Must see attractions in 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…

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…

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

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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

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…

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

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…

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…

Just east of the two-lane highway linking Higüey to Boca de Yuma, outside the small town of San Rafael del Yuma, is a fine rural Dominican town surrounded…

This tiny uninhabited island on the eastern edge of Parque Nacional Cotubanamá is a common stop on snorkeling and diving tours. Arriving on the island’s…

The thing about the beach at Boca Chica is that it’s in Boca Chica. This means that despite the powdery white sand and tranquil waters, it’s unlikely to…

There's little formality or information available from this entrance as few people enter here (and nobody is around to collect an entrance fee), but there…

The advantage of staying in Dominicus Americanus is being able to walk to Playa Dominicus, a beautiful stretch of thick, nearly white sand, with good…

This interesting, modern museum traces the history of religion and culture in the DR back to the 18th century. It is on the grounds of the Basilica de…

This large cave, with scattered Taíno pictograms (and graffiti) and stalactite and stalagmite formations, is several kilometers west of Boca de Yuma on…

Much of Playa Bayahibe, the town beach to the right of the parking lot, is occupied by dozens of motorboats waiting to ferry tourists to Isla Saona…