Riding the Punta Cana Transit system to the San Juan Mall

Just about every tourist arriving in Punta Cana will travel by the San Juan Mall on the way to their final hotel destination. It’s a major Bavaro area retail shopping destination anchored by a large grocery store, IKEA, and a Walmart style department store called Jumbo.

Sure, you could simply take a taxi to this mall, but it’s much cheaper to use one of the local Dominican transit buses to travel to this beautiful shopping destination. Why spend $20 on a taxi when the local bus only cost $1 per person each way?

Now, navigating the local transit system can be a little challenging to the uninitiated, which is why we put together the following video.

Takeaways. There are two type of local buses. Doorless small white vans with no branding, and their more official counterparts with clear “Traumabapu” branding. Yes, they actually have the word “Trauma” in their branding – I can’t make this up.

We strongly recommend riding the “trauma” bus, but both will get you to your destination. One with traditional air conditioning, the former with a more naturally aspired equivalent.

Enjoy the video! It was quite an adventure!