el salto del limon

If you like horses , water falls and swimming go to Samana a paradise full of adventures, there you will find el salto de limon a beautiful water fall in the mountains. Getting there is an adventure you will never forget . I recommend to bring a water proof camera and comfortable shoes / boots water proof if possible. The walk is not long and you need to pay for the horse ( not expensive )

Was quite the trek to get to the waterfall but beautiful to see. The horse ride was an adventure in itself and the guides were excellent and very informative!

As many others have said, if you enjoy hiking and have relatively good health, skip the horses. The path to the waterfall is completely doable on foot and I'd say more enjoyable. You get to go at your own pace and you can avoid being hounded and followed by those trying to earn tips by "escorting" you and your horse. The path does get muddy in places, but navigating your way through the mud is part of the fun. Just wear reasonably solid shoes--either hiking shoes (best) or good tennis shoes. Watching the horses try to find their footing was actually far scarier than hiking the path myself.The hardest part of getting to this waterfall was actually finding the starting point. My partner and I drove from Las Galeras/Samana and were errantly following directions we found on tripadvisor from someone traveling from Las Terraras. We didn't realize this until we had already gone down multiple wrong roads and gotten hounded by an excessive number of locals trying to convince us to let us pay them to show us the way. I'm re-copying those directions below but with amendments made for anyone traveling from Las Galeras/Samana. You DON'T have to pay people, tour companies or any guides to take you to the waterfall; it's completely doable by yourself.DIRECTIONS TO EL SALTO DEL LIMON FROM LAS TERRARAS:1- Once you get close to the village El Limon, there are several "motoconches"--guys on motorbikes trying like mosquitos to convince you to follow them to the parking lot or to do a tour with them. Ignore them, or just tell them to go away. You don't need them.2- Once you arrive in the village of El Limon, the main road will turn to the right. Follow the main road, it is made of asphalt.3- After 1-2 minutes you will start to see signs pointing to the left for various entrances to the waterfall. You can choose to any of these entrances, but the entrance I suggest is "Sendero Arroyo Surdido." The sign can only be read from the other direction, unfortunately, so you might accidentally pass it when traveling southbound. That's okay--just turnaround. It'll be the second entrance sign you see going northbound. The words "Sendero Arroyo Surdido" are printed pretty small at the bottom of the signs, but if you drive slowly you'll see them. Each entrance to the waterfall will have a sign like this--sorta like national park signs you'd see in the US, but on a white background and smaller print. Each sign has a small map of the area and the name of the entrance "Sendero Arroyo Surdido" or some other name will be at the bottom.DIRECTIONS FROM LAS GALERAS/SAMANA1- The entrance to the waterfall is about 1-2 kilometers BEFORE you get to the actual town of El Limon. You might encounter "motoconches" along the road--guys on motorbikes trying like mosquitos to convince you to follow them to the parking lot or to do a tour with them. Ignore them, or just tell them to go away. You don't need them. If you find yourself in the town of El Limon, you've gone too far. Turnaround and follow the reverse directions for getting to the waterfall from Las Terraras instead. 2- As you drive along the road towards El Limon, you will first see a sign for Sendero El Café on the right. Keep on driving; don't follow the people who will try to make you go there. After seeing this sign, however, drive more slowly as the entrance to the parking lot for the waterfall will be coming up on your right.3- There will be several white rectangular signs containing small maps of the area on the right hand side of the orad. Each map marks an entrance to the waterfall. The entrance I suggest using is the one labeled "Sendero Arroyo Surdido." It'll be the second entrance sign you see going northbound from Samana. The words "Sendero Arroyo Surdido" are printed pretty small on the sign, but if you drive slowly you'll see it. Other entrances will have other titles/names--but with the same map. If you start to notice these signs, but can't seem to find "Sendero Arroyo Surdido" just keep driving up and down the road reading each of the signs until you spot it. Again, I believe it's the second entrance/second white sign you'll encounter when driving from Samana.GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS4- When you will arrive at "Sendero Arroyo Surdido" go and park. The lot is just to the left behind a house. We paid 150 pesos for the parking, but others on here have said they only paid 100. The old woman who runs the lot is very nice, so we didn't mind paying the extra. If you want to negotiate feel free. There are two bathrooms and a covered area eating area near the lot as well.5- Don't take a guide the path is indicated. There are signs along the path, and it's very clear where to go the whole way.6- If you go after it has rained or while it's raining, the path can get very muddy and slippery, but still it will still be ok. Just take a slower pace, and you'll be fine. 7- It will take about 40 minutes along the path to get to the entrance of the waterfall. You'll cross a few streams and A LOT of tourists on horses. At the entrance to the waterfall, there's a thatched roof where you can buy food and touristy knick-knacks. Unless you're into that sort of thing, just ignore it and walk to the right of the building where you'll find someone in a small booth selling the tickets to visit the waterfall. 8- There is a 50 pesos entry fee for the cascade and a toilet next to the desk where you pay the entrance fee.9- You'll walk down 215 steps to the waterfall.10- Don't forget to bring a suit if you want to swim as well as mosquito repellent and water.11- To get back to your car, just do everything in reverse. The trip back takes a bit less time as it's easier to traverse the slippery path in reverse it seemed.

Nice waterfalls, but the people there are so importunate!We went there with a rented car, coming from Las Terrenas. First in the town El Limon there is a restaurant with a sign saying "Reception". We thought we have to buy the entrance ticket there, but it was just a tourist trap and they wanted to sell us some tickets to eat and horses to go to the waterfalls. Luckily we continued driving, because this was anyway some kilometers away from the official Reception.On the way there several motoconcho drivers tried to stop us and offer us some tours. We just ignored them and continued driving. You can drive until the real Reception, although many people want to stop you to offer you a tour again. After buying a ticket for 50 Pesos we wanted to walk up to the waterfalls our self when a guy stopped you and told us following things (in Spanish):- you have to cross a river several times, which is not possible without a horse- the mud on the way is 50cm deep, you can't walk there without horse or rubber boots- there is a small and a big waterfall, you can just visit the small one on your own, for the other one you need a guid to be allowed to visit it- if you pay for guid he will have a horse as well and you can gallopDon't believe anything what they are telling you! It turned out that everything was just a lie! - yeah you have to cross the river 3 times, but it's really shallow, just take off your shoes. Even if you take a horse you have to cross the river once at the end!- there was almost no mud! And if so there was a small path on the side for walking!- you don't need a guide at all, you only have to pay the 50 Pesos at the entrance- the guides had no horses and the path is really bad for the horses (steep and stony)So at the end we paid about 10 USD for a horse, or better incapable mule! The path is really nice for walking but horrible for the mules! We almost jumped off your mules and walked on your own. Simply a rip off! The want tip all the time! They say they don't get paid and just live from the tip (it's your fault if you believe this!)I highly recommend to enjoy the waterfalls while walking and not with the "horses"! It's much nicer and cheaper!

Fantastic waterfall if you go you must have a swim. The guides are paid the hope for tips 10$ is about right will look after you and your gear. Dont go if you have health problems the steps back up are a killer and the horse ride is not good up and down hills at lot of people turned back just be warned ask frist

This is not an easy trail during the wet season, get the boots! My trail guide, a local volunteer, had a very active and fun horse named Pinto that likes to take the lead. Just say no, and be firm. The rest of the trip will be so beautiful. The guides are willing to take care of your personal property while you swim, and take pictures of you with the waterfall in the background. I carefully swam under the waterfall and it was wonderfully refreshing. This is best for teenagers and older as the climb down and the climb back up are pretty steep. The guides are willing to help you up and down, too. Horseback ride is about 20 minutes each way, but then the walk is about 10 minutes to get to the actual waterfall.

This is a can't miss, we traveled around the whole island and this was our favorite sight. We went up on horses, there are local guides that are normally posted up right by the road leading to El Limon. The only problem was that they wanted to give us a guide for every single horse...that was excessive and it made it hard to tip well without it getting expensive. I would make sure to be clear that you only want one guide (or maybe an extra to stay with a rider who is very young or elderly to be safe).

It cost 400 Pesos or 10 USD to get into the park, plus it is expected to tip the horse guides as they are poor local people and officially "volunteers." I tipped my horse guide 400 pesos. You could walk to the waterfall, but I don't think the locals would like that as they work really hard to earn whatever tip you can give and don't get paid anything else. The horse guides were really friendly and are happy to take pictures and watch your belongings for you as you swim. The water is cold but refreshing, and of course the waterfall is gorgeous as is the horse ride to get there. They will give you boots for the trip there as it is really muddy in places. There were a lot of other tourists when we first got there, but none of them were swimming and they left quickly. You can jump off the waterfall, but be careful. I wouldn't follow the locals to where they are jumping from as they know the good hand holds and where there aren't rocks at the base so they can get up high on the waterfall.

it is not the Niagara falls but it is spectacular anyway, we appreciated the ride on horses, the nature is gorgeous. It was pretty steep to go down on the horse, so hold on tight! The lunch was also very good.

Horse back trip up to the falls was so fun. Really hilly and beautiful. The falls were worth the trip on their own. Make sure you take socks to wear in the boots and money to pay your guide $10 US. You need a guide up and down those hills and those fellows earn their $$. Take water shoes for the falls, but go it. It is fabulous. Our family looking out from behind the falls is one of my absolute best memories.

The horseback route up and down three mountains twice is rocky, muddy, and often steep. My heart was in my throat as I watched this poor horse search for footing and prayed we did not tumble down the side of the mountain. My husband told me later the guide- which I tipped exorbitantly due to him having my life in his hands-- was throwing rocks at the horse to get it to move. That later made me mad that I tipped so well. I wish I could have tipped the horse. We gave $1000 pesos or about $20 bucks but it should have been $10 or $500 pesos. We were just in such a state after the experience. We learned later that Dominicans pay about $25 per month on average for rent. So don't get too crazy with the tip. OK- back to the trip. So what they did not tell us is that there was also a muddy 200 stair descent ( and of course later ascent) into the falls. Not only do you have to be in shape for this trip but I have had some mishaps going down muddy stairs and really did not appreciate this lack of information. The majority of riders, 90 percent, did not swim in the falls but I changed in the shack and made the trek in. They say the falls are warm but I felt like I had just jumped into Lake Erie in May. This may be due to the sweat I built up on the ride and the stairs. My guess is that it was 65 degrees. The shock to the system and the wind generated from the falls made it hard to breath but it bought me time to prepare for the return trek. In this case, the resulting story is better than the actual trip!

We got horse for 300 pesos without bargaining and they did not ask for entrance fee. Guides seem to be happy with 100 pesos tip. This was short about 2-3 km walk.

We booked a half day tour from our hotel to visit El Limon. It came with the transfer, a guided horseback ride to the falls and lunch as well as a safety helmet and rubber boots. The boots really came in handy because there was a bunch of mud everywhere!Every horse came with its own guide. However, the guides do not get paid by the company, instead they work on tips, with a suggested $10 minimum. They were so helpful and friendly, that we ended up giving more because they really deserved it. The trail can get pretty steep at times so it's very reassuring that they are there with you. While at the falls, they held on to our stuff and took pictures with our camera while we went swimming.And some of the guides put on a show by climbing up the cliff and diving down into the water. Some of them went pretty high up!The food back at the restaurant (from where we started on horseback) was pretty good as well. Soda was included but alcoholic drinks were extra.There are different ways to visit the falls. You can book through your resort, tour companies, your tour company rep, etc and they all have different prices as well as what is included so it's a good idea to shop around. However, regardless of how you get there, it's definitely worth a visit.

This is an awesome excursion! We walked on foot up to the falls, and it's definitely a workout. My 11 year-old daughter was able to make it up with no problem, my 5 year-old was carried on our shoulders most of the way. The falls are gorgeous - cool, refreshing, and a breathtaking sight. The only drawback is that the trails are full of mule/horse poop - gross! That's really the only drawback. One of the locals "offered" himself to be our guide. At first I was sort of annoyed, but later I really appreciated his help (he really earned his tip, and we were glad to give it to him!). The walk was about 75 minutes up for us. Be sure to take water and a snack, although they're available for purchase as you approach the falls.

We have just got back from our holiday in the dominican republic, where we had an amazing time. We took this trip (Samana by air) on our anniversary and we had the most amazing day ever. The falls were stunning as was the horse riding experience, my husband had never been on a horse so it was a first for him. We had an amazing lady helping us as we rode over muddy rocky terrain to get to the falls. It was the best trip that we did on our fortnights holiday. We tipped the guide at the end of the trek as she was well worth it.