Hotel Villa Serena

Twenty-One Rooms, No Two Alike, Facing a Coral Island

Las Galeras is where the Samana peninsula runs out of road. The village sits at the end of it, a fishing settlement with a beach, a handful of tables and boats that leave for Playa Rincon in the morning. Villa Serena stands a little apart from all that, a Victorian house in a coconut garden with volcanic rock at the water’s edge and a small island lying offshore inside its own reef. The building looks nothing like a modern hotel and does not try to. Wide verandas, shutters, rocking chairs, a pool between the palms. It is the kind of place people return to for the same room.

Why It Works

The rooms made the case. All twenty-one are decorated individually, all have a large private terrace facing the sea, and many come with a hammock and a jacuzzi bath, an unusual combination at this scale on this coast. The garden does the rest, running down to a private stretch of sand with no vendors and no speakers. Then there is the kitchen: a Caribbean menu rewritten every night around what came in on the boats, with vegan and raw options treated seriously rather than tacked on the end.

Why This Location

Las Galeras is the quiet end of the peninsula, roughly forty minutes east of Samana town on a road that runs through hills and palm plantations. The village is a walk away along the sand, which means dinner does not have to be at the hotel. Playa Rincon, one of the great Caribbean beaches, is a short boat ride or a rough drive west, and Playa Fronton and Playa Madama, reachable mainly by sea, are why divers and hikers come here at all. El Catey airport is about an hour and a half by car; Samana Bay and its winter whales are closer.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: old world, botanical, unhurried

• Rooms: 21, each individually decorated, all with a large private terrace and sea view, many with a hammock and a jacuzzi bath

• Best For: couples, solo travellers, divers and hikers working the eastern peninsula

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the terraces, deep enough for a hammock and a pair of rocking chairs, with the island reef straight in front of them

• Dining: a sea-view restaurant and bar with a Caribbean menu rewritten nightly around the catch of the day, and proper vegan and raw vegan cooking

• Amenities: pool, private beach, tropical garden, yoga and aerial yoga, complimentary kayaks, bicycles and snorkelling gear

• Attractions: Las Galeras village on foot, Playa Rincon, Playa Fronton and Playa Madama by boat, and Samana Bay for the winter whale season

The Rooms, and Which Ones to Ask For

Because each room was done separately, they are not interchangeable, and asking matters. The upper rooms in the newer wing take the best of the view, and one or two carry two balconies rather than one. Televisions and telephones are largely absent, which is a decision rather than an omission. What every room does have is the terrace: wide, shaded, furnished for sitting still, and angled at the island offshore. Bring a book. That is the intended use.

Dinner Facing the Water

The restaurant is small and the menu changes nightly, built around whatever the boats landed and what the garden and local growers supply. Caribbean cooking is the frame, and the kitchen is comfortable with vegan and raw vegan plates, which is rare on this coast. Breakfast, included in the rate, is the meal regulars talk about. The bar and terrace look straight at the sea, and the whole operation runs at a scale where the staff learn how you take your coffee by the second day.

What to Know Before You Book

This is a remote address and the road east is slow, so allow more transfer time than the map suggests and arrive in daylight the first time. The house is old and open to the garden, which is its charm and also means you hear the sea and the birds before any alarm. There is no casino, no spa complex, no evening programme. Snorkelling gear, kayaks and bicycles are free and are the point. Divers should book the boats to Fronton ahead in the busy months.