A Concise Travel Guide to Dominican Republic for Independent Travellers

Recommendations, Tips and Observations about Dominican Republic based on our trip in 2018

We made a lot of research before going to Dominican Republic, and we had the chance to confirm our findings throughout tour. This post includes useful tips and links to facilitate your next Dominican Republic visit.

Isla Saona

I have been writing about my travel experience in my Turkish blog for more than 5 years and this will be my first travel blog post in English. Between January 20-30, 2018, we travelled around the southern hemisphere of Dominican Republic starting from Punta Cana (without spending much time in this region) and heading towards the capital Santo Domingo, Samana peninsula including Las Terrenas and Las Galeras, and then going back to Santo Domingo to take a daily tour to Isla Saona and finally returning to Punta Cana airport. As you may have guessed it has been an intense tropical tour.

I know that many people go to Dominic Republic with tours and stay in resort hotels which create a sterilized experience. Although I respect to the comfort quest of the people, I do not like these kinds of holidays and prefer to experience what is really happening in the country. Palm trees, white sands and paradise-like ocean views are perfect… But there is more to this story. Bear with me…

First Day: Punta Cana Airport – Friusa

Barcelona El Prat Airport

Let me first start with the story of our tickets. Last year in March, Iberia’s low cost company Level made a compaign selling round-trip tickets (Barcelona-Punta Cana) for 180 Euros. We immediately bought two tickets to Punta Cana for January 2018! I recommend you to follow its campaigns. The airplanes have multimedia screen and all content is free but you need to bring your headphones or buy on board!

On January 20, we flew to Punta Cana and arrived there around 14.30. Since we did not want to spend time in Punta Cana but having thought that we would be too tired to travel to Santo Domingo that day, we reserved a room in a cheap hotel in a town called Friusa. Why we chose this town? Because it was just near the bus terminal! Friusa was the worst of the cities that we have visited. There were so many motobikes, which are also called mototaxis or motoconchos! And they are very popular transportation vehicles. They keep whistling and jumping up in front of you with their motobikes “offering” your their service. With no traffic lights or rules on the road, and heavy air pollution, we had a small cultural shock there. Plus, the room in Hotel Bavaro 2 was terrible, humid and noisy. The only good thing was its pool and garden. We paid 21 Euros including breakfast. But all in all, we weren’t expecting much for this town, so no problem! :)

The next day, we wanted to take the bus of Expreso Bavaro to Santo Domingo which costs 400DOP. The previous day when we went to book the tickets, they told us that they could only sell the tickets one hour before the journey. So, we went to buy the ticket the next day one hour before the trip, but the tickets were sold out! And the next bus was 2 hours later! :D It is a really irritating company principle. Each time we wanted to book ticket they told us the same! The lady there told us that we could take the immediate bus to Higuey and pass to Santo Domingo from there. That strategy worked out! We went to Higuey. Yet, Higuey was having a historical day of Dia de Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia even with the participation of the president of the country and the bus terminal was just in front of the catedral where the parade was happening. Fortunately, we could take the bus from Higuey to Santo Domingo in 15 minutes and head to Santo Domingo. The bus company is called APTPRA.

I can say that bus trips in Dominican Republic are very comfortable, cheap and ample. As far as we have observed, you can go anywhere in the country with this bus network. Plus, they have a toilet and well-working internet connection. We have used Expreso Bavaro, Aptpra and Caribe Tours and each of them has these standards. Caribe Tours was the only company that had the option of booking beforehand.

January 21, Santo Domingo

Alcázar de Colón

In the afternoon of January 21, we arrived to the coastal old Santo Domingo. We settled in our hotel Santo Domingo B&B. It was clean, cheap and nice and close to the city center. In total, we stayed 4 days there (2 days at the start of our journey and 2 days at the end of our journey). The owner of the hotel, Oscar, was a really nice person.

Catedral Primada de America

As you may know, Santo Domingo is one of the first places colonized by Europeans. So, most of the first signs of colonization (church, monastry, university etc.) are in this city. And at the heart of the city is the Zona Colonial. When you are in front of Parque Independencia and cross to the Condal Street which is the main street and walk till the end where you’d see the Catedral Primada de America, oldest church in the New World. It is a really interesting monument to visit. Most of the colonial monuments are concentrated around this church. Without entering into much detail, I will leave you the photo below, which is taken from Lonely Planet Guide and suggest a walking tour route. We did it and we really liked it!

Lonely Planet tour map

You walked all the way and you are tired and hungy. So you wanna it? Let’s talk about food in DR (from now I will refer to the country as DR).

Food

Rice, habichuela and meat

Being a Turkish citizen and living in Spain, two cradles of good cuisine, I can say that food choice is very very limited in DR. Most of the local people eat fried street food, mostly chicken. Even the limited number of food chains are mostly serving french fries and other fried stuff. While walking on Calle Condal, you cannot escape from the smell of burnt oil. Other options are rice and stewed beans called habichuelas. Tipically, they bring you a huge plate of rice, a bowl of habichuela and fried chicken or cooked meat. Though we sometimes preferred this cheap option (a menu like this costs 200DOP), we preferred to eat at a place called Petrus on Calle Condal. We was very clean, had good local and international food. During the day, they had some special local buffet meals as well. The prices were around 300DOP per person. By the way, unlike Spain Spanish, beef meat is not called ternera but res. It was a bit surprising for us.

Presidente beer is the most common beer. And the “normal” size for locals is 650ml. So be careful while ordering if you do not want to drink a lot.

Colmado Culture

Me enjoying moments in Colmado

What I like most in Santo Domingo and in general in all DR is the Colmado culture. Colmados are small markets where you can find daily food and other stuff. But it has a plus. You can buy your drink and sit inside or outside of it on the plastic seats provided by the Colmado Owner. They even serve ice and plastic glasses for ron drinkers. It was very nice to sit in one of them and join the daily rhythm of the local Dominicans. My favorite Colmado is the one in front of the Spanish Culture Center on Calle Merino in Zona Colonial.

In our first day in Santo Domingo, we partially visited the Zona Colonial and walked on the coast of the city called Malecon just like in Habana. It was a nice walk but unfortunately, the Ocean was very dirty. In general, the areas outside of the Zona Colonial were very dirty and it was very hard to find rubbish bins. And there was a clear social class gap because while Gazcue region where rich people live was very organized and tidied (not super clean either), other parts of the city were in bad condition. Anyway, at the night of January 21, we went to see a concert/dance event. Every Sunday, there is a carribean music and dance concert in front of Monasterio de San Francisco again in the Zona Colonial. Local people and tourists were all there dancing salsa, merengue and bachata. It is a must-see event if you are in Santo Domingo.

Merengue night in front of the monastry

The second day, we made the walking tour that I mentioned above. Calle de Las Damas and the monuments on it were especially interesting.

January 23, Samana

On January 23, we moved to Samana with Caribe Tours. The journey took 3 hours and the ticket cost was 340DOP. I can say that the real purpose of our trip was to be in Samana Peninsula. In order to move around other towns easily, we based ourselves in Samana and stayed in a hotel called Mildania Hotel. We paid 35 Euros per night including breakfast and we stayed there 3 nights. The hotel was normal one but fine for staying. The only problem was the noise of the neverending motobikes! Samana is a coastal, tropical city; it is very beautiful. It has a few closeby small islands connected by a lovely peatonal bridge. I recommend you to have a walk during the sunset. Believe me, you’ll have perfect views of Samana, picturesque palm trees and the mountains.

But thousands of tourists does not come to Samana for this lovely sunset. They come for observing HUMPBACK WHALES! (and we do as well). Yes, we went to Samana to see these “little” giants of the seas. Every year, between January and March, humpback whales come to find mates and breed in Samana Bay. Up to 300 humpback whales swim in the bay during this season. We joined the tour of marine biologist Kim Beddall. Although it is the most expensive option (60 Dollars + 5 Dollars to enter to the national marine park), I definitely recommend you to go for observation in her boat because of her extensive knowledge and experience on humpback whales. The next day in the morning, we embarked on the boat at 10.00 and sailed to the bay. Around 12.00, we saw our first whales! Seeing these 40-tonne and 12-metre long whales (bigger than our boat) pass near our boat was one of the best experience in my life. I couldn’t help appreciate their beauties.

Photo taken during our trip including credit

We spend 4 hours in total in the sea and saw around 10 whales and took many photos. At the afternoon, we walked calmly at the coast, at the edge of the city, we saw a coco selling man and bought two cocos for 60DOP. Meanwhile, it was raining intermittently, which gifted us 2 rainbows on the skyline.

January 25, Salto de Limon and Las Terrenas

Salto de Limon

On 25 January, our goal was to visit Salto de Limon, which is a 40-meter-tall cascade in the middle of a tropic forest. For this, we needed to go to the nearby of El Limon village somehow. So, another transportation means helped us: guaguas. A Guagua can be a minibus or minivan. In theory, there is a guagua to anywhere in Dominican Republic. It is enjoyable and feels local to use them. So from Samana to El Limon, we got on a guagua and went till the starting point of the walk to Salto de Limon. There, normally, we didn’t want to get on horses. But because of the rain and horses, it was impossible to walk on the route without special shoes and we didn’t have shoes. We had to rent horses and two unprofessional guides (who expect a tip from you) to accompany us in the wet forest. The horse ride in the forest would have been very enjoyable if the guides did not keep insisting and bargaining about the amount tip they would receive. I would prefer to walk there and observe the forest calmly but the guides left a bad taste in us and we didn’t enjoy much the cascade, though it was a nice cascade. We paid 1000DOP for 2 horses plus 500DOP as tip for two guides in total. The horseride takes around 45 minutes going and 45 minutes returning back. The walk would take a similar time. In a calm day, you have the chance of seeing many tropical birds and many different plants including coffee, mango and cacao. Then we have learnt from other travellers that there are different routes to reach Salto de Limon. And our route wasn’t the best one.

Las Terrenas

Then from there we took a guagua to the Limon Village and from there we changed to another guagua to go to Las Terrenas to see our first paradisiacal beaches (150DOP in total for guagua). Las Terrenas was like a European coastal town inhabited by mostly French, Italian, Spanish and German descendants. Plus, a good number of Turkish citizens. Turkish version of Survivor TV Show and other versions are shot here in Las Terrenas by a Turkish Media company called Acun Medya. All in all, Las Terrenas was a small and fine town. We didn’t spend much time in the town but had a wonderful lunch (the best of all our trip) at La Terrasse Restaurant at the seaside. If you go there, I definitely recommend you to eat there.

January 26-28, Las Galeras

La Playita Beach

Another guagua from Samana (100DOP). Las Galeras. My favorite small city. We stayed there 2 days in the Apartemento Mi Jardin. We paid 44 Euros for 2 nights. The owner of the house, Juan, is Spanish. He was a really nice host. You take the second floor of the house which has a nice terrace and kitchen. We liked being there. As we expected, Las Galeras was very calm and surrounded by white-sand beaches with few people. And guess what? Much less motobike sound! The only tiny problem was that during our stay it rained crazily. Locals told us that it wasn’t normal for the period. But maybe in February or March would be better for visiting. Despite the adverse weather, we went to the beaches of course since there were some times in the day with better weather. Playa Grande and La Playita beaches are the most easily accessible ones but the most famous beach is Playa Rincon. It is kind of complicated to go there. You either need to rent a boat or share the ride with some other people, or go there by car using a difficult road. We decided not to go there because we didn’t have much time. La Playita was far enough and satisfying. What I suggest for Las Galeras is having calm and serene days with short walks into nature and beaches. Humming birds and other birds will surprise you on your walk, anyway. :)

January 29, Isla Saona

On 28 January, we returned to Santo Domingo. First we went back to Samana by a guagua (100DOP) and then change to the bus of Caribe Tours (340DOP). By the way, Caribe Tours also functions as an exchange office and as far as we observed they had the best rates.

For the next day, we joined a tour organized by ATA Excursions. They organize tours to anywhere in Dominican Republic and the prices are cheap and generally include lunch. So in order to gain some time and see more of DR before we return, we took the tour to Isla Saona, which is in the south of the country. It is a really beautiful island surrounded by palm trees, and has all the cliche of Carribbean Tropical beaches. From Santo Domingo to Romana city, they take you with a bus. From there you change to catamaran which has unlimited free drinks (mostly ron). The trip takes 2 hours. And they play noisy merengue and reggeton songs all the way. If you like it, no problem. If you don’t, well that’s a problem. In the island, you spend around 2 hours and eat a buffet lunch and have some time to swim and take a short walk. I was expecting to see some interesting fish and marine mammals but the experience was too to turistic for an independent traveller. On the way back, they take you with a fast boat to a spot on open sea which has really shallow water. It was kind of interesting. All in all, the tour was so-so. :) And we returned to Santo Domingo again.

January 30, Punta Cana Airport

The next day, we took the bus of Expreso Bavaro to go to the airport. We felt happy to have a direct bus to the airport. The cost was 400DOP per person. The airport is worth seeing with its original design inspired by the tropical ambience. You can even see cats and woodpeckers stolling around in the airport.

Now let me answer some questions that may arise.

Is Dominican Republic safe?

Well, we didn’t have any problem anywhere. If basic, common sensical cautions are taken, I think nothing bad will happen. We saw that most houses had iron fences and exeggrated amount of protection. I guess because some incidences occured in the past. I can say that the police is trying hard to protect the tourists and there is even a tourist police unit patrolling in the Zona Colonial. Local people are very nice and candid. They love baseball. If you know anything about baseball, it will be a good communication tool. Though people doesn’t seem religious, religious signs/expressions where everywhere on the street and on the cars, which was interesting for us.

Do I need a visa for entering to Dominica Republic?

Upon entering to the country in the airport, you need to buy a tourist card which cost 10 USD. If you only have Euros, they will charge 10 Euros. Hence, bring dollars with you, not euros! When we were there, the best exchange rates where 1 USD = 48DOP and 1 EUR=58.60DOP. I think i will be more or less like this when you also go.

What is the best time to go there?

You may wanna skip the hurracaine season which is between July and September. I guess the best season would include January, February and March for people who are not accustomed to tropical climate.

Is Dominican Republic cheap for travellers?

No, it is not that cheap. Food and average accommodation prices are close to those of the Soutern European countries. Travelling between cities is comparatively cheap.

Neither this travel nor these travel recommendations would have been possible without my beloved Esra and her deep research.