We don't have any properties for sale in Cabarete yet. Check back soon or explore other cities.
Explore Dominican Republic →Cabarete is the Dominican Republic's adventure-sports capital, a beach town on the north coast where steady trade winds, warm water and a long reef-lined bay have created one of the best kiteboarding and windsurfing arenas in the world.
Once a small fishing village, it now draws an international crowd of riders, surfers and digital nomads, with a beachfront strip of restaurants where dinner tables sit directly on the sand.
Cabarete's bay works like a natural sports stadium: mornings are calm for swimming and learning, then the thermal trade winds build through the afternoon and the bay fills with kites and sails. Kite Beach, just west of the town center, is the dedicated kiteboarding zone, while the main bay hosts windsurfing and sailing.
Surfers head a few minutes west to Playa Encuentro, the country's most consistent surf break and the heart of its surf-school scene. International wind and wave competitions have been held here for decades, cementing Cabarete's reputation among the world's top watersports towns.
Cabarete was a quiet farming and fishing settlement until the early 1980s, when traveling windsurfers discovered the bay's reliable side-onshore winds. Windsurf camps arrived first, kiteboarding followed in the late 1990s as the sport was born, and the town grew up around the riders — an origin story visible today in a main street lined with board shops, schools and international restaurants.
Behind the beach, El Choco National Park shelters lagoons, caves and limestone hills that can be explored by bike, on horseback or on foot, with swimmable freshwater caverns. East of town, the coast runs toward the golden sand of Playa Grande; west lies Sosúa's snorkeling bay and, further on, Puerto Plata's cable car and the canyon waterfalls of Damajagua.
The town's nightlife is famously barefoot: restaurants and bars sit directly on the beach, and evenings end with tables lit by lanterns on the sand.
Watersports tourism drives nearly everything in Cabarete — schools, camps, gear shops, hotels and a large long-stay community of remote workers and seasonal riders. The town is served by Gregorio Luperón International Airport (POP) near Puerto Plata, about half an hour west.
It is one of the world's premier kiteboarding and windsurfing destinations, with consistent afternoon trade winds, plus the country's best-known surf beach at nearby Playa Encuentro.
Trade winds blow most of the year, typically strongest from late spring through summer. Mornings are usually calm; the wind builds in the afternoon, which is when the bay fills with kites.
Yes — Cabarete has one of the highest concentrations of kite and surf schools in the Caribbean, with dedicated learning zones on Kite Beach and beginner-friendly surf lessons at Playa Encuentro.
No. El Choco National Park offers caves and lagoon trails, the beachfront dining scene is a destination in itself, and Sosúa, Puerto Plata and the Damajagua waterfalls are easy day trips.