Overall we had a very nice vacation and I would go again to LTI if they change the mattresses and renovate the rooms a little! Even a few rainy days couldn’t ruin it. We travelled with 11 month old baby – see for my tips at the end. It’s a pretty old hotel (one of the first in Punta Cana) so the rooms are old, but the beach is one of the best – they had an opportunity to choose while the coast line was still half empty. As I understand, LTI is a German company – don’t be surprised that the majority of the people staying there will be from Germany. Maybe that’s why they have such a delicious pastries and grilled sausages?..

Beach: is the best! If you are not pool kind of guy – this is the place to stay. We walked around a lot and I can say that LTI beach is the best of all the hotels around it even the 5* ones. The sand is white and soft, the water is clear and has amazing colours on a sunny day; you don’t have to go a mile from your umbrella to the water . We always could find a free umbrella, but I think it depends on the season. We were there last week of May – first week of June.

Pool: looks beautiful thou we never spent time there because we are beach people. It has no swim-up bar, but bar is not far.

Buffet: is pretty good, especially pastries and desserts! They are delicious and different every day! They have one smoking and one no-smoking sitting section. We found that in the evening it’s better to go to the smoking section (closer to the ocean) because the breeze from the ocean makes it much more comfortable. It can get really uncomfortably hot at dinners in this buffet! The food is ok. I missed only cottage cheese, lox and normal oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal that they have reminds more of a dessert than a morning cereal – it has lots of cream, sugar and cinnamon. I loved fresh fruit cocktails, crêpes or “pick your own ingredients” omelette for breakfast. In the evenings they have Chinese food Chef (pick your own ingredients), Pasta Chef and grilled meat and fish Chefs additional to the regular buffet food. House wine was surprisingly ok. Don’t miss Thursday evening buffet – it’s the best. They have different cheeses and Hamon and lots of special stuff and live music. They create that Cornucopia sculpture of the fruits and vegetables and their chefs carve sculptures of the watermelon – quite cute!

Beach Snack Bar: grilled sausages, hamburgers and chicken are very good! We always had lunch there instead of the buffet. Nothing beats the ocean view and the ability to stay in your swimming wear!

Grounds: are beautiful. The resort has this intimate colonial atmosphere. Everything is in the walking distance and everything is accessible for strollers or wheelchairs.

Bars & Drinks: are generally good except Margarita – they got it all wrong! Never even try it there! Instead ask for Caipirinia – it reminds Margarita and it is drinkable. We liked Miami Vice – it is similar to Pina-colada, but has added strawberry flavour! They have coffee machines everywhere and this coffee is very good! We loved lobby bar in the evening: sit on the couch and enjoy some cold cocktail!

Entertainment: animation people are not as active as we saw in the other resorts. They have a few lessons like merenge, Spanish, tennis, aerobics on the beach, etc. But this is all. We never saw any of competitive games and funny stuff going on in the swimming pool or beach during the day. Nightly shows are regular Dominican All-inclusive Shows – nothing to write home about, but still fun since you have nothing else to do... Use Mosquito repellent when you go out at night! I counted 17 bites on one leg once! Since we travelled with the baby – we never went to the night disco, so I cannot tell if it was good. But I can say that our neighbours surely enjoyed it since they were very loud every time they returned from it at around 3am!

Rooms: are very old and not 4 star quality at all! I would say 2 or 3 star maximum. Everything is shabby looking and not very clean. The mattresses and pillows are awful! If you have back or neck problems you’ll be waking up with the pain every single day! AC in our room was too cold and changing the setting didn’t seem to produce any result. They have no mosquito nets on the windows! So it’s impossible to sleep with the windows open! Every balcony has concrete wall on one side and a wooden lattice wall on the other, so you can see and hear your neighbours on that side pretty well! It quiet disturbed us one night when our neighbours decided to have a smoke and a chat on their balcony when they came back from the disco at 3 am!

Baby & Rooms: the cribs that they have are very small and flimsy. They are safe for very small babies (0 to 6 month) only! If you travel with the older baby – ask for children’s bed and put it in between the wall and your bed. That’s what we did. They provide two 1.5 L bottles of water every day – it is safe for the baby, but we were still boiling it (we brought our own electric kettle).

Baby & Buffet: They have good baby chairs with trays. The food is ok. Nobody we knew got sick. I think you can give this food to the baby without hesitation. We did. She loved yogurt, fresh papaya, watermelon and pineapple, cooked broccoli, green beans, pasta and local veggie called “tayota”  - taste resembles zucchini. As I mentioned above – go to the smoking section in the evenings if your baby doesn’t like being hot. Our daughter hated dinners. She was starting to cry like crazy after 15 min in that hot place every single evening. We never could finish our dessert!

Baby & Beach: We had a small inflatable boat for the baby – it is very convenient. You put the baby in it in sitting position and swim. You hold the boat and the baby with your hands and you swim with your legs. Most of the time on the beach our baby slept on the chaise or sat in the sand and played with it. We kept her hat, t-shirt and swimming diaper on her all the time and we applied lots of Baby Sun block #55. Still she got the tan, but was never burnt (thou we never left her under the sun for longer than 15 min). She also liked when we put some water inside the boat and let her sit in it under the umbrella.

Baby & Beach Snack Bar: they have baby chairs and small choice of non-grilled food suitable for the baby: pasta, cooked broccoli, green beans, fresh fruits etc.

What to pack for the baby: sun block, small inflatable boat, hats, swimming diapers, reg. diapers, Vaseline, wet wipes, light stroller (the lighter the better – you won’t need the huge and heavy one in this resort), formula, bottles, cleaning brush, detergent and bottle drier stand, electric kettle , lots of Ziplocs and a couple of small food containers to put some snacks from the buffet for the baby to chew on during the day, baby-safe mosquito repellent, couple of beach toys, bibs, Aloe Vera gel, Infant Advil or Tempra, light baby blanket, light baby sleeping sac.

Don’t pack: baby snacks – buffet food is enough; big heavy stroller; sheets or receiving blankets; towels including beach towels - they give each person their own towel (baby included) and they change them every day, so as the beach towels.

If you run out of diapers or formula: take the free shuttle bus to the Plaza Palma Real (ask bellboy for schedule). They have small pharmacy there. We bought Nestle Baby Formula there. They also had Similac and Enfamil. Ask for mixing instructions – it’s all in Spanish...
Contact me if you have other questions.