Magical Travels by Stacy

08/03/2026

Monkey Land Excursion Part II with Runners Adventures

After having some time to shop, the tour continued with a short hike to learn more about coffee and chocolate production in the Dominican Republic.

During our walk we saw an iguana and cacao trees, and learned more about plantations. There was a stop for ice cream. 🦎

During the demonstration, we were able to sample coffee, hot chocolate, and Mama Juana. The coffee was absolutely delicious! At the end of the demonstration, there was an opportunity to shop before heading back to the transportation back to the resort. ☕️🍫🥃

We came home with natural vanilla, coffee, and Mama Juana 🇩🇴

Ziplining is available to be booked as part of the excursion at an additional cost.

The transportation back seemed much quicker but we also all fell asleep! Highly recommend this tour!!!

Punta Cana, vacation, family

07/29/2026

We had an amazing time at Monkey Land while we were in the Dominican Republic. We booked this excursion with Runners Adventures through Viator and had an amazing experience. They picked us up at our resort and after a few stops at other resorts, we had about a 45 minute ride to Monkey Land from Punta Cana, during which our driver told us some cultural and historical facts about the provinces of the DR.
We were on our tour within 20 minutes of arriving and spent about 40 minutes with the monkeys, having multiple encounters before heading back to the store for some shopping.
Then we were lead on the coffee/chocolate plantation part of the tour, which was more like a hike and demonstration rather than visiting an actual plantation. I’ll post part 2 with this! We came home with some goodies.

The whole experience was a little less than 3 hours but over 5 with transportation and resort pick ups/drop offs because we were one of the first pick ups and last drop offs.

I would highly recommend this experience if you are visiting the DR!

🐒🌴🐵🇩🇴

Travel, monkeys, vacation

07/08/2026

07/06/2026

07/06/2026

We stayed in a Family Suite with a a private pool during our stay at Finest Punta Cana and we all loved it!

Our kids’ top 8 favorites were…
🌺 The family suite has a separate bedroom for 2 kids. It also had a huge closet and a tv. It was so nice for the kids to have their own space. (This was everyone’s #1 favorite thing about our stay).
🌺 We all loved the private pool but the kids especially loved it when they needed a break from the main pool.
🌺 The kids’ club activities were definitely a favorite! The activities were held at the beach or in the main kids’ club area and included everything from coloring to going on an adventure to a neighboring resort to look for turtles.
🌺 The water park! This area is definitely meant for kids under 10, but they had a lot of fun making friends here.
🌺 The swim-up bar- the kids loved sitting at the swim-up bar and ordering their own Shirley temples and strawberry daiquiris in fancy cups. The adult only area of the resort also has its own swim up bar so this one also includes a kids menu.
🌺 The playground was a nightly routine after dinner. It was too hot to use during the day, but perfect to run off some energy after dinner.
🌺 Imagine lounges between restaurants- 2 restaurants share an imagine lounge where kids can go while waiting for their dinner or for their parents to finish eating. (this is one of mom & dad’s top 5’s too!)
🌺 The BLOB!!!! I think this was every kids’ favorite, but there was also a mini version in the toddler pool.

Punta Cana, family travel, summer vacation

07/02/2026

Who else soaks up every minute of vacation? ☀️🏝️🌺
You will find me enjoying every possible moment of vacation. 🐚🌴🍹

Travel, vacation, marriage humor

06/27/2026

Do your research before you book a beach vacation. 🏝️We knew to expect sargassum on the beach and made the best of it, but next time we come back to the Dominican Republic, we will stay in an area that doesn’t get it this bad. 🇩🇴
We went in one day between patches and at least it doesn’t stink here like it did in Cancun.

Punta Cana, travel humor, vacation