Damajagua Waterfalls, Puerto Plata: 8 Tours to the 27 Waterfalls Compared (2026)

The best way to see the Damajagua waterfalls for most visitors is RV Tours DR's 27 Waterfalls trip, at $59 per adult and $57 for ages 7 to 17, rated 5.0 from 315 reviews. It includes park entry, a helmet and life jacket, an air-conditioned van from Amber Cove, Taino Bay or your hotel, and a buffet lunch, and it takes about four hours. On a tighter budget, Excepcust Tours goes to the same falls for $44 with lunch.

Every tour here visits the same park, the Monumento Natural Salto de la Damajagua, where local park guides take each group up the trail and down the falls. So the real differences are price, what is included, how early you reach the park (which decides how long you queue), where you are picked up, and whether you add zip lines or monkeys. We compared eight tours on those points.

What you pay the operator for, and what the park decides

Jump to the comparison table, read how many waterfalls you actually do, or check which tours fit a cruise day.

Which Damajagua waterfalls tour should I book?

The first six go to the falls alone, with different prices, group sizes and pickups; the last two add zip lines or monkeys. Here is who each one suits.

Usually 4 to 7, not 27. The park, known locally as 27 Charcos, is a protected natural monument in the Dominican system of protected areas, co-managed by the Ministry of Environment with local partners, according to Dominican Today; a 2006 report in DR1 names the local Damajagua guides' association as the partner. Every group goes up with a park guide, and the falls are grouped into levels: the first 7, 12, or all 27.

• Cruise tours: almost all stop at the seventh fall. Iguana Mama's listing says 7 falls for ships in port seven hours or less, and Puerto Plata Adventures lists 12, but guests on both describe 4 or 5 at low water.
• Water level decides: in dry spells some chutes are too shallow to slide, and after heavy rain the park can close the falls entirely. An April 2026 Runners Adventures group lost the falls to rain, and a May 2025 Edwin Transfers tour was cancelled the morning after a storm.
• What a "fall" is: mostly short natural rock slides and pools in a narrow canyon, plus one or two jumps. Guests on Edwin Transfers Tours describe the last jump at about 17 feet, with steps or a ladder to climb down instead on some falls, but not on all of them.

Our take (set your expectations to 7): Most low ratings on every tour here come from guests who expected 27 falls, or 12, and did 4. The water part is short, about 20 to 40 minutes, after a long climb. Guests who knew that going in mostly loved it; the canyon, the cold water and the jumps are what people remember.

The falls are inland near Imbert, south-west of Puerto Plata. From Amber Cove it is the closest major excursion, and from Sosúa or Cabarete it is well over an hour each way, which is why hotel tours from the east run all day.

Distances and times are Mapbox route estimates to the park entrance, without traffic. Monkey Home, used on the monkey combos, is about 14 minutes from the falls. On the map below, the red line is the drive from Puerto Plata's old town and the blue line the drive from Amber Cove.

Coming by cruise ship? Our Amber Cove port guide explains where independent tours meet you and compares the other excursions from the port. Want zip lines with the falls? Our Puerto Plata zipline guide compares the waterfall and zip line combos with the jungle, countryside and ocean courses.

Damajagua is the excursion most likely to run long, because every group shares the same trail. Listed durations are estimates, not guaranteed return times: what matters is how early the operator gets you to the park and how many ships are in port. Compare the listing with your all-aboard time before you book.

Durations and departures are from each listing on November 10, 2026; guest reports are from reviews posted in 2025 and 2026. With an independent operator, getting back before all-aboard is your responsibility, so leave at least an hour of margin.

It is the most physical excursion in Puerto Plata. Guests on every tour describe a 30 to 45 minute climb on tall, uneven stone steps, often muddy, in high humidity, followed by cold water that is deep enough to go under on the slides. You wear a life jacket throughout, and guides help nervous swimmers through, but guests say you should be comfortable in water.

• Ages: the minimum ranges from 5 (Aribel and Yeury's monkey combo) and 7 (RV Tours DR, DR Prime Tours) to 8 (Excepcust Tours, Iguana Mama, Runners Adventures, Edwin Transfers Tours) and 12 (Puerto Plata Adventures). Families with children from 8 to 17 are among the happiest reviewers.
• Who should skip it: the listings advise against it for pregnant travellers and anyone with back, neck, knee or heart problems, and Puerto Plata Adventures does not take guests who use canes or walkers. Weight limits range from 250 to 320 lb by operator.
• Can you avoid jumping? Not always. Some of the bigger jumps have steps or a ladder beside them, but not every fall does, and a February 2026 guest says the first, smaller slides cannot be skipped and put you fully underwater. What is open varies with the water level, so confirm the alternatives with your park guide before you start the climb.
• Older travellers: a 70-year-old guest on Puerto Plata Adventures, a 77-year-old on Edwin Transfers Tours in December 2025 and guests in their 60s managed it with the rest stops; a 49-year-old guest on RV Tours DR called the climb brutal but worth it.

If the climb sounds like too much, a Puerto Plata city tour or a Monkeyland visit is a much gentler day.

We read about 400 unique recent, low-rated and most-helpful reviews across the eight tours. Most guests call it the best day of their trip, and the drivers, park guides and photographers are praised by name. The complaints come back to the same points, and most are about the park rather than the tour company:

• Fewer falls than advertised. The most common complaint by far, from guests who expected 27, 12 or 7 and did 4 or 5.
• Crowds and waiting. On days with three or four ships in port, guests describe hundreds of people on the trail, an hour or more of standing in line, and big mixed groups that stop every few minutes for stragglers. A February 2026 guest watched cruise-line groups move ahead of theirs.
• Running late. The tours that combine falls with zip lines or monkeys are the ones most often described as running one to two hours over, with a few guests making their ship with minutes to spare.
• Photos and phones. Drivers usually tell you to leave your phone, and park photographers sell packages for about $45 to $55 a group (one hotel guest paid $80 for 50 photos). Several guests waited weeks for emailed photos or never got the chance to buy them.
• Extras at the park. An April 2026 guest paid $10 each for a locker and for water shoes, and Edwin Transfers Tours and Excepcust Tours list water shoes as extra.
• Shop stops. Some tours stop at a cacao, coffee and cigar shop on the way back, which guests either enjoyed or called a sales pitch.

A Damajagua waterfalls tour costs $44 to $89 per adult with park entry, safety gear and transport, and all but one of the tours here include lunch. Zip line combos cost $99.75 to $149, and the monkey park combo $87. Children pay $30 to $99 depending on the tour, and some charge the adult price from age 8.

• Wear water shoes or old trainers with grip. Flip-flops come off on the slides, and several tours rent or sell water shoes at the park for about $10.
• Leave valuables in the van or a locker. Anything you take in will be soaked; a waterproof phone pouch is the only safe way to carry a camera, and some groups are told to leave phones behind.
• Go early. Guests in the first groups of the day describe clear water and no waiting.
• Bring cash in small bills. For tips to your driver, park guide and photographer, and for the photo package.
• Check the weather the night before. Heavy rain can close the falls; operators usually offer a new date or a refund, but cruise passengers often find out only on the day.
• Eat a proper breakfast and bring water. The climb comes before lunch, and guests say the water handed out is small.
• Cruise passengers: allow for the walk to the gate. Most operators meet outside Amber Cove and Taino Bay, 10 to 20 minutes on foot from the ship.

We reviewed more than 30 tours to the Damajagua waterfalls and kept those rated 4.5 or higher with recent guest reviews, choosing the best options for each type of traveller: cruise passengers on a budget, small groups, hotel guests in Sosúa and Cabarete, families paying one price, and zip line and monkey combos. We checked each listing on November 10, 2026 for price by age, duration, start days and times, pickup points, inclusions and cancellation policy, and measured drive times to the park with Mapbox route estimates.

We read about 400 unique reviews across the eight tours, from separate pulls of the most recent, the one-to-three-star and the most-helpful reviews, counting any review that appeared twice only once. We left out tours whose newest review was more than six months old, combos with buggies priced per vehicle, and several smaller listings by operators already on this page.