If you haven't heard of Punta Cana, just wait

It was on the stunning island of Hispaniola, green and sun-drenched and mountainous, that Caribbean tourism began. Christopher Columbus ran the Santa Maria aground here in 1492, in what was perhaps the first recorded instance of those fortuitous disasters that keep us from returning to work as planned. He liked it so much he returned the following year, building what may have been the Caribbean's first vacation home at La Isabela on the north coast of what is now the Dominican Republic. The D.R. has had a lot of time since then to get things right.

But for some reason, those who speak eloquently of their travels in Turks and Caicos and Trinidad and Tobago and various Saints and Cays always seem to forget about the D.R. But that's about to change. For sheer scale of development, for aggressiveness of vision, for your buy-now-or-you'll-wish-you-had real-estate opportunity, nothing can compare to what's happening on the eastern tip of the island. This is the story of Punta Cana, the next luxury Caribbean destination.

Peering out of the plane's window as you descend into Punta Cana International Airport, you wonder if perhaps the pilots have taken a wrong turn. There is nothing of note below you, save cows in open fields and a few shacks and small houses. Only when the landing gear is down do you begin to see signs of any modern development, in the form of giant hotels set upon azure bays. Punta Cana is a lush limestone plain, less green than the rest of the island thanks to less vacation-ruining rainfall. A ridge of small mountains, shrouded a misty gray, hovers on the western horizon. Massive, swaying palms dot reef-sheltered beaches of perfectly fluffy sand, and the occasional rocky promontory juts majestically out into the Atlantic. Moving inland, vast mangrove swamps that shelter wading birds and turtles give way to grazing land for humpbacked cattle and the occasional mango or plantain grove."Before tourism,"you ask, "what was here?" "Nothing," is the answer you are given, repeatedly.

As hard as this is to believe, the evidence backs it up. Until recently, no meaningful infrastructure had developed on this part of the island. No fishing industry was set up, no ports or factories built, no scenic byways maintained. Dominicans fleeing the heat of the city made treks to its beaches for short stretches, but Punta Cana (then known, unmarketably, as Punta Borrachón) remained almost untouched.

Five centuries after Columbus arrived, this place is practically brand new.Practically, we say, because the all-inclusives got to Punta Cana first, and bargain-hunting tourists from the Eastern United States and Western Europe still board charter flights for buffets, free drinks, and some of the best beaches in the Caribbean. Fortunately, the development focused on the area immediately around the airport, and the poor condition of the roads kept massive development from spreading much farther.

But now that road is coming, as part of a $1 billion government investment in the area's infrastructure. That great, wide highway will carry some $6.5 billion in private investment to unspoiled beaches to the north and south, where the watchword of every new development is "luxury."

The first property to realize the potential of Punta Cana was Sivory Punta Cana, which opened in 2005 as the first boutique hotel in the area, and only the second on the island. It is small but sumptuous, with large rooms, a spa, three gourmet restaurants, and exquisite attention to detail. Next door, Agua Resort & Spa offers a similar approach to the boutique experience, with the same excellent level of service in a minimalist package. Tortuga Bay, an intimate addition to the 15,000-acre Puntacana Resort & Club (designed by Dominican Oscar de la Renta, one of the pioneers of development in this part of the country) takes its British-colonial style to a luxurious conclusion, with full-time butlers available in the villa suites. For now, they own the luxury market, especially during the high season.

The all-inclusive resorts also know where the money is, and they're reaching up to claim their share. At Excellence Punta Cana, for instance, half the property is devoted to the Excellence Club, which provides priority check-in, a very attentive concierge service, premium liquors within the club area, and a private canape buffet and bar open for business well into the evening. The adults-only resort has placed a great deal of emphasis on the quality of food in its many waiter-served, intimate restaurants (long the Achilles' heel of the all-inclusive experience), and there are suites that push a thousand square feet of marble and leather, with two-person bubble tubs by the bed and on the balcony, a stocked bar, and a flat-screen TV every couple of yards. A water-centered spa with some of the best therapists you'll find outside of a dedicated wellness resort is kept busy by guests who clearly don't mind stepping off the prepay plan to add pampering to their stay.

The Paradisus Palma Real and its sister resort Paradisus Punta Cana also take a multitiered approach, with both Family Concierge and adults-only Royal Service plans available. These offer preferred meal reservations, special club rooms, separate pools, and cell phone or walkie-talkie connections to a tailored concierge service. The program is successful enough that the resorts have all-suite luxury hotels on the grounds, adding yet another dimension to the all-inclusive model.

But even bigger things are happening in Punta Cana, as evidenced by the names sprouting on hotels in the throes of construction (Four Seasons, Aman, Fairmont, The Ritz-Carlton, Trump) and on their golf courses (Dye, Nicklaus, Fazio, Faldo, Norman). Clearly, the crowd they plan to attract is choosing a vacation spot based on something other than an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet.

Cap Cana, on the southern coast of Punta Cana, is perhaps the most ambitious of the new developments. Soon, hundreds of villas will surround three Nicklaus Signature golf courses, fantastic beaches, glamorous restaurants, an international pre-K-12 school, and grounds manicured like the tropical equivalent of an English garden. And the project is only in its first phase: When completed, Cap Cana will offer more than 5,000 residences, 500 hotel rooms, an upscale shopping village, and the Caribbean's largest yacht marina — at 1,000 slips, nearly tripling the next largest — surrounded by a New Urbanist condominium development serviced by water taxis. The most recent addition to the plan came courtesy of Donald Trump; the 68 private lots (perched 60 feet over Cap Cana on a limestone cliff) in the Farallon Estates development recently sold for a total of $350 million. The sale lasted four hours. He'll also add a signature hotel and spa to the mix.

Close on the heels of Cap Cana is The Westin Roco Ki Beach & Golf Resort, which will be ready for occupancy in 2009. It occupies one of the most spectacular spots on the coast, a rocky point surrounded by breaking surf, adjacent to a 6-mile-long beach. The hotel and the adjoining rental villas promise world-class luxury at a world-class price point, with golf, spa, and sand as the main diversions. But here too the developers are thinking big, with plans for six or seven more luxury hotels, a marina, a private lagoon, two more golf courses, a grand casino, privately owned villas, and an aquatic sports center all creeping down to the water over the next dozen years.

The plans are ambitious. These new developments are doing nothing short of remaking the entire eastern section of the Dominican Republic, uprooting a culture based on mass tourism and converting it into one striving for the highest level of service, luxury, and attention to detail. With the collective experience of some of the world's most respected hospitality companies behind the change, it seems inevitable that it will happen.

Maybe, 500 years later, this Caribbean vacation thing is going to work out.