Depends on what you like, but I would suggest P.C.

I second bob...Punta Cana.

Check out the 'popularity' hotel listing for PC on this site and read all the reviews of the top resorts.

It only makes me want to try them all....oh well!

By 'best' do you mean '$$$" and 'luxury'????

There are many very good resorts to choose from.

The Excellence Punta Cana is one of the top hotels.

Also, The Paradisus Palma Real and The Majestic Colonial.

Have fun researching! As for activity...well that is totally up to you...there are many excursions you can book.

For our budget and time of year...we've chosen The Edenh Real Arena for xmas. We're real beach people so we don't need an 'over-the-top' luxury suite. We're only in the room to shower, change clothes & sleep. We're looking forward to doing the 'Zipline' Tour in PC....sounds fun!

If you decide on Punta Cana I recommend the "Outback Safari" excursion. You learn a lot about the Dominican Republic. We also did the "Bavaro Splash" excursion which was pretty good too. You get to drive 2 man speed boats and snorkel.

to answer the question about the 3 different dominican areas mentioned in the subject in general:

each of the 3 destins has it beauties/advantages overvthe other 2, it just depends on what your main goals for a visit to our island are.

you mentioned that you are not the kind of visitor who wnat's to spend the whole day on the beach/within the resort, so i disagree with the recommendation of the Excellence in Punta Cana, a top resort, but located absolutely isolated, great prepared beach and resort, but not many things around. if you look for off the resort night time activities the north coast (puerto plata) may suit you more than the east, for perfect beaches and top notch AI resorts i would recommend the east coast(punta cana), the difference of the near santo domingo area is that you will be able to join a mayor city's nightlife within cabby distance. in case of great excursions, they are available from all 3 different dominican destinations. research also service levels at different resorts/areas, you will find everywhere all classes, from cheap to upper level.

happy travel

Mike