Trip Report: Dominican Republic
Visited in October 2020
I’ll be honest with you. The Dominican Republic was not a country I had looked forward to at all. Without knowing much about the country, it was always one that was more about ticking it off the list during my project to visit all the countries of the world.
There were three main reasons for this. The first is that I always considered the Dominican Republic one of the worst tourist hells in the world. You know, a country full of all-inclusive resorts that does not really match my travel style.
The second reason is that the Dominican Republic is also a very popular travel destination among Swiss people. Without knowing the exact numbers, I would estimate that the Dominican Republic is the second most visited country in the Americas after the USA among the Swiss. Direct flights from Zurich, as well as the view of palm trees, sun and the ocean make the country an interesting vacation destination for Swiss people.
The feedback from friends who have been to the Dominican Republic, however, was mostly not so euphoric. Whenever I asked them how their trip was, they usually answered with a shrug of the shoulders. The truth is that I rarely heard anyone say that his or her trip to the Dominican Republic was amazing. It always sounded more or like that the trip was… just okay but not as fantastic as their trips to other destinations.
The third reason is that I am not a fan of beach vacations. While 1-2 beach days are okay for me, they are also the maximum of what I can bear. Because from this point on I get terribly bored. And what does the Dominican Republic stand for? Of course, beach vacations. The country is in the Caribbean after all.
However, at the moment I don’t choose my travel destinations but the destinations choose me. Since the Dominican Republic had reopened the country completely in mid-September (no PCR test needed, no quarantine) and November is the end of the hurricane season in the Caribbean, my country number 108 was thus fixed. Besides, important for my decision was that the neighboring country Haiti reopened too. Ideally, these countries should be visited on the same trip if you have the goal to see every country in the world.
When I did some research before my departure, I soon realized that I did not really know much about the Dominican Republic and that I was doing the country wrong. There are a lot of interesting places to visit in DR, not only beaches and resorts as I expected. So finally I was even spoilt for choice, because one week was not enough to see everything I would have wanted to see.
In the end, I visited three places that I would like to describe a bit more detailed.
Punta Cana
Punta Cana is probably the epitome of my prejudices. Here, all-inclusive resort follows all-inclusive resort and many tourists probably see nothing but their hotel. Since my flight from Europe arrived there, I basically had no other choice than to spend at least one night there.
In the end, it turned out to be two nights, the first two nights of this trip, and one full day. This day was supposed to be my lazy beach day, on which I would just relax on the beach. I stayed in the Barceló Bávaro Palace, which is located on the supposedly most beautiful beach section of Punta Cana.
Honestly, even if neither beach vacations nor all-inclusive are common in my travel vocabulary, I would describe Punta Cana as a perfect place for such a vacation. Bávaro Beach is incredibly beautiful and the resorts here also offer all kinds of other activities, be it with their private beach sections, huge pools, casinos, golf courses and so on.
Which resort you choose now is probably secondary. When I did some research before the trip, I got the feeling that most resorts would be more or less the same. Or at least very similar.
If I had had more time, I would have visited Macao Beach in Punta Cana and also made a trip to Montaña Redonda. Apart from that, Punta Cana is not necessarily the place with lots of things to do outside of your resort. Anyway, that suits most of the tourists who travel to Punta Cana.
I cannot really tell an interesting story about my stay in Punta Cana. As I said, I spent the first two nights of my trip in Punta Cana and spent all my time in the resort. Punta Cana is perfect for holidays like that and in direct comparison to Kenya’s Diani Beach, where I was three months earlier, I truly believe Punta Cana is the better option in almost every aspect.
Santo Domingo
The capital of the Dominican Republic does not have the best reputation. Dangerous and ugly are usually the arguments why travelers are advised not to stay in Santo Domingo. In my opinion, the capital of the Dominican Republic is better than its reputation.
Admittedly, Santo Domingo may not be the most beautiful city in the world, but it has a very nice historical center (Zona Colonial) with some sights worth visiting. Besides, it is the first European city in the Americas. The Zona Colonial plus a few other sights will easily keep you busy for one or two days.
Moreover, Santo Domingo has a national park in the middle of the city, the Tres Ojos National Park. This national park is a fantastic place to visit also very suitable when the weather is not great (as it was in my case).
The capital of the Dominican Republic also has a lot of extraordinary restaurants and under normal circumstances the nightlife is supposed to be very good.
Unfortunately, my time in Santo Domingo was marked by awful weather, as it rained almost non-stop. For this reason I could not do all the things I wanted to do and spent more time inside that I wanted to.
Nevertheless, I found the city pretty cool. When you travel in the Dominican Republic, sooner or later you will come across the capital anyway. I would definitely spend one or two days here, just to get some variety to the beaches.
Isla Saona
Last but not least, I visited Saona, an island which is located between Santo Domingo and Punta Cana. The island is part of Cotubanama National Park and can be visited as a day trip from both cities. Punta Cana is closer, however, and therefore the tour is cheaper if you start from there.
The tour itself was rather terrible. On an all-inclusive catamaran I went with about 45 other tourists for about two hours through the sea to the island. The catamaran was a kind of party boat with cheap rum and other drinks for the participants. The whole thing was accompanied by exaggeratedly loud Dominican music, and there were even “personal” photographers on the boat to take pictures of the guests. Most of the people seemed to like it, though.
The island, on the other hand, was without a doubt beautiful. We did not see the whole island but just one very long beach stretch, where we could spend one hour.
Was the trip worth it? Difficult to say, but probably not. All in all, we spent 3.5-4h on the party boat, half an hour in the natural pool of the national park and one hour on the beach of Saona. It was a trip I would not do again. The island is beautiful, but the tours that get you there are not for me.
The problem is that visiting the island with one of these party catamarans is the common thing. However, a private boat could be worth it if your purse is big enough (it costs over 1,000 dollars).
The places I missed
What have I missed in the Dominican Republic? A lot! As I mentioned before, the weather ruined my stay a bit, so that I could not see all places I wanted to see.
My biggest regret was that I could not see the Samaná Peninsula in the north of the country. Originally I had planned a day trip from Santo Domingo, visiting the Limón waterfall and the beaches around Las Terrenas. Unfortunately, the weather was so awful that the $230 for this private tour would have been completely wasted. If the tour would have cost me $30-40, I would probably have done it anyway, but I will get to the price level of the country later. Nevertheless, that I missed the Limón Waterfall, probably one of the most beautiful in the world, is a great pity.
I would also have liked to see the interior of the country, the Alps of the Dominican Republic. A trip to Jarabacoa did not happen for the same reason as the trip to the Samaná Peninsula. The pictures of this region look stunning and would certainly have been worth a trip.
Other places I would have liked to see are Puerto Plata, the Montaña Redonda and the Dunas de Bani (did you know that there are sand dunes in the Dominican Republic?). Anyway, it was likely not my last trip to the Dominican Republic and I can visit these places the next time.
Were my prejudices against the Dominican Republic justified?
My trip to the Dominican Republic was not the most eventful. But that was not the country’s fault but the weather. I knew that going there in November would be risky as it is the end of the hurricane season. In the end, of the six days I spent in the Dominican Republic, two were nice, one was okay (mainly sunshine, but also rain) and three were so rainy that there was not really much to do. So my gamble didn’t really work out.
Nevertheless, the six days were enough for me to realize that the Dominican Republic is more interesting than I thought. The eastern part of Hispaniola offers many beautiful places, so you could easily spend two weeks or even longer in the country. Considering all the rather negative or indifferent comments I heard about the Dominican Republic I would even say that the country is a pretty underrated travel destination.
Therefore my recommendation: spend only the first and last day of your trip in Punta Cana. Explore the other parts of the country on your remaining days. The Dominican Republic definitely offers more than the resorts and beaches in the east. Even the often frowned upon capital is nicer than its reputation.
Of course, the country’s tourism is mainly focused on all-inclusive beach vacations. If you actually book two weeks in a resort in Punta Cana and do the questionable tour to Saona as well, I can imagine that the country will only keep you entertained for a few days before you get bored.
Getting around is pretty easy by the way. The country has a good and cheap bus network which I used for my transfers. But you can also rent a car, which gives you maximum flexibility. A little tip: do not do the same mistake like I did. If you take the bus, you should arrive at the bus stop early enough. When I wanted to take the bus at 9.00am, I arrived at the bus stop at 8.20am. But the next bus with free seats didn’t leave until 1.00am. That’s why I had to take a detour through another city. You cannot book tickets in advance.
Even though the bus tickets in the Dominican Republic are affordable, I found the country to be a relatively expensive travel destination. Obviously, the Dominican Republic does not have the price level of the Bahamas, but you should not expect prices like in Thailand. I neither found the hotels nor the restaurants significantly cheaper than in Europe. It goes without saying that the prices decrease as soon as you leave tourist areas like Punta Cana (everything in and around Punta Cana is definitely on an upscale Western European level!) or the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo.
Really expensive are tours. The cheapest day trips start at around 70-80 dollars, but prices between 150-200 dollars seem to be more common. You definitely have an advantage if you have a rental car. Nevertheless, it also shows that the Dominican Republic rather focuses on wealthy tourists than on backpackers.
Last but not least a word about security. Many people think that the Dominican Republic is an unsafe travel destination, which in my opinion is nonsense. Of course, there are barrios where you have no business as a tourist. Plus you better get around by cab than on foot at night. But this is common sense. In the end, the Dominican Republic has safety-wise a worse reputation than it deserves. In my opinion, the country is not more dangerous than other countries in Latin America.
I don’t mean to say that the whole island is totally safe. However, the unsafe country is not the Dominican Republic. It is the other one that is located on the western side of Hispaniola: Haiti.
Admittedly, this trip report about the Dominican Republic might not be the most thrilling one. But stay tuned. What I experienced in Haiti was quite a story… check it out by clicking this link.
The Dominican Republic has it all!
It is the most complete destination in the Caribbean, has history, culture, fauna, flora, mountains, rivers, plains, and a very diverse society, even the most diverse in the Caribbean.
Our gastronomy is the result of everything that has passed through the island, ranging from our native-Americans Taínos to the Spanish occupants during the colonization, the black African slaves and other migratory groups that we receive throughout our history as Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, etc.
Great personalities are Dominican such as designer Oscar de la Renta, actress Zoe Saldaña and Michelle Rodríguez, and musicians like Michel Camilo. Our musical rhythms are merengue and bachata, the main rhythms of Latin American culture.
We are a multicultural society that has been invaded by nations such as Spain, France, Haiti, and the United States.
Always nice to see my country thru the eyes of a foreigner. I think the post is fair. Thank you for sharing.