In 2023, Martha Stewart went to CASA DE CAMPO to shoot her astounding Sports Illustrated Cover Feature. …That was actually ‘nothing new’! Sports Illustrated has used the beautiful beach at Casa de Campo as the backdrop for several Swimsuit Editions, and Casa de Campo has long been a paradise for the rich and famous!

But CASA DE CAMPO 2024 is not what Casa de Campo used to be…It’s mostly brand new, and it’s even better than ever!

In October 2023, Casa de Campo held its FIRST ANNUAL FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL!

Any foodie would be satisfied by the regular offering at Casa de Campo! In addition to Lagos overlooking Teeth and the Caribbean; and the spectacular and satisfying indoor/outdoor La Caña at the main hotel; at the yacht-filled marina, there’s Causa, a Peruvian Restaurant, La Casita, with Spanish-inspired dishes, and the modern Mediterranean SBG; and at Altos de Chavon there’s La Piazetta, an outstanding Italian restaurant designed by Oscar de la Renta, and Chilango Taqueria for Mexican; and at the beach, there’s Manitas Beach Club & Restaurant and the tasty Massa and Brasa food trucks and cafe at the beach.

But, Casa de Campo’s now Annual, Food & Wine Festival - with a dozen internationally renowned chefs and mixologists competing for recognition - is as much fun as you can have with a fork!

An opening night Beach BBQ pig roast, with top notch live music, kicked off the festivities. Next night, a more elevated evening with poolside cocktails, and dinner served in the cabanas at the Manitas Beach Club & Restaurant, featuring a 7-course tasting menu from 7 top chefs from around the United States sourced to cook for the Food & Wine Festival. Each chef used different locally-sourced ingredients. A crowd favorite that night was the brown butter poached lobster with green plantains fermented in a banana peel vinaigrette with aguamole created by Chef Victor Muñoz. And there was a PAR-ticularly fun night when the festivities, hosted at the Teeth of the Dog practice facilities, featured a glow-in-the-dark golf competition…in addition to a guest-judged cookoff with 10 acclaimed chefs each presenting a dish, alongside mixologists shaking-up curated cocktails in partnership with famed American and Dominican brands. Maybe most fun of all, was a blow-out bash held at the Marina’s big open event space, with great live bands, and a couple dozen liquor companies, cigar manufacturers, chocolatiers, confectioners, and other luxury goods and services companies eager to give every guest ‘a taste’. Though it would have been impossible for any mortal to have sampled every drink, the place was flowing with a selection of some of the world’s finest rums, tequilas, liqueurs, and beers. …And a talk with the owner of jet charter company led to the realization that a private charter round-trip from Westchester to Casa de Campo - for the 2024 FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL for example - is about the same as flying a group on first class!

The 2024 FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL is scheduled for October 10 through 13. Want to put a group together?

The brand new Premier Club and Suites are modern luxury at its finest.

The Premier Club Suites are so comfortable…they feel good! First off, they’re twice the size of even the best room at most resorts. The construction is solid. The mood of the interiors, with lots of natural stone and wood finishes, is clean and modern, but warm and sensual. A glass wall offers a view of the tropical paradise and lets in the glorious sunshine. The bedroom is well appointed and has a comfortable seating area with a couch and coffee table, and a separate table and chairs perfect for in-room dining or getting some work done. The room is equipped with a smart system to set the lights and temperature just right. There’s a walk-in closet. And the bathroom is inspired - with a sexy glass wall between the tub and the bedroom for a view in either direction - that can be shuttered for privacy - and a large jacuzzi tub, a walk-in glass shower, an enclosed water closet, and a separate double sink and vanity.

There’s a brand new Premier Club Clubhouse, which serves as a separate bell desk and concierge, has a large and airy lounge for business or pleasure, and is open all day with a full bar, a full menu, and a constantly refreshed offering of small sandwiches, snacks and desserts. The whole thing feels like a private hotel-within-a-hotel in the middle of an otherwise already over-the-top resort!

Premier Club guests get brand new 4-seat electric golf carts for total freedom to head-off to various destinations around the resort, but the Suites are located within the central campus of the resort - only steps away from: the ocean-view Lagos buffet restaurant for the best-ever pre-golf breakfast or lunch; the pro shop, range and first tees for the Teeth of the Dog and Links courses; the main hotel, with its La Caña restaurant and a pool with a swim-up bar, and; the brand new Spa!

Note: The Premier Club and Suites room service, available early, all-day, and late, is especially good. The food is delivered promptly and served nicely in the room, or out on the balcony. Fabulous fresh fruit plates, a perfect caesar salad with grilled chicken, even a great steak!

‘Sublime’, when used as an adjective, is described by Google as meaning that the thing being described is of such excellence, grandeur or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe. Synonymous with elevated, magnificent, marvelous, splendid, and wonderful. …And the brand new Spa at Casa de Campo is all that and more!

But the word ‘sublime’, when used as a verb, is described by Google as having an archaic origin and meaning to elevate to a high degree of spiritual purity or excellence - e.g. their thoughts were sublimed, and a meaning in chemistry referring to changing a solid directly into vapor - e.g. their tensions sublimed away. …And the new Spa will sublime you for sure!

This 18,000 square foot indoor-outdoor facility would be a stunner in any five-star urban resort or hotel, but is now immediately established as the bellwether for beauty and the new standard for regal relaxation in the Caribbean.

Like stepping into another world, the spa is centered around a shaded outdoor courtyard, and the feeling inside is zen, calm, and cool. Beginning at check-in, service is paramount, and each guest is shepherded by a dedicated team member who is attentive to every whim. Wooden pathways with thatched shade are surrounded by water features and lush plants and lead from the lobby into the tranquil oasis of the spa. A dedicated relaxation room filled with floor to ceiling sheer white curtains has perfectly padded ergonomic lounges that overlook a beautiful pond through a massive glass window. A palm tree laden tropical courtyard features a very private pool with shaded lounge beds and a waterfall and some high-powered jets for some total immersion. Adjacent to the courtyard, an indoor therapy room has large and small hot tubs and cold plunge pools, a sauna, steam room, eucalyptus showers, and an ice spout that collects atop a pedestal that guests are encouraged to splash on their face and head between the heat-focused experiences. A team member is constantly ready to supply fresh towels, a mint tea, healthy snacks, or whatever else could be dreamed up. The treatment facility is in its own section of the spa, centered around its own indoor courtyard, with a large tree, and lots of natural light and natural stones and woods. Each treatment room is equipped with state of the art technology, heated adjustable treatment beds, and its own private outdoor space with a sofa for relaxation prior to or after the treatment. And as if there weren’t already enough dining options on the property, the spa has its own cafe with all kinds of healthy snacks, meals, and juices!

There’s even brand new golf at - and golf news from - Casa de Campo!

While Pete Dye’s signature Teeth of the Dog is so famous, so spectacular, and so special, it’s almost golf sacrilege to suggest that any other course, no less another course at Casa de Campo, might deserve similar accolades. …Dye’s To Dye Fore - a ten minute golf cart ride from Casa de Campo’s central campus, has got to have a place at the top of every ‘Best Of’ list!

The first two 9-hole routes, called Chavon and Marina, are only a few years old, and each is a distinctly delectable stroll and a great play!

Chavon is perched high atop the Chavon River Gorge, with views made famous in the scene where Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas slide down the side of the gorge in the 1984 movie Romancing The Stone. …And the Gorge is trouble on half of the nine holes! The course, which measures 3469/3303/3126/3018/2554, plays long and requires big drives and careful approaches. The terrain is dramatic: right from the start, on the 500 yard Par 5 1st hole, with the Gorge on the right, the course’s ‘vanishing edge’ makes the hole feel like it’s hanging-over the vast expanse; to the finish on the elevated green on the Par 5 9th hole that’s a challenge to hit from any distance out.

Marina has an entirely different feel. . with vistas of the mouth of the Chavon, Casa de Campo’s marina, and the blue Caribbean, this is a shotmaker’s nine. Sweeping fairways with big elevation changes lead to protected green complexes, and accuracy from 150 and in is rewarded with birdie opportunities,

Now, there’s the brand new 9-holes called Lagos, set amidst the lakes and vegetation of the Chavon highlands, that’s a suitable sibling to Chavon and Marina…and rounds out 2DYE4’s full complement of 27. This 9 holes is a challenge for any player. The course offers a tour of the tropical landscape, and it will require skilfull course management from any of the six sets of tees.

And the new golf news from Casa de Campo is that Teeth of the Dog will be closed on January 20, 2025, for a complete renovation - to be re-opened for the 2025 Holidays! No matter how great the design, and no matter how unique the beachfront layout - consistent with keeping everything about the resort ‘best in class’ - the Fanjuls, who own the resort, have determined to rebuild the old masterpiece with the same historic Dye design, but with all new irrigation, paths, tee boxes, fairways, traps, and greens!

The Casa de Campo Tennis Center should now be renamed the Racquets Center!

The world-class facility boasts 13 Har-Tru courts, including a stadium court, and a top-notch pro staff with ‘hitters’ and ball boys available.

The Tennis Center now has 2 brand new PADEL courts and 4 brand new PICKLEBALL courts!

The jetty that Casa de Campo installed fronting the beach back in the ‘70s turned about a half-mile of oceanfront into what is now a wide, white-sand, clean-bottom, clearwater beach! Casa de Campo supplies everything - from the chairs and umbrellas, to the catamarans and snorkels, to the great selection of beach food from beach-side restaurants or food trucks.

But new at the beach, the Manitas Beach Club & Restaurant is the adults only section of the beach, and includes one of the best covered-but-open-air restaurant spots anywhere, and a pool and cabana area that’s just plain chic. The restaurant has a great selection for lunch or partying all afternoon around the pool, including everything from crab cakes to burrata salad, and the bar is fully equipped with ice buckets filled with Veuve and Whispering Angel and the Dominican Republic’s own Chinola mango liqueur. The mood around the pool is hip, without feeling intimidating. …Warning, that a day planned with golf in the morning, leisurely lunch at Manitas Beach Club & Restaurant, and then anything else, may actually turn into an entire afternoon spent around the Manitas pool and on the beach, with cocktails toasting the spectacular sunset!

Of course, there’s still a whole lot of the ‘old’ sunsational Casa de Campo to enjoy!

•Altos de Chavon is a spectacular stone village built 40 years ago to look like a 16th century enclave, perched high above the Chavon River Gorge. In addition to the restaurant offering, it’s a fun spot for an afternoon cafe and a little shopping, some nightlife in the Club Genesis nightclub, or to attend a big-name event in the 5,000 seat amphitheater - Michael Buble, Rod Stewart, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Sting, Duran Duran, and Andrea Bocelli are just some of those who have performed in recent years.

•Strolling around the Marina before or after lunch or dinner is another good time - the yachts on view are showstoppers!

•The equestrian facilities, offering everything from rides to polo, is premier.

•The Shooting Center has clay skeet and live birds available, and the pros make shooting a safe, fun, and easy experience for the novice and as challenging as the most experienced shooter might prefer.

•And there are excursions like taking a catamaran to some spectacular scuba around nearby Catalina Island.

But with constant and ongoing new additions, updates, renovations and improvements, the feel at today’s Casa de Campo is…mostly brand new!