Canto de la Playa is a wild, virgin beach located in Saona Island, with miles of white and pink coral sand, crystal clear waters and impressive palm groves. It takes the name “canto” in spanish for its angular shape.
It´s the last virgin beach of the island where most of the excursions and the multitude of tourists do not arrive, a true “Caribbean paradise”. It can only be reached by speed boat or small boat due to its shape and characteristics; large boats such as catamarans or yachts of a certain size cannot dock. A reef a few meters away allow you to do a great snorkel.
Bear in mind that being a wild beach, Canto de Playa has absolutely no service or comfort. It is a virgin beach, without constructions of any kind except for an abandoned private house at one end of the beach, without any infrastructure, no lounge chairs or umbrellas or palapas and even less any service such as beach bar or even a bathroom… nothing, nothing at all, just you, the sand, the sea and a few horseflies (bring repellent!)
If you happen to visit the beach, once there expect the boat crew to arrange an improvised table with fruits and drinks that will refresh your stay of around 3 hours on that paradisiacal beach. Here you can swim surrounded by fish of different sizes, species and colors. Its fine white sand, its rugged landscape and above all its transparent and turquoise waters, lined with palm trees that shade and appease the sun, make it a paradisiacal place.
If you don’t mind lying on the sand instead of in a deck chair, listening only to the waves instead of loud music, handling some rebellious horsefly and not seeing mass tourism, don’t even hesitate, try going to this beach because in Saona there will be any similar.
A bit of History
As said before the only construction on the beach is a private house built at one end. The construction was built by Dr. Francisco Gonzalvo. Dr. Gonzalvo came from a wealthy family from La Romana, the closest city to Saona island. Gonzalvos were the owners of the land of “Canto de la Playa” and in the 60s they had already built the first house. The current grey color residence you see on the left side of the beach was built in the 70s and was inherited by the daughter of Franco Gonzalvo after his death.
In 1972, President Balaguer declared Saona Island part of the East National Park (Cotubanamá) and he carried out the expropriation of all land. The doctor’s house, for political reasons, remains the property of the Gonzalvo family.
The Doctor’s house from 1970 to nowadays remains the only building in this beautiful pristine beach.
Plan a visit!!!
In case you wanna see with your own eyes this corner of paradise, we are offering a tour with private transportation from Punta Cana that includes a 3 hours stop at this beach. Check out our Saona Island Deluxe with Canto de la Playa Tour.
