Climb on to a catamaran (or speedboat) and set off for popular Saona Island during this full-day, guided cruise and excursion that includes a barbecue lunch. Connect with nature in a National Park of the East and relax to enjoy the beach, swimming, entertainment, dancing, or sports. Later, enjoy a hearty barbecue lunch before shopping the local souvenir huts or relax with a cocktail in the sand.

Stop at the popular ‘Natural Pool’ on the return journey
Visit Saona Island to swim and relax at the pristine beaches
Barbecue, buffet lunch, and open bar included

What's Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off only Bayahibe hotels.
Transport by catamaran or speedboat
Air-conditioned vehicle
Buffet lunch; vegetarian option available
Live entertainment
Unlimited drinks (local rum, beer, soft drinks, water)
Alcoholic Beverages

Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
Gratuities
Pick-up at Bahia Principe La Romana

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

09:30 AM

Pickup details

Between 9:00 am and 9:30 am. Pickup time varies based on hotel location. Please be advised that only Bayahibe area is included to be picked up. no other area.

What To Expect

Relax during a convenient transfer from your hotel in Bayahibe and hop aboard a catamaran or speedboat. Sail away from Bayahibe and make your way to Saona Island.

Immerse yourself in the beauty of the East National Park and indulge in a day of relaxation, entertainment, and fun on the beach. Experience swimming, dancing, other activities.

Then, stop to fuel up with a delicious barbeque lunch before exploring local souvenir huts or sipping on cocktails by the beach. On the way back, take a trip to a natural pool and admire the waters.

After a day soaking in the refreshing atmosphere on the island, head back to your departure point and rest on the way to your hotel.

Saona Island

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Bayahibe

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Not recommended for pregnant travelers

May be operated by a multilingual guide
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 110 travelers

Operated by Sol Cana Tours

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

BERNARDO_R

From pickup to arrival on the island, the experience was great. "Cibao" provided fast shuttle service to the drop point and from there we were assigned "El Flaco" to guide us from the boat to the island and back. He gave us helpful information and took special care of us. He was also our photographer and even took a video of us with his drone. Very fair pricing for the photos and we had an excellent time. We were served an endless amount of rum and Coca-Cola on the way to the island and the island was beautiful and the food was very good. The crystal-clear water and the ambience on the island was awesome and pictures don't come close to capturing this.

Reviews

4.0

51 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 51 reviews

The water was beautiful

Lorraine_H, Apr 2024

I Enjoyed the boat ride to Seona, the tour guide Tio Rocky, he gave us time to explore, swim & explain areas we were in & going through.. I would do this excursion again.

Awesome Island Adventure

BERNARDO_R, Apr 2024

Excellent Saona beach

Dave_C, Feb 2024

A very beautiful beach. Unlimited supply of rum and lunch was plentiful and good. Note that all travel agents use a few local trip operators to go to the island. Everyone ends up on the same beach and use the same facilities. So there is no point in paying more - the prices vary quite a bit on viator.

Wonderful day on Saona island with amazing tour guides

Pina_T, Feb 2024

Had a wonderful experience at along this excursion to Saona Island. The tour guides were amazing and caring they were very friendly and welcoming. The island was a dream the ocean water out of this world. We had drinks and a buffet on the island and drinks on the catamaran. We also stopped for 35 minutes at the natural pool. I would recommend this company for the excursion there is also the photographer Angelo who is a sweetheart and took some very nice pictures. Thank you to all the staff who made this an amazing day and a very memorable one. ❤️❤️❤️

Do not do business with sol Cana tours

Eduardo_M, Dec 2023

We were asked to meet at a location at a specific time. They were late, made excuses that the guide was on the way, a person showed up saying he was the guide but when tourist commissioner approached them, he said he was only the photographer. This made us nervous to go on the boat and we ended asking for a refund. Do not hire sol Cana tours for any trip. They might not have a permit to operate.

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Hi everybody! This review looks like somebody is trying to affect us directly. I was not going to answer it, because I understant people have the right to express their situation (when it is true). 1-How do you dare to say we might not have permission to operate? Do you know we can proceed legally against you for saying that?. can you prove it? 2-You booked this excursion, and I personally told you to be at the meeting point at 10:00 am, and you showed up at 8:30 am. did we arrive late? NOOOO, our guide (Angelo was there at 9:45 am). but you were told by the guy that was there with you (you may not know who he was) that (Angelo) was not a licenced tour guide. He is our Tour Guide for a long time, and he has plenty of experience. and we never have any problem with this. You can see other reviews about him. We are licenced Tour Operator, and have a high insurance coverage. The matter is when you call me you were screaming to me, saying we didnt have a tour guide and it was very complicated to be able to talk to you. You might have been persuaded by the guy that was there with you. I dont know what his intention was. maybe yes. As soon as you called me and stared saying that, I inmediatly understood that something had happened before that. I refunded you all you money, and even though you were trying to do the excursion, but I told you you had been already refunded, and that you had to pay the boat. If Angelo (our guide) was not a tour guide as you said, why then did you want to go on the excursion after I have refunded your money??. werent you scared of it? saying you felt unsafe?? it sound to me very extrange. I really don like to answer this way, but when I see that there is a poisioned intention, I then have to answer. I apologize you guys that are reading this review answer. Please come and enjoy of our beautiful Dominican Republic, and go to Saona Island with us.

Great day and tour coach....

Andreas_M, Nov 2023

Great day and tour coach. We had a outstanding experience with the speed boat and the party on the katamaran back to bayahibe. Thank you!!

Great trip! Trip to the...

Gamaliel_L, Oct 2023

Great trip! Trip to the island was both fun and relaxing. Highly recommend! Staf was fun. Angelo was great.

Isla de Saona!

Fernando_C, Oct 2023

Very good tour! It is worth it! Stunning view! I recommend hiring a photographer for better photos on site! Mr. Ângelo welcomed us and accompanied us during the trip. Very attentive. The only weak point was the quantity of beer, which was limited to 4 bottles of 600 ml.

Wonderful Experience

Hector_P, Oct 2023

It’s was like being in paradise. Wonderful experience beautiful island……great crew, wonderful people great food an awesome worry free relaxed day!!!!! Thank you

Not great and greedy staff

LuisGarcia, Aug 2023

I would not recommend this excursion with the catamaran because the boat is too big to go to shore, so we were constantly changing boats which was annoying. They served cheap rum that would make anyone sick and coke or water. There were over 24 bottles of Sprite, but they refused to serve it to me. We were one of the last boats to the island so it was very crowded and no chairs to sit in. The leader of the group, Pedro, saw that I was upset about this, so he found us some chairs. However, as we were sitting down, he said to us "I better get my cut for finding these chairs". I'm sorry, but I thought it was their job to make sure we had a good time!?!?! No, he expected to be paid. Not ok!!!

Beautiful

Chantelle_B, Jul 2023

Had such an amazing trip to saona island. It was such a beautiful day spent with new people, experiencing such a untouched part of nature I recommend visiting and making a day of it

A piece of Paradise

Linara_A, Apr 2023

The best birthday gift! I dont usually leave reviews but please listen to me. BOOK THIS EXCURSION WITH THIS COMPANY. They treated us sooo well. Specially the captain Pirata! Great food, great Environment and everything else in between. You will not regret. Also you may want to drive to the port yourself its better to vibe in the car than making multiple stops with the buses. Have fun!!!!!!

Memories for a lifetime

Harvey_R, Mar 2023

Island…. Swimming…. Water….. Atmosphere…. Thumbs up to guides… excellent… The stuff you see in the movies.

Beautiful but flawed!

Lorraine_K, Jul 2022

Saona Island and the natural pool were beautiful and I would recommend seeing both however maybe another company’s tour would be better. This excursion felt very disorganized and had a few problems. First the taxi driver was late to pick us up, he drove aggressively and I was concerned since our 1 year old was with us. Then we waited awhile at a beach in groups for our speedboat. The speedboat was tight and had motor problems twice on our way to the natural pool. Made us feel very uneasy. Natural pool was great to swim. After, we arrived at Saona Island. The lunch buffet had long lines of people and ran out of plates and food. Also, this excursion says bottled water included but there wasn’t throughout the whole trip. You could get a cup of water but who wants to risk drinking that in a foreign country! We were told that we would get a catamaran to take us back. 15 minutes earlier than our expected departure we were rushed onto a speedboat that we had to take and transfer onto the catamaran. This was difficult with our 1 year old going from boat to boat. We were not allowed shoes on the catamaran which was very slippery. The ride and music was nice but we had to transfer to another boat yet again to reach the beach before our taxi took us back to our hotel. Scenery was beautiful. Organization terrible!

Don't sleep on this excursion you will love it

The_C, Jul 2022

Everything was wonderful the guy that we had was very professional and friendly he kept us up to date on everything I loved everything that we did we stopped at different locations to swim and to enjoy the sights and we had wonderful food and fabulous times in the water.

Response from Host, Jul 2022

Thank you for rating us! it was a great pleasure for us to assist you with our excursion. thanks a lot!

You will not be disappointed

The_C, Jul 2022

I love it I love it I love it. Everything was awesome!! The loading up the departing the arrival to the various parts of the journey. The rum is strong but good. The food was awesome. I will recommend and return.

Response from Host, Jul 2022

Thank you for comming with us to Saona Island! Thanks for rating our service! come back soon!!

Terrible experience

Pedro_F, May 2022

Terrible experience. The worst excursion I have been on my life. The boats are dirty, without care. The catamaran was the worst, the restroom smells terrible, with a lot of garbage and no toilet paper. Our tour guide, Mama Lina, arrives saying profanities, without a bra on a body hugging t shirt, with a disgusting an unprofessional conduct and look. For our return, they promise a catamaran party and we’re happy for that, what a deception!!. They put the most vulgar songs in spanish and english from beginning to end, we’re ashamed. The tour guide dance with the men on the most vulgar way that you can imagine. They never control the alcohol consumption and some girls are so drunk, that they can’t walk or even talk. Don’t misunderstand me, we are modern people and we love modern dance and music, but that was disgusting. On this type of entertainment, you have to be polite, educated and professional, there’s kids and old persons present. Saona island is a beautiful place, the food is simple but good, and the beach is very beautiful, unfortunately this company damages the nice experience.

Perfect day in Saona with lots of fun

Jan_V, Dec 2021

Pic up from the hotel was on time and everything was well organised! Lot of rum and lots of fun! Can highly recommend

Nice

Andry_B, Mar 2021

Great time, expected more from the island but it was and OK time there, food could of been better but yeah

Beware

Shawn_W, Dec 2020

Great excursion, "Captain Jack" was fantastic. We had a blast! But beware of the shady practice regarding the photographer. We told him we weren't interested in purchasing the photos. He said we didn't have to buy any, just delete them from our phone. Well, the next day, he called & texted us until we agreed to pay the 4300 pesos. So, we are out $74 and have no photos to show for it. Should we ever do this excursion again, we will definitely be more forceful and stand our ground regarding the photos.

Response from Host, Dec 2020

Hi dear client! we are sorry for what happened with the Photographer. we will work with this situation. despite it is not part of our service, and the photoggraphers dont work with or for our company, we will take good attention to this. Thank you for advising.