By Adam Hay-Nicholls,Don Andreas
Copyright cityam
The Eden Roc on the Dominican Republic’s luxurious Cap Cana is nirvana for those who love golf and cigars, which is about as overlapping as Venn diagrams get. I spent the whole time trying not to get ash on my shorts as I practiced my swing.
Personally, I enjoy a cigar but it has to be in the right setting. One needs a good sunset, a decanter of something brown, and the company of those that appreciate the aroma. And I think golf is a rather good game, save for the fact it attracts incredibly dull, self-important and badly-dressed people. As a five-star Relais & Chateau property, I was sure the Eden Roc Cap Cana would deliver on the former, we’d see about the latter.
First, a geography lesson. The Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic is located on the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with French-Creole-speaking Haiti to the west. This is the second largest island in the Caribbean and lies between Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Haiti is a dangerous and troubled place, but the Dominican Republic is pretty safe and prosperous and the east coast, where Punta Cana and the uber-exclusive gated community of Cap Cana are situated, is very safe and thriving economically thanks to tourism. One flies into Punta Cana International Airport and the Eden Roc Cap Cana is just a 20 minute drive.
The men who put this region on the map were none other Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias and the late Dominican-born fashion designer Oscar de la Renta. They both had homes in Punta Cana, and together designed and built hotel complexes and luxury villas and invested in the airport’s development. They also became roving ambassadors, drawing the great and the good from Miami and New York from the late 1990s onwards.
The Dominican Republic hotel that draws celebrities, including Vin Diesel, whose horse lives in the stables
The place still draws US celebrities, and several big names own properties on the Cap Cana estate. I know this because I spent some quality time with Vin Diesel’s horse, feeding him Polo mints. The horse, I mean. The Punta Cana Equestrian Centre has row upon row of pampered mares and stallions in its stables, each belonging to wealthy villa owners nearby, and it’s not uncommon for guests at the Eden Roc to arrive with a horsebox as well as their Vuitton trunks.
My check-in was a more low-key affair, elevated by the presentation not only of a key card to my pool villa but a physical key to my own golf buggy. Between you and me, I can’t get behind the wheel of a golf cart without an overwhelming urge to grab a club and attempt golf buggy polo as immortalised in that niche 1990 action-thriller Navy SEALs, starring Charlie Sheen, which I suspect only Marina Hyde has seen more times than me.
Set on the white sand beachfront and with a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course running through it, the architecture of the hotel and its sprawling annexes of pool villas draws upon Spanish colonial and riviera chic, and my one-bedroom pool villa, painted wedding cake white, reminds me of the sorts of properties one finds on Miami’s Star Island but scaled down like a Wendy house. The sort of Wendy house where Gloria Estefan’s grandchildren hang out.
There are brilliant cigars – we chomped through half a dozen of their fine torpedos
Of the hotel’s 68 rooms, 34 are pool villas. I spent most of my down time in my own little pool, which was completely private from other villas thanks to dense vegetation. If one did want to share the water with other guests, there’s a thriving family scene to be found in two whacking great pools that lead you from the hotel lobby and its informal restaurant, Blue Grill, down to the azure waves.Blue is where guests head for breakfast, and it’s also popular for lunch and dinner with terrific wood-fired pizza, shrimp tacos, ceviche and sushi.
The more high-end dining experiences come courtesy of La Palapa, on an oceanfront point, which is the romantic option and terrific for sea bream, sea bass and red snapper, and Mediterraneo, which has an elegant steakhouse vibe and the sort of menu that’ll satisfy those who look straight to the bottom of the wine list. The chef’s signatures include black truffled rib, foie gras, and taglioni with caviar. After that, you’ll need a digestif and I heartily recommend the adjacent Riva bar, with its mahogany panels and turquoise leather bar stools inspired by the world’s most beautiful speedboat, the Riva Aquarama. The only thing missing was Jackie Onassis lounging on the sofa.
I conducted a summit in the bar with the local cigar hawker. We drank Brugal Leyenda rum long into the night, chomped through half a dozen of his fine torpedos, and did a deal. These were spectacular cigars, made by Don Andreas, a family-owned Dominican concern using the highest-grade hand-rolled tobacco. Impeccable. I talked my new friend down from $400 to $200 for a box of 20 and had them stick it on my room.
Read more: A father-daughter trip to Tokyo: Japan from two very different perspectives
With a head still full of cigar smoke, the next morning I visited the hotel’s spa for my scheduled sound bath. Here I was told to sit and close my eyes while a woman in pyjamas made resonant noises with singing bowls and took us through a guided meditation. I’m never sure what to do or think about in these scenarios. Usually I think about how much the wellness industry must rake in, but on this occasion I had half an eye on my watch because I was due to play golf.
The thing I hate about golf, apart from the fashion and the people who play it, is the abundance of stuff one needs to purchase for no reason. At least the Punta Espada course (no.1 in the Caribbean and no.35 in the world, according to Golf Digest) didn’t make me buy any stupid shoes, but apparently they won’t rent a glove so I had to buy that, and some balls, too. And I had to rent a golf buggy from them even though I had an identical one from the hotel, and employ a caddie. Ho hum. It is a spectacular course.
You’re literally hitting balls across the ocean and onto the fairway. I’m the sort of player who, out of 18 holes, absolutely nails one and flops on the other 17, but it’s enough to keep me coming back for more whenever there’s a course on the doorstep.
This is exactly the sort of place a Hannibal from the A-team-sized stogie looks the part. I’m not sure the other players were too impressed, with their tucked in shirts, belt-mounted mobiles and conversations about 401(k)s. Still, they will have plenty of sun-drenched memories to share at the next sales conference.
Perhaps as a result of my antipathy to wellness and golfers, on my final night in the Dominican Republic I was treated to a private dinner at the Founder’s Villa: An 11-bedroom mansion of the sort you might find in a music video, with indoor and outdoor kitchens and an infinity pool that ends where the golf course begins.
The hotel’s incredibly charming staff served a wonderful barbeque of pink tomahawk steak and generous prawns. Then it was time for dark rum and more of the DR’s best cigars. I’d need to buy another box-full at Julio and Oscar’s Duty Free.
Visit the Dominican Republic yourself
Rates at the Eden Roc Cap Cana start from £700 per room per night, including breakfast. Rooms with pools start from £800 per night. The Founder’s Villa is available in summer at a rate of £5,700 per night and £8,180 in winter. For more information, visit edenroccapcana.com
Read more: Forget Seville, Cordoba is the real jewel of Southern Spain
Read more: Why now is the time for a fabulously solo Maldives holiday
