By late afternoon at Casa de Campo, the marina starts to change. Golf carts roll back from the courses with clubs strapped to the rear seats. Glasses of dark Dominican rum land on waterfront tables beside plates of grilled seafood. Music drifts out from the restaurants lining the harbor while smoke rises slowly above groups gathering near the terraces.
At Casa de Campo in La Romana, those scenes already feel tied to the rhythm of the resort. Next month, the Dominican Republic property is turning that atmosphere into an entire long-weekend festival built around three things that have long defined luxury travel in this part of the Caribbean: cigars, rum and golf — a trio that has somehow never been put together in one event – until now.
The new Cigars in Paradise Festival is coming to Casa de Campo Resort and Villas from June 25 through June 28, bringing together some of the world’s biggest premium cigar brands, master blenders, rum producers and enthusiasts for what organizers are calling the Caribbean’s first festival of its kind.
And unlike many Caribbean festivals that happen inside convention centers or isolated event spaces, this one spreads naturally across a resort already built for this lifestyle.
Casa de Campo has spent decades establishing itself as one of the Dominican Republic’s defining luxury destinations. The property stretches across thousands of acres in La Romana, with villa neighborhoods, private beaches, a full-service marina, equestrian facilities, tennis courts, shooting grounds, spa facilities and three Pete Dye-designed golf courses woven through the property.
For golf travelers, the centerpiece remains Teeth of the Dog, the oceanfront course regularly ranked among the Caribbean’s top layouts, where several holes run directly beside the Caribbean Sea. The resort’s other courses, Dye Fore and The Links, bring a completely different look, with elevated fairways overlooking the Chavón River and inland greens framed by palms and rolling terrain.
That golf culture becomes part of the festival from the moment guests arrive.
Every package includes a personal golf cart for transportation throughout the property, meaning mornings can start with a tee time overlooking the Caribbean before shifting into afternoon rum tastings and evening cigar events beside the marina.
The setting feels especially natural because Casa de Campo already attracts the exact crowd this festival is targeting: golfers from Miami and New York, boat owners arriving through the marina, luxury travelers booking villas for long weekends and cigar enthusiasts who already travel regularly to the Dominican Republic for factory visits and blending experiences.
The Dominican Republic has become one of the world’s most important premium cigar producers over the last two decades, particularly around Santiago and La Romana, where many of the industry’s best-known brands manufacture and age their products. Travelers already plan trips around cigar tours, private tastings and experiences. This new event turns much of that culture into a single luxury resort weekend.
Guests can expect seminars and educational sessions with blenders and rum distillers during the daytime before the festival expands across the property at night with live music, tasting booths, Dominican coffee and cacao presentations, food stations and more than 25 participating brands.
“We are excited to hold Casa de Campos 1st annual Cigars in Paradise premier cigar and rum Festival, which will feature the worlds top brands and rums during a three day fun filled and educational event. Guests will enjoy meeting and learning from the worlds leading master blenders, rum distillers, and industry leaders during the morning sessions and then enjoy the festival in the evening which will feature booths from over 25 brands, rum tastings, Dominican coffees and cacaos, lots of food, live music and more,” Jason Kycek, Senior Vice President at Casa de Campo, told Caribbean Journal.
Participating brands are expected to include names like Arturo Fuente, Ashton, La Aurora, Oliva, Plasencia, Crowned Heads and La Palina, among others.
If you’re coming from South Florida, getting there has become dramatically easier. American Airlines now operates nonstop flights between Miami and La Romana, with the trip taking less than three hours. That changes the feel of a Casa de Campo getaway completely. Instead of landing elsewhere in the Dominican Republic, you can fly directly into La Romana and arrive at the resort within minutes of landing. (You actually get to the resort by boarding a golf cart at the airport).
That ease has helped position Casa de Campo as one of the Dominican Republic’s top destinations for luxury vacations, particularly for travelers looking for a long golf weekend.
And the golf is serious.
Golf becomes part of the atmosphere almost everywhere across Casa de Campo during a weekend like this. The resort’s three Pete Dye-designed courses give guests completely different experiences depending on the day. Teeth of the Dog, which was recently revamped, is the signature course, with many holes running directly beside the Caribbean Sea and fairways edged by coral rock and crashing surf.
The 27-hole Dye Fore climbs above the Chavón River with dramatic elevation changes and canyon views that feel entirely different from the coastline courses elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Then there’s The Links, the resort’s inland course with rolling fairways, tighter greens and a more traditional club-style feel. During the festival weekend, golf rounds flow naturally into rum tastings, marina dinners and late-night events across the property, particularly for travelers turning the event into a long golf getaway in the Dominican Republic.
But there’s so much more than golf.
The wellness side of the resort has also become a major part of the experience in recent years, especially for travelers balancing golf, dining and relaxation during longer stays.
The resort’s 18,000-square-foot wellness center includes hydrotherapy experiences, massages, facials, recovery-focused treatments and wellness programming designed around active travel. Guests regularly rotate between morning rounds of golf, afternoons at the spa, beach time at Minitas Beach and dinners beside the marina. Yoga sessions, fitness facilities and wellness treatments have increasingly become part of the broader Casa de Campo experience, particularly for groups mixing golf trips with spa-focused travel.
That helps separate this event from a traditional festival atmosphere. And it really is a unique concept.
The days at Casa de Campo rarely revolve around one activity. A morning round on Teeth of the Dog turns into lunch at Minitas Beach Club. An afternoon massage or hydrotherapy session leads into rum tastings near the marina. Dinner stretches late into the evening beside live music in Altos de Chavón.
Even the geography of the resort makes the festival feel larger than a single event space. The marina district becomes the social center after sunset, with outdoor restaurants and bars filling quickly as yachts line the docks nearby. Altos de Chavón brings a completely different atmosphere at night, with stone walkways, galleries and terraces overlooking the Chavón River valley.
For many travelers, the appeal is less about following a strict festival schedule and more about how naturally the event folds into the broader Casa de Campo experience.
The package starts at $659 per person, per day and includes three nights in a Superior Room, all meals, unlimited premium drinks, airport transfers, festival admission, seminars and personal meet-and-greets with master blenders. Upgraded suites and private villas are also available for larger groups and golf trips.
Because the festival arrives during the summer shoulder season in the Caribbean, travelers can often find easier tee times, quieter beaches and more room across the resort compared to peak winter months.
That timing works particularly well for Miami travelers looking for a quick luxury getaway that doesn’t require a full week away. The nonstop flight to La Romana means you can leave South Florida in the morning and be sitting beside the marina with a glass of Dominican rum before sunset.
At Casa de Campo, the weekend already feels built for that kind of trip long before the festival officially begins: golf carts parked outside the villas at sunrise, oceanfront fairways along Teeth of the Dog, afternoon spa appointments after 18 holes, dark Dominican rum poured beside the marina at sunset and music carrying across La Romana long after midnight
What makes the event unusual is that there really hasn’t been a Caribbean luxury resort festival built entirely around all three worlds at once: premium cigars, aged rum and championship golf. The Dominican Republic has long been one of the hemisphere’s biggest cigar producers, and Caribbean resorts regularly host rum tastings or golf tournaments on their own. But a multi-day luxury festival bringing together major cigar houses, master blenders, rum producers and golf culture inside a resort like Casa de Campo is something the region surprisingly hasn’t seen before. That’s part of why the setting fits so naturally.
Casa de Campo already attracts golfers, cigar enthusiasts, marina travelers and luxury groups throughout the year. The festival simply pulls those pieces together into one long weekend in La Romana.
I found rooms here, which combine the inclusions into one daily rate. Flight prices vary, based on what I saw on Google Flights, but the Miami-La Romana’s convenience is, in my experience, pretty hard to beat. Another option is to fly to Santo Domingo and take a car service or have the hotel handle your transportation. It’s under an hour.
Guy Britton
2026-05-17 01:17:00