Travel guide
Featured on October 3, 2026
Larimar, a blue gemstone, is mined in only one country.
Places
This is the old core of Santo Domingo, where you can walk from the Catedral Primada de América to the Alcázar de Colón and read the first Spanish city in the Americas in stone. Go by day for churches, museums and courtyards, then again after dark when music and tables spill into the squares.
Tip: Give it a full day if you want the museums; the best light and the best street life come early and late.
Go in winter for humpback-whale boats, or any time for Atlantic beaches, coconut country and the greener side of the island. Playa Rincón, Las Galeras and the road itself are part of the reason to come.
Tip: January to March is whale season; otherwise give it at least two nights and a car or driver.
Boats thread through mangroves and limestone islets, then stop at caves marked with Taíno pictographs and petroglyphs. Few day trips bring wet tropical landscape and deep history together this neatly.
Tip: Go in the morning from Santa Bárbara de Samaná or Sabana de la Mar; worth paying for a good guide.
The trail climbs through pine forest and cloud forest to the Caribbean's highest peak, with cold dawns that catch first-timers off guard. You go for the walk, the camps and the shock of mountain air in the tropics.
Tip: Allow at least three days and go with a licensed guide; nights can be cold.
On the dry southwest coast, a boat lands you on a long empty beach with clear water and scrub-covered hills behind it. It is the cleanest rebuttal to the idea that the whole coast is resorts.
Tip: Usually reached by boat from Las Cuevas near Pedernales; bring water, cash and shade, and treat it as a full-day outing.
Eat
Boiled green plantains mashed smooth, usually topped with sautéed red onions and often served with fried cheese, eggs and salami as los tres golpes.
Where: At a barrio breakfast counter before work, or at home on a Sunday morning.
Rice, stewed beans, a piece of meat and salad: the standard midday plate rather than a feast dish.
Where: In a comedor at lunch, especially near markets, bus stops and government offices.
A thick stew of mixed meats with plantain, yuca, yam, pumpkin and herbs, cooked until the broth turns rich and cloudy.
Where: At a family table on Sunday or on a holiday, when the pot is big enough to feed whoever turns up.
Fish simmered with coconut milk, garlic, peppers, onions and herbs, common on the northeast coast.
Where: On the Samaná Peninsula, especially at beach restaurants in Las Galeras or Santa Bárbara de Samaná.
A sweet cream of red beans, milk, sugar, spices and sweet potato, often served with raisins and small cassava biscuits.
Where: At family tables in Semana Santa, and from street stalls selling cups that week.
Story
Walk Santo Domingo's Ciudad Colonial after rain and the air smells of damp limestone, diesel and coffee. Order a Presidente or a batida, and the pavement turns into a living room of plastic chairs, dominoes and talk. A few hours away the rhythm changes to cacao groves, red-dirt ball fields and the whale coast of Samaná.
The first Spanish town at the mouth of the Ozama had a rough start. In 1502 Nicolás de Ovando shifted it to the west bank and laid out new streets in a grid. Stone offices, houses and churches followed. So did forced labour, disease and war, which shattered Taíno life across the island.
Rafael Trujillo took power in 1930 and made the state feel personal. His portraits filled classrooms and offices. In 1936 the capital was officially renamed Ciudad Trujillo. On 30 May 1961, conspirators waited on the highway to San Cristóbal and shot up his Chevrolet Bel Air. The dictatorship did not vanish that night, but the fear cracked.
At dusk in Santo Domingo, a colmado speaker throws bachata into the street. Motoconchos line up under the pharmacy lights. A boy in a school shirt bats bottle caps toward the curb. Resorts, free-trade zones and remittances shape the modern economy. So do baseball academies, call centres and the habit of leaving, sending money home, and returning.
Say hello
¿Qué lo qué?
What's up? / How's it going?
Say: keh lo KEH
Un chin
A little bit
Say: oon CHEEN
Vaina
Thing, mess, problem, or just whatever-that-is, depending on tone
Say: VY-nah
Tá to'
It's fine / all good / sure
Say: tah TOH
Ponme una fría
Get me a cold beer
Say: PON-meh OO-nah FREE-ah
Surprises
Santo Domingo became the first city in the Caribbean with a metro system when Line 1 opened in 2009.
A pocket of English survives in Samaná because free Black families from the United States settled there in 1824. Linguists still describe the variety spoken by some descendants as Samaná English.
Lake Enriquillo is both saltwater and below sea level, and American crocodiles live in it. In the southwest, the landscape turns from palms to cactus, heat haze and a lake that feels almost inland-desert.
Quiz
The Mona Passage separates the Dominican Republic from which island?
The Mona Passage runs between eastern Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. It has been an important sea lane since long before modern borders, first for Taíno canoe routes and later for Spanish shipping.
3 days
Day 1
Morning in Ciudad Colonial for the cathedral and Alcázar de Colón; afternoon in its museums and courtyards; evening on the Malecón and back into the old quarter for music.
Day 2
Drive from Santo Domingo to the Samaná Peninsula; afternoon on Playa Rincón or around Las Galeras; evening and sleep in Santa Bárbara de Samaná.
Day 3
Take an early boat from Santa Bárbara de Samaná to Los Haitises National Park; late lunch in town; afternoon drive back to Santo Domingo or stay another night on the peninsula.
At a glance
At a glance
Member of
Neighbouring countries
Listen
The song of the day
Ojalá Que Llueva Café
Juan Luis Guerra 4.40
Few songs move so easily between singalong and social history; one chorus gets you straight into the country's humor, longing and rhythm.
Play a 30-second preview30-second clip via Apple Music
Before you go, watch or read
In the Time of the Butterflies
Book
Julia Alvarez turns the Trujillo years into a family story, so the monuments and silences land harder when you arrive.
Entry requirements
Dominican Republic entry requirements by passport: of 197 passports, 101 can enter without a visa, 6 get a visa on arrival, 0 apply online before they travel and 90 need a visa from an embassy or consulate.
Find your passport for the documents, the cost and how long you can stay.
Safety
Due to crime
US State Dept, updated October 15, 2025. Advisories change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
From the community
🇩🇴 Today's country is Dominican Republic. Larimar, a blue gemstone, is mined in only one country. Walk Santo Domingo's Ciudad Colonial after rain and the air smells of damp limestone, diesel and coffee. Order a Presidente or a batida, and the pavement turns into a living room of plastic chairs, dominoes and talk. A few hours away the rhythm changes to cacao groves, red-dirt ball fields and the whale coast of Samaná. 📍 Places to visit • Ciudad Colonial — This is the old core of Santo…
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