The Dominican Republic oozes life. Any day is cause for celebrating and enjoying the outdoors. This second largest country in the Caribbean is as large as its offerings are diverse. Plan your itinerary well to add local flavor to your trip.
From baseball games to cooling off in aquamarine rivers, hiking cacao farms or exploring the Colonial City: there’s a lot to do, see and taste.
Music and Nightlife
Dominican people love their music and its intoxicating rhythms, and can make any floor a dance floor, whether it’s indoors or on a random sidewalk. Merengue — the national music and dance, declared by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity — echoes from bars, “drinks” (a name for local clubs), and stages across the country.
Salsa and rock are also popular genres across the country’s countless venues. For live band performances, there’s no better place than Santo Domingo. Dance under the stars by the ruins of the San Francisco Monastery every Sunday with Grupo Bonye‘s live merengue, salsa, and son Cubano performances, or hit Parada 77 for merengue and bachata dancing into the late night every day of the week and a packed live music schedule.
Before you head out to party, warm up at the neighborhood colmado — a local corner store doubling as a bar. Step up to the counter, order una fría (a cold Presidente beer) or a bottle of Brugal rum, and enjoy the lively vibe before moving on to your next spot.
Food and Drink
There’s no experiencing the DR without trying its cuisine. It’s a special blend of African, Taíno, and Spanish influences, as well as Middle Eastern flavors, with a distinctly Dominican flair and foundation in local produce.
Sample mangú, — mashed green plantains topped with red onions —enjoy a bowl of sancocho stew, and crunch on chicharrón. For snacks, quipes and empanadas are sold in local shops and bakeries. Whole fish is also popular, often fried and served with crispy tostones or mashed green plantains.
Wash your meals down with a fruit juice or a batida (fruit milkshake.) Post-dinner, order a shot of mamajuana, a special brew made up of rum, honey, red wine, and tree bark. Don’t forget the sweets, like the coconutty jalao or a slice of bizcocho for good measure, and wash it all down with a cafecito.
Shopping
Shopping abounds across the Dominican Republic, and it’s a perfect pastime. Large, contemporary shopping malls with the best international brands are verywhere— you’ll find them in the big cities and resort towns, from Santiago to Santo Domingo, Punta Cana, and La Romana. Staying at the JW Marriott Santo Domingo provides direct access to the luxurious Blue Mall.
Stores in Las Terrenas and Bayahibe, sell cute imported beach apparel from Italy and France. For a more local fare, the DR’s jewelry scene is unmatched. Step into any major jewelry shop around the country and look for the distinctive Dominican larimar and amber stones.
For unique paintings and handicrafts, the best galleries and stores are in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City, where the local art scene has roots in tradition and just keeps growing.
The Great Outdoors
With one of the most diverse topographies in the Caribbean, it’s easy to plan a mix of both beach days and green adventures in the Dominican Republic. Many of the greener journeys lead to national parks of offshore islands, rivers, waterfalls, and mountains.
Smooth highways connect much of the country, making the DR’s stunningly diverse nature easy to explore. But with a world of nature to see, you’ll need to pace yourself and take distance into account.
Near Santo Domingo, head to the Cotubanamá National Park for a day of adventure exploring caves with storied Taíno history on their walls and glittering lagoons at their floors, and hiking verdant forests. Towards the coast, you can stroll stunning shores, swimming with dolphins, and take a boat to Isla Sanoa, a nearby forested island.
In the north, towards the Samaná Peninsula, Los Haitises National Park stuns with its giant rock formations jutting out of the sea and petroglyph-marked caves you’ll find easy to explore.
Mountain climbers will delight in the Cibao region of the country, where the weather is coolest and the Caribbean’s tallest peak sits at 10,125 feet. For more greenery and mountains, venture southwest to the Barahona province, and you’ll find stunning treks through the Sierra de Bahoruco forests, home to Loma Del Toro’s trail-accessible peak.
Beaches are the DR’s claim to fame, and the varieties are endless, from white sand to golden or black.
The white-sanded Punta Cana area beckons for long beach days and smooth swimming, while on the north coast, cliff-hugged beaches ring the shores of the Samaná Peninsula, some of which can only be reached by boat. Other secluded beaches grace the north coast, like Playa Cambiaso and Playa Arroyo Salado.
Everyone in the DR enjoys the sand and sea as much as you do, especially in the cooler afternoon hours the afternoon. On Sundays, locals know how to beach well, bringing folding chairs, coolers packed with Presidente beer, and Tupperware filled with home cooked rice and beans. You should join the tradition. If you forget lunch, along nearly every beach, you’ll find seafood shacks or local restaurants serving whole snapper with tostones, avocado and yaniqueques (Johnnycakes).
When the sun’s harsh rays begin to dissipate and the workday ends, the park is the place to go for breezes and outdoor relaxation. You’ll find crowds enjoying the start of the evening with a frío frío — fruit-flavored shaved ice.
Equally as popular as the beach, especially in the hot summer months, are the country’s numerous cooling waterfalls, freshwater river streams, and swimming holes. Near Santo Domingo, the Salto Alto three tiered waterfall, cascading into a turquoise pool, is definitely worth the drive. The Salto El Limón waterfall on the Samaná Peninsula offers another adventure with a horseback ride to reach its near 90-foot cascade.
Sights and Attractions
Every Dominican will agree that the coast is beautiful, but there’s also no experience like riding through the rural regions, el campo. The lush countryside, with its rolling hills, cattle farms and cacao fields offer a glimpse of the truest DR. Venture into the misty mountain town of Constanza, the highest town in the Caribbean, which is filled with strawberry fields, or the nearby Jarabacoa, with its mountainous terrain teeming with waterfalls and pine forests.
The Colonial City of Santo Domingo, or la Zona Colonial, is one of the DR’s jewels. This neighborhood, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the first permanent Spanish city in the Americas. There are hundreds of historical sites within the walled neighborhood alone; its 32 streets remain almost entirely intact, as the only living urban center retaining its 15th century aesthetic, with unique Gothic and renaissance architecture.
Along the Calle Les Damas, known as the first street in the new world, see historical wonders, including Museo de las Casas Reales, a colonial-era history museum. Key sites include Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación — the oldest Christian building in the Americas, Fortaleza Ozama, the oldest European military construction in the Americas, and Alcázar de Colón — the 16th century palace of the son of Christopher Columbus, now a museum of vice-regal arts and decoration. The neighborhood is also teeming with modern galleries and cafes to explore.
While in Puerto Plata, visit the unmissable Fortaleza San Felipe, a fortress completed by Spain in 1577. It was used as a prison throughout its history, jailing Dominican forefathers in the 19th century, including the national visionary Juan Pablo Duarte. The site has been turned into a museum with exhibitions including indigenous Taino pottery, colonial weaponry, and artifacts of Dominican history. At the Casa Museo General Gregorio Luperón, explore the home of the Dominican national hero and delve into the culture of his time as well as the plans behind the Dominican Restoration War of the late 19th century.
In Puerto Plata, visitors can take in stunning views the Teleférico to Pico Isabel de Torres — it’s the only cable car in the Caribbean, taking you soaring at over 2,600 feet for panoramic views of the province’s bluffs and the Atlantic Ocean. Once you get off the cable car, stand beside the Christ the Redeemer statue, a replica of the one in Rio de Janeiro, and hike the Botanical Gardens.
Sports and Activities
Sports aficionados will find a world of opportunities in the DR.
Go for tee time at award-winning, 18-hole golf courses, including Punta Espada in Cap Cana, Teeth of The Dog at Casa de Campo, and Playa Grande on the north coast. While in Santo Domingo, you can also visit nearby Cayacoa Golf Club for the day.
Baseball fans should visit during the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (LIDOM) season. The games run from mid-October through end of January and are hosted across the country’s professional baseball stadiums. You might just spot some of your favorite Major League Baseball players in their (not-so) off-season.
On the north coast, the beach town of Cabarete is the hotspot for year-round surfing and kitesurfing, its beaches lined with kitesurfing pros and certified schools.
But it’s not just about the great outdoors to get in exercise and fun: be sure to take a merengue or bachata dance class or hop on a walking tour of a cacao or coffee farm.
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