La Romana from River Island: the city, the airport and the coast that borrows its name

Ask about La Romana in the Dominican Republic and you may hear about three different things: a port city on the south-east coast, the small airport beside it, and a stretch of beach hotels around Bayahibe that is sold under the city's name but lies in another province. River Island is in none of them. It stands in Atlántida, in the Bávaro area of La Altagracia province, roughly 54 miles by road from the centre of La Romana. This page sorts the three apart for someone who owns, or is thinking of owning, on the Bávaro side.

How far is La Romana from River Island?

River Island sits in Atlántida, in the Bávaro area of the east coast, inside the Verón–Punta Cana municipal district of La Altagracia province. La Romana is the next province to the west along the Caribbean shore. We measured the trip on a public routing engine that uses OpenStreetMap road data, starting from River Island’s published coordinates: roughly 54 miles to the centre of La Romana, against about 40 miles in a straight line.

The route itself is simple. About 6 miles on the Bulevar Turístico del Este bring you to the Autopista del Coral, a four-lane highway inaugurated in August 2012, and about 36 miles on it carry you west towards the Chavón River. The other places people mean by “La Romana” then sit within a few miles of each other: Bayahibe roughly 49 miles from River Island, La Romana International Airport roughly 50 and the clifftop village of Altos de Chavón roughly 52. We do not publish the routing engine’s drive time, because it assumes empty roads. Canada’s travel advice for the whole country recommends travelling by daylight, and that is the simplest rule for this drive as well.

Is Bayahibe in La Romana?

Not on the map. Bayahibe, a Caribbean beach town about 10 miles east of La Romana, is a municipal district of the municipality of San Rafael del Yuma in La Altagracia, the same province as River Island. It began as a fishing village founded in 1874 by a family from Puerto Rico, and it counted 5,618 residents at the 2022 census. Hotel brochures, airport transfers and the national hotel statistics nevertheless group it with the city as “La Romana/Bayahibe”, which is why a beach hotel described as being in La Romana is often on the Bayahibe and Dominicus shore instead.

The boundary is still argued over. In October 2025 a deputy for La Romana re-submitted a bill to move the Bayahibe area, about 82 square miles of San Rafael del Yuma, into La Romana province, calling the 1961 boundary a geographic error; La Altagracia’s legislators opposed it, and as reported at the time the bill had not been approved. The same report quoted the zone’s hotel association at more than 5,800 hotel rooms. For a River Island owner the practical point is simpler: Bayahibe is the nearest of the “La Romana” destinations, and today it shares a province with your home.

Could you fly into La Romana instead of Punta Cana?

You can, but for a River Island owner it rarely makes sense. On the Banco Central’s arrival figures for 2025, La Romana International Airport (LRM) received 102,073 foreign visitors arriving by air, while Punta Cana International received 5,275,492. La Romana’s traffic is also strongly seasonal: 12,768 foreign arrivals in January and 10,119 in December, but 4,130 in September and 4,454 in October.

Distance settles the rest. Punta Cana International is a 10-minute drive from River Island, while the La Romana runway lies roughly 50 miles away by road. LRM is the natural airport for the city and the hotels around it; for a home in Bávaro it is a fallback when no suitable flight into Punta Cana is available, not the default. If guests do arrive that way, book their transfer before they land and try to schedule it in daylight.

What does a day at Bayahibe and Saona involve?

This is the “La Romana” outing most owners and their guests actually make. Bayahibe’s small port is where excursion boats leave for Isla Saona and Isla Catalina, and Saona belongs to Cotubanamá National Park, known until 2014 as the Parque Nacional del Este. The park was declared in 1975, covers about 305.8 square miles across La Altagracia and La Romana provinces and takes in Saona, an island of about 42 square miles. On the environment ministry’s figures as reported in the press, it received 808,090 visitors in 2024, 781,461 of them from abroad.

Those numbers shape the day. A press report in October 2025 put Saona’s visitors at more than 6,000 a day, setting out from Bayahibe, so expect busy boats and beaches on most dates. Leave River Island early for the roughly 49 miles of road, and ask the operator in advance which beaches the boat will stop at and for how long. Canada’s advice for the whole country warns that the tourism industry is not well regulated and that tour operators may not meet Canadian safety standards, so check for life jackets before you board.

Is the La Romana coast as busy as Punta Cana’s?

On hotel rooms, about the same, with a different rhythm. The Banco Central republishes the hotel association’s occupancy by zone: in 2025 the La Romana/Bayahibe zone averaged 82.4% and Punta Cana/Bávaro 81.6%. Punta Cana/Bávaro ran fuller at the winter peak, 92.2% in February against 90.4%, while La Romana/Bayahibe held up better in late summer, at 71.1% in September against 62.2%.

Read the figures for what they are: hotel rooms over one year, not condominiums, and no forecast of anyone’s rental income. What they show is that the whole south-east coast had a strong visitor year in 2025 and that its two hotel zones fill in slightly different months. For a River Island owner, that makes La Romana part of the same region your guests come to explore, with Bayahibe and Saona one day out from the pool.

How does La Romana fit into a year at River Island?

As somewhere to go rather than somewhere to be. River Island is a gated community of 692 residences inside Atlántida, threaded with 16 interconnected pools, with beach-club access at Playa Bávaro 5 minutes away and Punta Cana International 10 minutes away. From there La Romana and its coast make a planned day out: Saona from Bayahibe on one day, Altos de Chavón and the city on another, and back along the Autopista del Coral before dark.

Two calendar notes apply on both sides of the provincial line. Hurricane season in the Atlantic lasts from June 1 to November 30, so check the forecast before you book a boat in the autumn. And in 2025 both hotel zones were at their fullest in February, so from December to March book Saona boats and any airport transfers well ahead.

Common questions

Is River Island in La Romana?

No. River Island is in Atlántida, in the Bávaro area of La Altagracia province. The centre of La Romana is roughly 54 miles away by road, measured from River Island’s coordinates, and about 40 miles in a straight line.

Is Bayahibe part of La Romana province?

No. Bayahibe is a municipal district of San Rafael del Yuma, in La Altagracia, although hotels and the national statistics group it with La Romana. A bill to move it into La Romana province was re-submitted in October 2025 and, as reported then, had not been approved.

How many foreign visitors fly into La Romana’s airport?

On the Banco Central’s 2025 figures, 102,073 foreign non-residents arrived by air at La Romana International, with the busiest months in winter. Punta Cana International, a 10-minute drive from River Island, received 5,275,492.

How do you get to Saona Island from River Island?

Drive roughly 49 miles west to Bayahibe, mostly on the Autopista del Coral, and take an excursion boat from its port. Saona belongs to Cotubanamá National Park, which received 808,090 visitors in 2024 on the environment ministry’s reported figures.

Were La Romana’s hotels fuller than Punta Cana’s in 2025?

Very slightly, over the year: 82.4% average occupancy in the La Romana/Bayahibe zone against 81.6% in Punta Cana/Bávaro. Punta Cana/Bávaro was ahead at the winter peak and La Romana/Bayahibe in late summer. These are hotel-room figures and forecast no rental income.