Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, sharing the island with Haiti. It has the Caribbean's highest mountain, Pico Duarte at 3,098 metres, and its lowest point at Lago Enriquillo. Santo Domingo, founded in the 1490s, is the oldest continuously inhabited European-built city in the Americas, and the country now has the region's largest economy.

Known for merengue and bachata, baseball talent, cacao and cigars, Pico Duarte and colonial Santo Domingo.

Highlights

  • Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo: The first European-planned city in the Americas, laid out on a grid from 1502, with the earliest cathedral and hospital ruins on the continent. UNESCO listed in 1990, it is still a lived-in neighbourhood.
  • Pico Duarte, Cordillera Central, La Vega: The highest mountain in the Caribbean at 3,098 metres, in the pine forest of the Cordillera Central. The standard route from La Cienaga takes two to three days on foot or with mules.
  • Los Haitises National Park, Samana Bay: Limestone karst hills and mangrove channels on the south side of Samana Bay, with humpbacked islets standing in the water and caves holding Taino rock art. It is reached only by boat.
  • Bahia de las Aguilas, Pedernales: Eight kilometres of undeveloped sand inside Jaragua National Park at the country's southwestern tip. Most visitors arrive by boat from La Cueva, and its protected status keeps building off it.

Places in Dominican Republic

Getting around

Santo Domingo runs on the state Metro and the Teleférico cable car, with OMSA buses working fixed corridors across the capital using standard, articulated and bi-articulated vehicles. The Metro, the cable car and the bus corridors share one integrated fare, so changing between them costs less than paying twice. The Corredor Independencia alone carries more than forty thousand passengers a day.