On the southern coral coast of the Dominican Republic, just outside the city of La Romana, sits one of the Caribbean’s most storied resorts. Casa de Campo — roughly 7,000 acres of golf courses, villas, gardens and coastline — opened in the 1970s and marked its 50th anniversary in 2025. It is less a hotel than a small private country: three championship golf courses, a cliff-top artists’ village with a 5,000-seat amphitheater, a Mediterranean-style marina, a private beach, and the hundreds of villas that surround them. This is the complete guide to what’s there and why it endures.
The golf: three Pete Dye courses, led by a legend
Casa de Campo is, first, a golf destination — home to three courses designed by the late American architect Pete Dye. The crown jewel is Teeth of the Dog, opened in 1971 and carved by Dye out of rugged coral coastline: a par-72 layout with seven holes running along the ocean that has long been rated the No. 1 golf course in the Caribbean, and which recently reopened after a full restoration. The other two are Dye Fore, set dramatically on the cliffs above the Chavón River gorge, and The Links, an inland course. Together they make Casa de Campo one of the most concentrated collections of Dye’s work anywhere in the world. (Source: Casa de Campo — Golf.)
Altos de Chavón: a 16th-century village that opened with Sinatra
Above the Chavón River stands Altos de Chavón, a painstakingly built replica of a 16th-century Mediterranean village — cobbled lanes, stone buildings and a church, hand-made by Dominican artisans. At its center is a 5,000-seat, Greek-style amphitheater, designed by Italian artist Roberto Coppa in 1976 and inaugurated on August 20, 1982 with the Concert for the Americas — a night headlined by Frank Sinatra, with Buddy Rich, Heart and Carlos Santana. It has hosted international stars ever since.
Batmandir · The Circle Full access to theatres, museums & exhibitions. S2 · ongoing membership, without a Founder’s seat. Explore membership →Altos de Chavón is also a working arts campus. The Chavón School of Design opened there in 1983 in affiliation with New York’s Parsons School of Design, and the village houses a Regional Museum of Archaeology and artisan studios. It is the cultural anchor of the resort and one of the Dominican Republic’s most photographed places. (Sources: Altos de Chavón; Concert for the Americas.)
The marina, the beach, and the water
Down at the coast, Marina Casa de Campo is a Mediterranean-styled yachting harbor lined with restaurants, cafés and boutiques — the social heart of the resort after a round of golf. The resort’s private beach, Playa Minitas, is a sheltered crescent of sand and calm water, and the surrounding waters are a base for sport-fishing, sailing and day trips to nearby Catalina and Saona islands.
Staying there: the villas
Casa de Campo is defined by its private villas as much as by its hotel rooms — standalone homes, many with pools, staff and golf-cart access to the courses and marina, that families and groups rent by the week. USA Times maintains a small, vetted set of Casa de Campo rentals: browse the Casa de Campo section, including the oceanfront Cacique 1 and the Charming Italian Villa, or see all rentals.
Getting there
The resort is unusually easy to reach for somewhere this secluded: La Romana International Airport (LRM) sits just minutes away, with seasonal and charter service. Travelers also fly into Punta Cana (PUJ), roughly an hour to the east by road, or Santo Domingo’s Las Américas (SDQ), about an hour to ninety minutes to the west. Confirm current routes and transfer times with your airline before you book — schedules change seasonally.
Why it endures
Fifty years on, Casa de Campo’s appeal is the same combination it opened with: world-class golf on a dramatic coastline, a genuine cultural landmark in Altos de Chavón, and the privacy of a villa estate rather than a crowded hotel. It is the rare resort that is also a place — with its own history, its own architecture, and its own small city’s worth of things to do.
Sources: Casa de Campo Resort & Villas and its golf pages; Casa de Campo (Wikipedia); Altos de Chavón (Wikipedia); Concert for the Americas (Wikipedia). Distances and schedules are approximate and seasonal; confirm before booking.
