Must-see attractions in Dominican Republic

  • Montaña Redonda

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    This dramatic mountaintop viewpoint has been discovered by the Instagram generation – Dominicanos flock here on weekends to take photos swinging in sky…

  • Playa Grande

    North Coast

    A long, broad, tawny beach with aquamarine water on one side and a thick fringe of palm trees on the other. Stark white cliffs jut out into the ocean in…

  • Catedral Primada de America (First Cathedral of the Americas), Zona Colonial (Colonial District, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, West Indies, Caribbean, Central America

    Catedral Primada de América

    Santo Domingo

    The first stone of this cathedral, the oldest standing in the Western hemisphere, was set in 1514 by Diego Columbus, son of the great explorer (the ashes…

  • Centro León

    Santiago

    This large, modern museum, built with the tobacco wealth of the León Jimenez family, is a world-class institution with an impressive collection of…

  • Museo Alcázar de Colón

    Santo Domingo

    Designed in the Gothic-Mudéjar transitional style, this was the early-16th-century residence of Columbus’ son, Diego, and his wife, Doña María de Toledo…

  • Casa Museo General Gregorio Luperón

    Puerto Plata

    The life and times of native-born son and independence leader Gregorio Luperón are impressively fleshed out inside this beautifully restored, pale-green,…

  • Playa Los Mino

    North Coast

    This sweet little stretch of sand must be one of the DR's best village beaches, easily accessible from the road under Bahía Blanca. White sand, a green…

  • Getting mentally ready for summer!.Here is another view of Playa Breman, next to Playa Rincón, in Northeastern Dominican Republic! The image is framed by a shallow cave dug out by a fresh water spring!

    Playa Rincón

    Las Galeras

    Pitch-perfect Playa Rincón, with soft, nearly white sand and multihued water good for swimming, stretches an uninterrupted 3km – enough for every day…

  • A young man diving off El Limon, the waterfall at Samana, Dominican Republic

    Cascada El Limón

    Las Terrenas

    Tucked away in surprisingly rough landscape, surrounded by peaks covered in lush greenery, is the 52m-high El Limón waterfall. A beautiful swimming hole…

  • Reserva Antropológica Cuevas del Pomier

    Dominican Republic

    Visiting this reserve is like reading a history book written in stone. There are 57 limestone caves in the area 10km north of San Cristóbal, five of which…

  • Isla Saona

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    There’s a reason why boatloads of tourists descend upon this island every day. The powdery, white-sand beach doesn’t seem real from afar, and a dip in the…

  • Ojos Indígenas Ecological Park & Reserve

    Bávaro & Punta Cana

    Though development may eventually cover every inch of the Dominican coastline, for now there are still large areas of pristine coastal plains and mangrove…

  • Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    From the outside, this basilica is a strange mixture of the sacred and the profane. A utilitarian concrete facade, not far removed from a military bunker,…

  • Parque Nacional Cotubanamá

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    Much more than simply Isla Saona, which is all that most people see on a group tour, the Parque Nacional Cotubanamá (formerly known as Parque Nacional del…

  • Parque Nacional Los Haitises

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    Around 9km west of Sabana de la Mar, Parque Nacional Los Haitises is certainly the best reason to visit this small bayside town. Its name means ‘land of…

  • Cayo Levantado

    Península de Samaná

    A gorgeous public beach lies on the western third of this lush island, 7km from Samaná. It's the only section that's open to the public – a five-star…

  • Cueva de las Maravillas

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    Extending for 840m between Río Cumayasa and Río Soco, this lighted and well-marked massive underground cavern complex is off the highway some 20km west of…

  • Parque Mirador del Sur

    Santo Domingo

    A long tree-filled corridor atop an enormous limestone ridge, this park is riddled with caves, some as big as airplane hangars. One of the caves has been…

  • Playa Cosón

    Las Terrenas

    The sand at Playa Cosón, 8km west along the main highway from Playa Bonita, is tan rather than white, and the water greenish rather than blue, but it’s a…

  • Playa Frontón

    Las Galeras

    Playa Frontón boasts some of the area’s best snorkeling. Apparently it’s also popular with drug smugglers and Dominicans braving the Mona Passage on their…

  • Padre Nuestro

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    Located deep inside Parque Nacional Cotubanamá, Padre Nuestro is a weaving stalagmite- and stalagtite-filled 290m tunnel flooded with freshwater that can…

  • Playita

    Las Galeras

    Better than the beach in town, Playita (Little Beach) is easy to get to on foot or by motoconcho (motorcycle taxi). It’s a stretch of tannish sand and…

  • Playa Madama

    Las Galeras

    Playa Madama is a small beach framed by high bluffs at the edge of the country; keep in mind there’s not much sunlight here in the afternoon.

  • Playa La Entrada

    North Coast

    Playa Entrada is one of the longest, most picture-postcard-worthy beaches in the country. Privacy is easy to come by. A couple of informal shacks sell…

  • Charles III gate with Tower of Homage in background, Fortaleza Ozama.

    Fortaleza Ozama

    Santo Domingo

    This is the New World's oldest colonial military edifice. The site, at the meeting of the Río Ozama and Caribbean, was selected by Fray Nicolás de Ovando…

  • Containers for ingredients in colonial drugstore, Museo de las Casas Reales, Santo Domingo, Zona Colonial, Dominican Republic

    Museo de las Casas Reales

    Santo Domingo

    Built in the Renaissance style during the 16th century, this building was the longtime seat of Spanish authority for the Caribbean region, housing the…

  • Castillo del Cerro

    Dominican Republic

    San Cristóbal's strangest sight, currently used as the National Penitentiary School, was built on Trujillo’s orders for himself and his family in 1947 (at…

  • Teleférico

    Puerto Plata

    A cable car takes visitors to the top of the enormous flat-topped Pico Isabel de Torres. On clear days there are spectacular views of the city and…

  • Altos de Chavón

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    While a trip to a faux-16th-century Italian-Spanish village created by a Paramount movie-set designer won’t exactly give you a window into Dominican…

  • Cueva del Puente

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    Parque Nacional Cotubanamá has more than 400 caves, many of which contain Taíno pictographs (cave paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings)…

  • Fuerte de San Felipe

    Puerto Plata

    Located right on the bay, at the western end of the Malecón, the fort is the only remnant of Puerto Plata’s early colonial days. Built in the mid-16th…

  • Museo Jamas El Olvido Será tu Recuerdo

    Dominican Republic

    In the home of local resident José Miguel Ventura Medina, known to some as ‘El Hippi,’ this museum has a name translating literally to ‘Forgetfulness will…

  • Isla Catalina

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    In the 15th century, pirates including Francis Drake would lurk around Isla Catalina, waiting to pounce on Spanish ships sailing to and from Santo Domingo…

  • Palacio Nacional

    Santo Domingo

    The Dominican seat of government, which occupies most of a city block, was designed by Italian architect Guido D’Alessandro and inaugurated in 1947. Built…

  • Playa Bonita

    Las Terrenas

    A getaway from a getaway, the appropriately named Playa Bonita (Pretty Beach) is only a few kilometers west of Las Terrenas. It's not without…

  • Monumento Natural Dunas de las Calderas

    Dominican Republic

    This protected reserve, part of the Península de las Salinas, is 20 sq km of gray-brown sand mounds, some as high as 12m. A guided tour (in Spanish)…

  • Parque Nacional Submarino La Caleta

    Punta Cana & the Southeast

    This underwater park is the resting place of several shipwrecks, incuding the Hickory, a salvage ship that was scuttled in 1984, the year the park was…

  • Jardín Botánico Nacional

    Santo Domingo

    The lush grounds span 2 sq km and include vast areas devoted to aquatic plants, orchids, bromeliads, ferns, palm trees, a Japanese garden and much more…