Secrets Playa Esmeralda Resort & SPA

Have just returned from a one week stay, Friday to Friday. Journey was 90 minutes outbound, 120 minutes return. We stayed in a preferred club room. The member of staff who checked us in wasn’t particularly welcoming and we weren’t even offered a welcome drink, but all staff afterwards were very welcoming Our room was very spacious, spotlessly clean, and had a lovely view of the pool and ocean. Housekeeping throughout did an excellent job. We met our butler the following day. Jean Claude was excellent, informed us every day of all activities, sought us out to see if there was anything we needed, and was very helpful……we didn’t actually want much from him, but he was there if we did need anything and we had some lovely chats. Food overall was good……although my husband did have one steak quite tough and fatty….but wherever we ate, the food was never very hot. Preferred pool was a lovely place to spend our days and bar service from Maximo was great. The evenings were what really let the hotel down. There was a lobby bar which was pretty quiet with no entertainment, and there was a piano bar but this only seated around 40 people. There were areas where there was entertainment but these areas had concrete seating, not proper chairs, and there was no bar area where the entertainment took place. Overall, we had a lovely holiday, especially enjoying the day times, staff were all friendly and helpful, but probably wouldn’t return to this particular Secrets again.

Shaggy, Mildred, Berkis, Daniel, verlin, luis did wonderful at sugar reef! Great shows! Everyone is so sweet! Patrick was so sweet!

We had a wonderful week at the resort! Fernando at the Preferred Club was exceptional and truly went above and beyond to make my birthday feel special. At the beach, we were in great hands with Deiby, who took excellent care of us and made sure we had everything we needed to relax and enjoy the day. The entertainment team also did a fantastic job every evening, offering a variety of fun activities that kept the energy lively around the resort. If you visit, don’t miss the water journey at the spa. It’s definitely worth experiencing! The beach was a bit windy during our stay, though that may simply be due to the time of year. Overall, we truly enjoyed our stay and appreciated not only the beautiful resort, but especially the amazing people who made the experience so memorable.

Decided on a last minute 3 day trip here. Considering it is quite a way from the airport, glad we chose it. Our room was very clean with a gorgeous view of the pool, ocean, and even a bit of the mountains in the distance. Although we were only able to go to a few restaurants (there are A LOT), almost everything was really good - don't miss the white chocolate brownie with ice cream at Portofino! We had the option of the Preferred pool, but chose to stay at the main pool due to the view and proximity to the ocean. DJ Antony played a variety of lively music and Daniel did a great job keeping our drinks filled. Roel at the beach bar was terrific as well. We will definitely put this on our return list.

We stayed at Secrets Playa Esmeralda during the last week of December 2025 and celebrated New Year’s Eve there. Our group had nine friends, and we all had a wonderful experience. The resort is about a 1 hour and 25 minute drive from the Punta Cana airport. We’re beach people, and the beach here was truly beautiful. We swam a little farther away from the main beach, where the water was always calm, shallow, and completely free of waves. There was no seaweed at all, which was a huge plus. The beach is also long and perfect for walks, which we enjoyed every day. Since the resort is located next to Dreams Playa Esmeralda, we also had access to that property and walked over there as well. We liked the food selection and the overall quality of the meals. All of our dinner reservations were handled by our butler, Javier, which made everything easy and stress‑free. The New Year’s celebration was fabulous and unforgettable. We had a great time at this resort and definitely plan to come back in the future. We highly recommend it. We also want to give special thanks to the staff who helped make our vacation so enjoyable. A big thank‑you to food manager Juan, who went above and beyond to ensure we enjoyed the food and service in every restaurant. We have wonderful memories thanks to his efforts. We also want to thank UVC manager Starling, who took great care of us throughout our stay and made us feel at home. Thank you to all the staff at Secrets Playa Esmeralda — we hope to see you again soon.