things I Wish I’d Known

I had imagined starting my day with yoga on the beach.  There was actually a palapa for yoga right next to the beach, but yoga was at 5:30 PM every day.  By that time, Bill had put in a full day and we were back at the room for Bill’s afternoon nap.

I had also envisioned getting up bright and early and hitting the stationary bike, as I do at home and on cruises.  Of the things available at Punta Cana, the gym was the least appealing.  It was clean and they had lots of almost new equipment, but the space was cramped and I like a little elbow room.  None of the stationary bikes were recumbent either and an hour on one of those saddle seats didn’t seem very appealing.   Also, walking all the way to and from the gym to get saddle sores, when walking to and from is what took up most of our time, was a little discouraging.  So, the gym was not my friend.

I had also dreamed of cabana boys delivering exotic drinks with paper umbrellas in them.  There were no cabana boys.  You could get as many drinks of whatever variety you wanted, if you walked up to one of the bars, but there were no paper umbrellas to be found and if I wasn’t going to be waited on hand and foot, I’d just as soon have another slurp from our bottle of water, several of which they left for us in our room each day.

Relaxed Myself to Death

The bottom line is that I nearly relaxed myself to death.  I’m just not athletic, not even a little bit, but I’m also usually a very busy person.  I don’t relax very well.  My thing on vacation is to see as many museums, palaces and historic sites as I can, but Punta Cana was not a hot bed of museums.

So, we had a great time at Club Med and Bill took full advantage of all the activities.  I ate a lot, relaxed a lot and walked a lot.  Speaking of eating, isn’t it time for lunch?  Come back next week and we’ll grab the mid-day meal.