DR Unveiled: Private Half-Day Local's Transformative Tour

Unforgettable Cultural Tour with Edwin Perez! My experience with the cultural tour led by Edwin Perez was incredible from start to finish! We explored Higuey, visited a local cigar shop where we got a hands-on look at how cigars are made, and took in the beauty and history of the famous Basilica de la Altagracia. Edwin was knowledgeable, friendly, and made us feel like family. He shared meaningful stories about the local culture and history that really brought the experience to life. The highlight for me was walking through the basilica—it’s breathtaking and spiritually moving. If you’re looking for an authentic Dominican experience filled with culture, learning, and warm hospitality, I highly recommend this tour and Edwin as your guide!

Edwin and Abel were wonderful. We rolled cigars, visited a working plantation in the mountains, drove through the crazy traffic in town and visited a bascilica. What an amazing way to spend the morning. Edwin and Abel were excellent sharing their knowledge of the area, politics and the culture. Our family of 6 really loved the experience and the chance to leaen a few things while enjoying our vacation. Wishing Edwin, Abel and their families the best.

We did the private half day punta cana tour and it was AMAZING!!! The tour surpassed our expectations and ended up being our favorite thing we did on our vacation. Our tour guide was Edwin and he was the sweetest human. He was so knowledgeable. He answered all our questions. From the beginning, he made us feel comfortable. We never felt unsafe. He allowed us to stop at whatever we wanted and the tour was very personal. I will definitely book with Summit Punta Cana Tours when we return! The communication for pickup was 100x better than the other 2 excursions we did on this trip. You could tell Edwin was passionate about his job and about making our tour enjoyable. Thank you again!

Our 4 hour tour turned out to be 5 and a half and Edwin our guide was awesome! He took very good care of us and showed us all of the promised sights and more. We were full of questions as this was our first trip to the Dominican Republic. I highly recommend taking this tour! You won't be disappointed!

This trip was the highlight of our week. Edwin is very knowledgeable. He showed and told us about the economy, health care, education and everyday life in the DR, and answered our many questions about the history of the DR and Haiti. I learned so much. Because it was a private tour we were able to make extra stops (for example to pick up a delicious take-out lunch from a restaurant that Edwin recommended - best meal we had all week), and skip others. We appreciated having this personal touch and conversation with Edwin, while Andry focused on driving us safely to each destination. Highly recommend.

Yesterday my husband and I had a fabulous private tour with Edwin Perez. We went to a cigar making factory, which was fascinating even though neither of us is a smoker, a farm and private residence where we learned a lot about plants and agriculture in the area and saw cacao (picture of plant below) and coffee being roasted and husked (we were amazed at how many types of mangos there are), and then to Higuey, a city of 400,000 people up in the mountains where we went to a souvenir store, the local farmer's market (picture below), a painting store where many of the painting on sale at are resort are painted (but are available at a much lower price) and the regional cathedral (picture below). Along the way Edwin was a wealth of information about the economy and politics of the region. We feel we got a glimpse into the lives of the people of the region and the folks who work at the resorts. Edwin was very clear that the trip can be tailored to the interests of the customers so if some of the sights we saw do not interest you, you don't have to go to them and I am sure Edwin would have other options to add. We would highly recommend this tour.

Awesome tour with Edwin! We had a great time, clean suv with aircon and Edwin has lots of info about the DR …. Our favourite part of the tour was the plantation ! Beautiful countryside !

This excursion was excellent! I booked it even though it is completely out of my family's comfort zone and they probably didn't want to go! I wanted to get away from the resort and experience what the Dominican Republic culture is. Edwin drove us out into the country and explained so much about the DR as we were going. We are from the midwest so are used to seeing livestock, but seeing cows in fields with palm trees was new! We stopped at a small family coffee and chocolate farm where we got to sample various things, including fruit straight from the trees! From there, we headed into the city of Higuey. This was an experience! The traffic was crazy with motorcycles everywhere. There didn't seem to be much for traffic laws, lol. Edwin was completely calm through it all and laughed with us at how loco some people are. He is fun to talk to and has a lot of information to share. It took us a little over 4 hours from pick-up to drop-off. We were staying in Cap Cana. Because it's a private tour, you can personalize the experience a bit. We didn't go to the cigar place or stop at a market in the city (it was too crazy and we didn't want to get out of the car!). Highly recommend this excursion if you want to get away from the resort and see the real DR! Thank you, Edwin!

We had a great opportunity to explore local Punta Cana and Higuey with our tour guide Joel. He was very informative and resourceful as a local native , and we got to meet and spend time with other locals as well in the markets, cigar factory , and the 100 year old third generation coffee/cocoa 100 year plantation on the outskirts of town. The entire tour gives people a chance to experience true Dominican life ,and have an opportunity to purchase homegrown and handmade products indicative of the Dominican Republic. We highly recommend this tour and our guide Joel for a true Dominican experience.

Had a very informative and interesting day with Edwin on this private tour. Loved the visit to the tiny organic cocoa and coffee plantation and tasted a raw cacao bean for the first time. The visit to Higuey was an eye opening experience of life in the Dominican. Edwin is a lovely man with solid values and I'd highly recommend this family run business (7 sons and dad!)