A travel guide to the Dominican Republic.

What the guide covers

The guide starts with the two main gateways to the country: Punta Cana and Bávaro, the white-sand beaches on the east coast, and Santo Domingo, the capital, with the Ciudad Colonial, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the beaches of Boca Chica and Juan Dolio. On the same east coast are La Romana and Bayahibe, where boats depart for Isla Saona, and Miches, with the Costa Esmeralda.

In the northeast, the Samaná Peninsula hosts humpback whales from January to March and has wild beaches; in the north, the Amber Coast includes Puerto Plata, Sosúa, and Cabarete. Inland are Santiago de los Caballeros and the mountains of Jarabacoa and Constanza, including Pico Duarte. Further away, Barahona and Pedernales showcase the wild southwest, with Lago Enriquillo, and Monte Cristi the dry northwest. Each destination brings together the towns in the region, attractions with their own pages, when to go, and how to get there.

Provinces and groups

The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces and the Distrito Nacional, which is the city of Santo Domingo. The guide organizes cities by these divisions. The province surrounding the capital is shown as Provincia de Santo Domingo, to avoid confusion with the Distrito Nacional.

To make travel easier, the provinces are shown in eight groups: Santo Domingo and surroundings, the East Coast, Samaná and the Northeast, Puerto Plata and the Amber Coast, Santiago and the Central Mountain Range, the Northwest, the South Coast, and the Southwest. Place names appear as they do on signs, in Spanish.

How to travel around the Dominican Republic

The country shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti in the Caribbean, and is easy to travel by land. Highways connect Santo Domingo with Punta Cana, Santiago, and Samaná, and long-distance buses run routes between cities; in regional areas, local vans (guaguas) and moto-taxis complete the journey. There are international airports in Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, La Romana, Samaná, Puerto Plata, and Santiago.

The time zone is UTC−4 year-round. The country is in the Northern Hemisphere, but the climate is tropical: what changes over the year is rainfall, with the dry season from December to April and the hurricane season from June to November.

Why there are no prices

Outside Brazil, the guide does not show prices for tours or entrance fees because they change frequently. When there is an entrance fee or charge, the text notes it, and the amount should be checked before you go.

How the content is made

The information for each place is researched from official sources, such as the tourism authority of the Dominican Republic, national parks, and UNESCO, and is checked before going live.

The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it. Photos sent by travelers appear separately, as travelers' photos.

If you find any information that differs, write to us: fixing it is quicker than it seems.

All of Cidade Turismo

The guide started in Brazil and now also covers other countries, always with the same organization: routes, destinations and cities.

About Cidade Turismo: who we are, how the content is made and the guide's numbers →