Cabarete Beach Condos, Seen From the Other End of the Island

Cabarete is a beach town on the Dominican Republic's north coast, in Puerto Plata province. Andara is not there. It is a golf-front development in Cap Cana, on the country's eastern tip, roughly 240 miles away by road. So this page does not sell a Cabarete condo and names no building there. It is written for the buyer who typed the town's name while still deciding what kind of Caribbean home they want: what a beach condo in a town like Cabarete really is, what a home inside a planned community is instead, and the legal facts that follow you to either coast.

Start with the map: two coasts, one long drive apart

Cabarete sits on the Atlantic-facing north coast, about 11 miles from Gregorio Luperón International Airport at Puerto Plata (POP), according to Wikipedia's entry on the town. Andara is at the opposite corner of the country, inside Cap Cana in the province of La Altagracia. From its gate the Las Iguanas golf course is on site, Juanillo Beach is about 10 minutes away and Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) about 15.

Between them lies the width of the island. We measured the route on the public OSRM routing engine, which runs on OpenStreetMap road data, from Andara's published coordinates to the centre of Cabarete: roughly 240 miles by road. That makes these two separate decisions rather than two neighbourhoods of one. An owner on one coast does not drop in on the other for dinner, and a buyer who has fallen for the north coast should know from the first paragraph that nothing on this site can put them there.

A beach you walk into town from, or a beach you drive to

The phrase “beach condo” describes a different life on each coast. In Cabarete the beach is the middle of things. The town strings out along its main road, known locally as Calle Principal, with places to stay, restaurants and shops set between it and the sand, and the bay in front is a working watersports arena that has hosted professional kitesurfing competitions. Kite Beach and the surf break at Playa Encuentro lie a short way west along the same shore. A condo there is bought to step out of the door into all of that.

Cap Cana is organised the other way round. It is a gated, planned community with its own internal roads, golf and marina, and the beach is one of the places you go rather than the street you live on. Andara is golf-front, not beachfront: its homes look over the Las Iguanas fairways, and Juanillo Beach is about a 10-minute drive. For some buyers that is a loss. For others — anyone who wants quiet evenings, a course at the door and the sea as an outing — it is the whole point.

One thing is identical on both coasts and worth knowing before anyone sells you a “private beach”. Under Ley 305 of 1968, roughly the first 200 feet inland from the high-tide line is public property along the entire Dominican coastline. A beachfront condo in Cabarete fronts onto public sand, just as a hotel in Cap Cana does; what changes from one address to the next is the access and the services behind that strip, never ownership of the beach itself.

The two areas side by side

Set the two places in a table and the difference turns out to be less about quality than about what each one is for. The air-access rows deserve a second look, because they quietly decide how often a second home gets used and how easily it fills with guests. Read on the same day in September 2026 from the same route aggregator, FlightConnections, Puerto Plata's airport listed non-stop passenger flights to 20 destinations in 6 countries on 11 airlines, while Punta Cana International listed 91 destinations in 29 countries on 41 airlines. Schedules shift every season, so treat both as a snapshot rather than a standing ranking — but the gap is wide enough to matter when you picture your own journey.

A condo that already stands, or one still on paper

Whichever coast you settle on, the split that most changes the paperwork is not north against east. It is a condo that already stands, bought from its current owner, against one still being built, bought from the developer. Andara is the second kind: delivery is scheduled for Q4 2028, so what is signed for today is a specification rather than a finished home.

The Dominican tourism-incentive law, Law 158-01 as amended by Law 195-13 and known as CONFOTUR, grants its exemptions — from the 3% transfer tax and from the annual property tax (IPI) — to approved projects and their first buyers from the developer, and it excludes resales. Nor is it automatic: the exemption has to be filed and recorded on the title. Andara is approved under the law. A standing condo bought from a previous owner, on either coast, therefore does not bring those exemptions with it, and any price comparison between the two routes should allow for that. How the law applies to a given unit and a given owner is a question for your Dominican attorney.

For a standing condo, the document to ask for first is the Certificación del Estado Jurídico del Inmueble from the Registro de Títulos: the current reading of the unit's legal position, where a title certificate only records the registry as it stood on the day it was printed. A condominium exists in law once its regime is registered, after which each unit carries its own certificado de título (Ley 108-05, Article 101). For a building not yet finished, the registry publishes a route for a regime “in process”; where any particular project stands on that route is, again, for your attorney to confirm.

What does not change when you cross the island

Several of the rules buyers worry about are national, so picking a coast changes none of them. A foreign national can buy and hold Dominican property in their own name, on the same terms as a Dominican citizen, with no approval step. Short-term letting is permitted by national law, but the rulebook that actually binds is the condominium's own bylaws — so read them before assuming a unit can be let by the night, in Cabarete or in Cap Cana.

The weather calendar is shared too. From 1 June to 30 November the whole country sits inside the Atlantic hurricane season; no Dominican coast sits outside it. What differs between the two areas is everyday character — an Atlantic bay built around wind and swell on one side, a planned golf-and-marina community on the other — not the legal ground you stand on.

Which coast fits which owner

If the reason you searched Cabarete is the wind — a board on the bay in the afternoon and a town to walk into at night — then Cabarete is the answer, and a golf-front home in Cap Cana would be the wrong purchase however well it is built. If what drew you was a Caribbean home with the sea close by, it is worth asking whether you need the sand at your door or simply within reach, and how far you are willing to travel to reach the house each time you use it.

Andara is one answer to that second question, on the east coast. It is planned as 175 residences on the Las Iguanas golf course, with 7 pools including an adults-only rooftop infinity pool, prices from $280,600 and delivery scheduled for Q4 2028. It is not beachfront and does not pretend to be: Juanillo Beach is about 10 minutes away and the airport about 15. Whichever coast you choose, visit it in the season you would really use the home, and have a Dominican attorney read the file before you sign.

Common questions

Is Andara in Cabarete?

No. Andara is in Cap Cana, on the Dominican Republic's eastern tip, while Cabarete is a town on the north coast in Puerto Plata province. Measured on the OSRM routing engine from Andara's published coordinates, the two are roughly 240 miles apart by road, so they are separate choices rather than neighbouring ones.

Can a beachfront condo in Cabarete come with its own private beach?

Not in the sense of owning the sand. Under Ley 305 of 1968, roughly the first 200 feet inland from the high-tide line is public along the whole Dominican coastline. A building can front onto the beach and provide access and services behind that strip, in Cabarete as anywhere else, but the strip itself stays public.

Which area is easier to fly into?

On a same-day reading of the route aggregator FlightConnections in September 2026, Punta Cana International listed non-stop flights to 91 destinations and Puerto Plata's airport, the one that serves Cabarete, listed 20. Schedules change every season, so check the routes from your own home airport. From Andara, Punta Cana International is about 15 minutes away.

Does a resale condo come with CONFOTUR tax exemptions?

No. The exemptions under Law 158-01 are written for approved tourism projects and their first buyers from the developer, and resales are excluded. That is one reason a price for a standing condo and a price for a new home in an approved project are not directly comparable. How the law applies to a specific unit is a question for your Dominican attorney.