Christmas in Punta Cana: a Dominican Christmas Eve by the sea
In the Dominican Republic, Christmas happens at the table. The big night is the 24th, Nochebuena, with puerco asado, moro de guandules and pasteles en hoja, and the celebration keeps going until Three Kings Day on January 6. In Punta Cana that Christmas lives side by side with the resort version: a tree in the lobby, a gala dinner and the beach on the morning of the 25th. Here’s what people eat and sing here, where to find Mass, what the weather is like in December, what to do each day of the week and how to get from the airport to your hotel on the busiest flying days of the year.
The Dominican calendar, from December 24 to January 21
Dominican Christmas is a long one. Homes are decorated well ahead of time, but the dates that set the whole country in motion are five: Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), Christmas Day, New Year’s, Three Kings Day and, once January is underway, the feast of the Virgin of Altagracia, the country’s patron saint, whose shrine is about 45 minutes from Punta Cana.
Here’s how they fall this season. The public holidays are the ones on the official calendar from the Ministry of Labor:
| Date | What’s celebrated | What it changes for you |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, December 24 | Nochebuena: family dinner and Midnight Mass | The most important night. Get to your hotel in daylight. |
| Friday, December 25 | Christmas Day, public holiday | A quiet day of leftovers and the beach. |
| Thursday, December 31 | New Year’s Eve, the second big dinner | Year-end dinner at home and at the hotels. |
| Friday, January 1, 2027 | New Year’s Day, public holiday | The wave of trips back to the airport begins. |
| Monday, January 4 | Three Kings holiday, moved to Monday | A long weekend for Dominicans. |
| Wednesday, January 6 | Three Kings Day, when children get their presents | A working day in 2027, but the tradition holds. |
| Thursday, January 21 | Our Lady of Altagracia, public holiday | Pilgrimage to the Basilica in Higuey. |
2027 public holidays according to the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Labor. The Three Kings holiday moves to Monday under Law 139-97; January 1 and January 21 stay on their dates.
Nochebuena: dinner on the 24th
In the Dominican Republic, Christmas Eve dinner is the most anticipated night of the year. The family gathers at home, eats late and eats plenty. Historians at the Dominican Academy of Gastronomy explain that this table took shape starting in colonial times, blending what the Europeans brought with what the Taino people ate and with the cooking of enslaved Africans.
There’s an almost national rule: in the north and in the capital, pork rules—here it’s called puerco—and in the south people eat more chicken. On the 25th the leftovers get warmed up, and that has a name of its own: the recalentao.
| On the table on the 24th | What it is |
|---|---|
| Puerco asado | Roast pork, the centerpiece. Many families roast it en puya, skewered on a pole over the coals, and the work starts early in the day. |
| Moro de guandules | Rice cooked together with guandules, a green legume known in English as pigeon peas. In the Cibao region it’s made with coconut. |
| Pasteles en hoja | A dough of plantain, green banana or yautia, a starchy root, filled with meat and wrapped in a plantain leaf. They belong to the East, the region Punta Cana is in. |
| Russian salad | Potatoes and cooked vegetables with egg and mayonnaise. Some households add fruit. |
| Telera | The Dominican Christmas bread, much bigger than an ordinary loaf. |
| Roast turkey or chicken | Turkey has been showing up more and more in recent years, under the influence of the United States. |
| Ponche | The classic drink of the season. People also toast with wine, sparkling wine and rum. |
Every household puts the dinner together its own way. The table also has apples, grapes, coquitos—little coconut sweets—and Christmas candy.
If this is your first Christmas here, look for the pastel en hoja. It’s the dish most closely tied to this part of the country, and it’s nothing like anything on a Christmas table in the United States or Europe.
Aguinaldos, merengue and the angelito
Dominican Christmas has its own soundtrack, and it’s merengue. The song everyone links to the season is “Volvió Juanita,” by Milly Quezada: when it starts playing on the radio, for Dominicans it’s officially Christmas. Alongside it you hear the tambora, a two-headed drum, the güira, a metal scraper, and the accordion, the three instruments of traditional merengue.
The aguinaldos
Groups of friends or neighbors who go out at night singing Christmas carols from house to house, often without warning, with tambora and güira. The house that takes them in serves ginger tea or hot chocolate. It’s a custom you see less and less in the cities, but some church groups keep it alive.
The angelito
The Dominican Secret Santa. In offices, schools and families, names go on slips of paper, everyone draws one and gives that person gifts for days or weeks. At the end, at a get-together, everyone finds out who was whose angelito, or little angel.
The clean house
Before the year ends, the house gets a deep cleaning and a coat of paint, and old things get thrown out, so the new year starts with everything in order.
At a resort in Bavaro, nobody is going to show up at your door singing aguinaldos. To hear what a Dominican Christmas sounds like, put on a merengue station on your phone on the way to the beach, or ask at the front desk whether your hotel has traditional music that week.
Midnight Mass and the Basilica in Higuey
The Misa del Gallo—the Rooster’s Mass, as Midnight Mass is called here—is the Mass on the night of the 24th, and for Dominican Catholics it’s the most sacred celebration of Christmas. Some families go before dinner and others after. The name comes from the belief that a rooster crowed on the night Jesus was born.
The great church of this region is the Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia, in Higuey, the capital of the province Punta Cana belongs to. According to the Ministry of Tourism, it was inaugurated on January 21, 1971, when the image of the Virgin was moved from the church of San Dionisio, where it had been kept for centuries. It’s the country’s great Marian shrine, modern in style with towering arches, and it’s about 45 minutes from Punta Cana by road.
How to go
Plan on one to two hours for the visit. Dress as you would for Mass, not in beachwear.
The church of San Dionisio
It’s in Higuey too, and at more than five centuries old it’s the first church of this devotion. You can see both in one morning.
Mass times
Check the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Mass times with the Basilica before you head out, and on feast days get there early: it fills up.
Close to your hotel
If you’d rather not spend the 24th on the road, ask at the front desk about the nearest church and its Christmas Eve schedule.
Three Kings Day and the Vieja Belén
In the Dominican Republic, children’s presents arrive with the Three Wise Men, on the night of January 5 into the 6th. That’s when the season ends, and in many homes more gifts change hands that day than at Christmas.
And for the children who got nothing, there’s the Vieja Belén, a figure from Dominican folklore who hands out presents a few days after Three Kings Day. Some say she comes the following Sunday, others wait for her on January 13. Nobody agrees on where she came from: some link her to Italy’s Befana, and others trace her to San Pedro de Macoris and a woman who, in the 1930s and 1940s, collected money to buy toys for poor children.
Christmas at your resort
Almost everyone who spends Christmas in Punta Cana spends it at an all-inclusive, and there the night of the 24th has its own rules. Here’s what’s worth sorting out before you arrive:
Ask what your hotel does on the 24th
Every resort plans its night its own way: a gala dinner, a special buffet or a set menu at the à la carte restaurants. Ask when you book the room, not when you check in.
Reserve your table
At all-inclusives the à la carte restaurants usually take reservations, and the 24th and the 31st are the most requested nights of the year. If you want a particular table, reserve it on your first day.
Ask for something Dominican
Find out whether the dinner on the 24th will include puerco asado or pasteles en hoja. It’s the easiest way to taste a Dominican Christmas Eve without leaving the hotel.
What to wear
Gala dinners call for something dressier than beachwear. Linen, a long-sleeved shirt, dress sandals.
Eating out
If you’re having dinner outside the resort, have your ride back arranged before you sit down. At midnight on the 24th, don’t count on flagging a taxi on the street.
December weather and which beach to pick
December in Punta Cana is warm by day and mild at night. The climate normals from the National Meteorological Office for the Punta Cana airport station give a high of 83 °F (28.6 °C) and a low of 71 °F (21.8 °C), with the easterly trade wind blowing at an average of about 11 mph (18 km/h).
It does rain some: 72 millimeters (2.8 inches) over the month, spread across about 11 rainy days. Even so, December adds up to 233 hours of sunshine, about seven and a half a day. That’s why it pays not to leave the big excursion of your trip for the last day: if it rains that day, you still have room to move it.
The Punta Cana coast has more than 50 km of beach, and it isn’t all the same. According to the Ministry of Tourism:
Bavaro
The main beach, long and wide, with the biggest concentration of hotels. It’s where you’ll be if your resort is “in Punta Cana.”
Cabeza de Toro
A family beach, good for going with kids.
Juanillo
In Cap Cana, to the south, with calm turquoise water.
Macao
North of Bavaro, with no hotels behind it and real waves. It’s a surf beach: for swimming with children, pick another one.
As on any open beach, check the flag before you go in and listen to the hotel lifeguards.
A long-sleeved layer
For dinner outdoors on the 24th and for the air conditioning in the restaurants.
Sunscreen and a hat
It’s winter, but the Caribbean sun at noon burns just the same.
A light rain jacket
For the December showers, which are short.
Dinner clothes
For Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve at the hotel.
A Christmas week, day by day
A sample plan for arriving before Christmas Eve and leaving before New Year’s. Adjust the days to your flights.
| Day | Plan |
|---|---|
| Monday, December 21 | Arrival. Transfer to the hotel and an afternoon on the beach. |
| Tuesday, December 22 | A full-day excursion: Saona Island from Bayahibe, or Hoyo Azul in Cap Cana. |
| Wednesday, December 23 | A morning in Higuey: the Basilica and the church of San Dionisio. An afternoon by the pool. |
| Thursday, December 24 | A morning on the beach, a nap and Christmas Eve dinner at the hotel. Midnight Mass if you’d like. |
| Friday, December 25 | A long breakfast and a beach day. The whole country is at home, eating leftovers. |
| Saturday, December 26 | Macao to watch the waves, or a full day at the resort. |
| Sunday, December 27 | Fly home. |
Excursions and parks publish their holiday-season hours; check the ones for the 24th, the 25th and the 31st before you book.
If you’re going to Hoyo Azul, everything you need to know is in our guide to Hoyo Azul in Punta Cana: the pass, the hours and how to get there from your hotel.
If you’re staying through the 31st, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is the busiest of the year for flights at Punta Cana airport, and flying home on January 1 and 2 is when it’s most crowded.
Getting from the airport during the busiest week
Nearly everyone flies into Punta Cana International Airport, PUJ. It has two commercial terminals, A and B, both open-air with thatched palm roofs. Once you clear immigration and customs, you walk straight out to the covered pickup area.
In December the airport runs at full capacity. In December 2025 it handled 1,087,621 passengers, 11.5% more than a year earlier, and strung together three record weeks for flights, peaking at 900 in a single week. Saturdays are the heaviest days, and between December 24 and 31 close to 300,000 travelers passed through, counting arrivals and departures.
| Destination | From the airport | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Cap Cana | 8 km · about 15 min | Travelers who want Juanillo, the marina and Hoyo Azul close by. |
| Bavaro | 20 km · 20–30 min | Travelers spending Christmas at a resort on the main beach. |
| Uvero Alto | 45 km · close to an hour | Travelers looking for a secluded resort at the northern end. |
| Higuey | about 45 min | Travelers who want to see the Basilica in a morning. |
| Bayahibe and La Romana | about 75 min | Travelers staying on the side where the boats to Saona leave from. |
Drive times without traffic. On Saturdays in December, with the coming and going at the resorts, allow a little more.
The e-Ticket before you fly
It’s required to enter and leave the country, it’s free and you fill it out online. Do it at home and keep the QR code on your phone.
Keep walking
Between the arrivals door and the pickup area, people will offer you taxis, tours and help with your bags. Hold on to your cart and keep walking to your driver.
We track your flight number
Delays are normal in December. If your plane lands early or late, we move the pickup.
We wait for you outside
In the pickup area, with an eTransfers sign and your name.
Flying home on January 1 and 2
The trip back after New Year’s is the trickiest moment of the vacation. In 2027 January 1 falls on a Friday and the 2nd on a Saturday, the day of the week with the most flights at PUJ. And on weekends the resorts check out their guests at almost the same time, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Three hours ahead
For flights to the United States, the airport itself asks you to arrive at least 3 hours before departure. During the first week of January, don’t shave off a single minute.
Count the drive
Add the transfer to those three hours: 20 to 30 minutes from Bavaro and close to an hour from Uvero Alto.
The departure e-Ticket
The same e-Ticket covers your departure from the country. Fill it out before you leave the hotel.
Checking out
Settle your hotel bill the night before and have your bag packed, so you’re not standing in line at the front desk with half the resort.
Your arrival in Punta Cana, sorted before you fly
In December nobody wants to haggle over a taxi after a long flight. We meet you at Punta Cana International Airport with an eTransfers sign, track your flight and take you straight to your hotel in Cap Cana, Bavaro, Uvero Alto, Bayahibe or La Romana, at a price per vehicle that’s locked in when you book.
Tell us how many of you there are, how many bags you’re bringing and the exact name of your hotel, and we’ll assign the right vehicle, with a child seat at no cost if you need one. For the trip home on January 1 or 2, book it together with your arrival: those are the days that fill up first.
Punta Cana airport transfers · Things to do in Punta Cana · Bavaro · Transfers in Punta Cana · La Romana · Santo Domingo
Traveler questions
How is Christmas celebrated in the Dominican Republic?
Is December 25 a public holiday in the Dominican Republic?
What do Dominicans eat on Christmas Eve?
Is it cold in Punta Cana in December?
Where is there Midnight Mass near Punta Cana?
How far is the Basilica in Higuey from Punta Cana?
What are the busiest days for flights at Punta Cana airport?
How far is Bavaro from Punta Cana airport?
Does the transfer price go up at Christmas?
Sources
- Dominican Republic Ministry of Labor, 2027 public holidaysmt.gob.do · checked 2026-11-14
- National Meteorological Office, normals and extremes 1971–2000, Punta Cana stationagricultura.gob.do · checked 2026-11-14
- Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism, Higuey, the Basilica and San Dionisionoticias.mitur.gob.do · checked 2026-11-14
- Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism, Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagraciaes.godominicanrepublic.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism, the beaches of Punta Canagodominicanrepublic.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Punta Cana International Airport, the e-Ticket and arrival time for flights to the United Statespuntacanainternationalairport.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Punta Cana International Airport, December 2025 figuresprnewswire.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Diario Libre, the airport’s busiest days of the holiday seasondiariolibre.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Diario Libre with the Dominican Academy of Gastronomy, the origins of the Christmas dinnerdiariolibre.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Diario Libre, Dominican Christmas traditionsdiariolibre.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Listín Diario, typical Dominican traditionslistindiario.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Listín Diario, Christmas in the country’s different regionslistindiario.com · checked 2026-11-14
- Diario Libre, the origin of the Vieja Beléndiariolibre.com · checked 2026-11-14
