A Day in Puerto Plata on a Cruise: Cable Car Ride, Beach Time, and Pink Street

How do you spend a day in Puerto Plata on a cruise? If your cruise docks in Taino Bay, you can stay in the port terminal and enjoy the swimming pool and lazy river, book one of the many excursions available, like a trip to the Waterfalls of Damajagua, or stay closer to the port and relax on the beach, which we chose to do.

This was our second visit to Puerto Plata this year. The first time, we docked in Taino Bay on the Virgin Scarlet Lady and took a cruise-sponsored excursion that wasn’t worth the trek. So, for this trip on the NCL Breakaway, I decided to book a private taxi for our group of four, allowing us to explore at our own pace.

Our day in Puerto Plata was a mix of adventure and relaxation. We started with a cable car ride to the peak of Isabel del Torres for some stunning views. Then, we spent some relaxing time at the beach before heading downtown to see the popular Pink Street and Umbrella Street.

In this post, we’ll share our experience, including who we used as our taxi driver, and provide a few other ideas so you can plan your day at Puerto Plata cruise port.

Puerto Plata in a Day on a Cruise

Puerto Plata is located on the Dominican Republic’s northern end. It has two cruise ports: Amber Cove and Taino Bay. Taino Bay cruise port is one of the newest and is closer to the city center. The city welcomes cruisers and tourists with open arms.

As mentioned earlier, we independently booked a private taxi driver in advance. We planned our itinerary with him, and he met us outside Taino Bay cruise port. If your cruise docks at Amber Cove cruise port or another cruise port in Puerto Plata, you can still follow a similar itinerary and even hire the same driver if you choose to do so.

The taxi driver met us outside the cruise port, and off we went to start our day.

Private Taxi Driver Info: Enrique Service Taxi Tours

Ride the Teleférico de Puerto Plata Cable Car to See the Views

[As I wrote this post, I learned that as of June 10th, the cable car is closed and being replaced. You can still reach the peak of the mountain by a 4×4 vehicle. I will continue to share our experience.]

The first stop on our agenda for the day was the cable car, one of the most popular attractions in Puerto Plata. It’s not easily accessible by foot from the port, so if you don’t have a tour or transportation booked, you can hire a taxi outside the port to take you to the cable car station.

Our driver had our tickets ready, and we only had a short wait to board the cable car. We were entertained by local music.

• Ride Duration: The cable car takes 10 minutes to reach the peak of Isabel del Torres, 2,600 feet above sea level. Expect to be stuffed into the car with at least a dozen people.
• Engineering: An Italian company engineered and built The original cable car.
• At the Peak: While you will find the most stunning views when you reach the top, you will also find a replica of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue.

Once at the top, the views are worth the short trip. You can even see your cruise ship docked in the port.

FYI: You’ll find staff ready to help you take photos with the statue. They’re not allowed to accept tips directly because they can get in trouble, but they might lure you into the store where you can give them tips. I chose to take my photos. I don’t mind tipping or paying for assistance, but I don’t appreciate being lured into buying things and then tipping.

This main attraction will take up only 1-2 hours of your day. Once you do it once, you probably won’t do it again when you’re in Puerto Plata.

Note: You must go back down the same way you came up.

The last time we were in Puerto Plata, we took an excursion that drove us to Coconut Grove Beach Club. It was a nice beach, but the trek was not worth the short time spent there. I asked the driver to take us to a nearby beach with food. So he drove and escorted us into Playa del Pueblito, next to Playa Dorada.

Playa del Pueblito is a public beach with shops, restaurants, loungers, and umbrellas available for an additional cost. The water was lovely, and the beach was perfect for our few hours there. We rented four lounge chairs and two umbrellas for $30, which I thought was reasonable. We also had waiter service from Café & Bar Vista Azul, a nearby restaurant, and there was a public restroom we could use.

The highlight of my time at this beach was the food and drinks! We started with beautiful and delicious piña coladas served in pineapples—some of the best I’ve ever had. For lunch, I ordered mofongo with shrimp, which was amazing. Mofongo is a typical dish in the Dominican Republic and also a dish in Puerto Rico, where my family is from. It had been years since I last had it, and it hit the spot.

It’s worth disembarking the ship at this port to eat the typical local food on the island.

The rest of my family also loved the drinks and food, but they were more focused on swimming in the water and sunbathing under the Caribbean sun.

After a few hours, we were ready to head out. We wanted to have some time to visit the Downtown area before returning to the port. The driver waited in the parking lot to take us to our next requested stops.

Tip: If you want to avoid drama with souvenir vendors and not be stalked the entire time you’re there, avoid taking anything for free from them when they welcome you. They hope you will buy something from their souvenir shops in return. We had this experience when we visited Isla Catalina on a past vacation and had it again on this trip, but we only declined the free bracelet.

A few local vendors were selling things on the beach, but once you said, “No, thank you,” they understood and walked away.

Prefer a Private Beach Resort? Book a Resort Pass at one of these Puerto Plata locations. All-inclusive and non-all-inclusive resorts are available. You can take a taxi from the cruiser pier to the beach resort. [book now]

Before returning to the ship, we wanted to stop by some famous streets in the center of Puerto Plata. Pink Street, locally known as Paseo de Doña Blanca, is an alleyway painted dark pink with Victorian flair and decor. It’s a great spot for those social media photos, so have your cameras ready.

We were lucky that we left this for the end of the day because it was mostly empty. I can’t imagine it in the middle of the day.

Just steps away from Pink Street is Umbrella Street. While Umbrella Street is a closed-off street, I found it worth the stop. That’s probably more about the afternoon pick-me-ups we found and enjoyed there than the umbrellas. After taking photos with the colorful umbrellas, we found some great mid-afternoon snacks at Rincon del Cafe & Chocolate and Natural Ice Cream.

At Rincon del Cafe, we enjoyed an excellent cup of espresso coffee and local cookies and even took some local chocolates home. They were great about sharing samples if you were curious about their chocolate. They also had some really cute souvenirs and mugs.

Next door at Natural Ice Cream, we tried homemade ice cream popsicles that my family said were phenomenal. They reminded me of the ice cream (known as limber in Puerto Rico) my mother made for me growing up.

We didn’t have much time to spare before we had to get back to the ship, or else we would have walked around the city center a little longer and explored.

From Taino Bay cruise port, you can easily walk to the town center to reach Pink Street and then Umbrella Street. If your cruise docks there, it is only a 15-minute walk from Taino Bay cruise port. However, if your ship docks at Amber Cove cruise port, you must take a taxi.

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