Tortuga Bay, Puntacana Resort & Club

Tortuga Bay is Punta Cana with the volume turned all the way down. The boutique heart of the pioneering Puntacana Resort & Club—the 15,000-acre estate that effectively invented the destination—it consists of a scatter of low white villas on a private curve of beach, their interiors designed by the late Oscar de la Renta, a founding shareholder, in his crisp tropical idiom of white linen, rattan and mahogany. Guests move about by personal golf cart, and the mega-resorts that define the region might as well be on another island.

The villa suites are large and residential, with ocean-facing terraces steps from the sand, and service leans personal: VIP airport handling through the resort's own terminal (the international airport is part of the estate), dedicated concierges and a pace set entirely by the guest. The beach is calm, uncrowded and genuinely beautiful.

The surrounding estate supplies the depth a small hotel cannot: the Tom Fazio-designed Corales course—host of a PGA Tour event—and the La Cana course, the Six Senses spa, an ecological reserve of freshwater lagoons, a marina and a village of restaurants. Dining at the hotel's beachfront table is strong, with the wider resort adding everything from seafood at the marina to casual Dominican cooking. For couples and golfers who want Punta Cana's ease without its crowds, this is the definitive address.