Punta Cana Culinary Weekend

The listing that circulated as the Punta Cana Food and Wine Festival described an upscale, chef-driven food weekend in April. Independent checking finds no current event under that exact name. The festival that once used it ran at the Paradisus Punta Cana and Palma Real resorts between roughly 2014 and 2017 and appears discontinued, and no edition was ever held in April.

The event that fills that role in Punta Cana today is Culinary Weekend, hosted by Puntacana Resort and Club. Each edition brings a small group of acclaimed chefs, mostly from Latin America, for a run of dinners across the resort's restaurants, including Bamboo at the Tortuga Bay hotel. If you are looking for a resort-based, chef-led food event in Punta Cana, this is the one that verifiably exists and still runs.

The earlier Punta Cana Food and Wine Festival ran its documented editions at the Paradisus resorts from about 2014, continuing through 2016 and a 2017 gastronomic-festival edition. After that, no further editions turn up in press archives or resort calendars, a strong sign the series ended.

Puntacana Resort and Club launched Culinary Weekend as a separate event in 2024. Early editions ran in March, one featured Colombian chef Leonor Espinosa of Bogota's LEO (ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants), and a later edition paired Mexican chefs David Castro and Maribel Aldaco Silva at Bamboo in Tortuga Bay. The dates have moved around the calendar between editions, so treat any single month as provisional and confirm before booking travel.

Each edition centers on a handful of invited chefs, often drawn from Latin America's higher-profile kitchens, including names tied to the region's 50 Best lists. The format runs across several evenings, with a different chef or pairing hosting each night at one of the resort's restaurants, Bamboo at Tortuga Bay among them.

• An opening cocktail reception, priced separately from the dinners.
• Multi-course tasting dinners, each built around a visiting chef's own cooking rather than a buffet.
• Individual evenings you can book on their own, so you need not commit to the full run.

This is a plated, ticketed dining series at a resort, not a public street-food event or an open beach festival.

Individual evenings are bookable on the official Culinary Weekend page, and the booking form accepts a credit or debit card, so you do not have to be a resort guest to attend. Published per-person prices from a recent edition were about US$125 plus tax for the opening cocktail and US$350 to US$425 plus tax for each dinner. Prices and the chef lineup change each edition.

• Confirm the current edition's dates, chefs, and prices before you plan, since dates vary yearly.
• Do not assume April; recent editions have run in March and December, with a November date referenced for a later one.
• Book dinners early, as seating is limited.

Puntacana Resort and Club sits a short drive from Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ), roughly 10 to 15 minutes depending on which part of the resort you are heading to. The dinners are held at resort restaurants such as Bamboo, inside the Tortuga Bay hotel.

If you are staying elsewhere in Punta Cana or Bavaro, plan on a taxi or rental car to reach the property. It includes gated hotel and residential areas, so confirm restaurant access and directions with the venue when you book, and allow extra time to reach the correct entrance.