Why the Dominican Republic
The country occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, shared with Haiti. It holds the highest point in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte at three thousand and eighty-seven metres, which its beach reputation tends to hide.
Four distinct poles. Santo Domingo holds the first European colonial city in the Americas, its colonial zone World Heritage listed. Punta Cana and Bávaro, in the east, concentrate the all-inclusive resorts. Samaná, in the north-east, receives humpback whales from January to March. The central cordillera holds Jarabacoa and Constanza, at altitude and in a temperate climate.
December to April: dry, bearable heat, outside hurricane season. June to November is hurricane season, peaking in August and September.
Entry and stay
Requirements depend on nationality. Check yours with the local authorities before booking.
No duration is quoted here, for want of an official source verified at the time of writing — 22 September 2026.
One point applies to every traveller: an online entry and exit card, the e-Ticket, is compulsory and is completed free of charge on the customs directorate's site. Intermediary sites charge for it; they are not official.
Getting around
Scheduled coaches — Caribe Tours, Metro — link the main cities comfortably and for a few euros. It is the simplest mode.
Guaguas, local minibuses, cover the rest with no fixed timetable. A hire car opens up Samaná and the cordillera, but driving is nervous and night lighting scarce.
Santo Domingo has a métro, rare in the Caribbean.
Money
The Dominican peso. US dollars are accepted in tourist areas at an unfavourable rate.
Cash machines charge high fixed fees per transaction: withdrawing a lot rarely costs less. Hotel zones display prices in dollars at rates unconnected to the rest of the country — a meal in Santo Domingo costs three to four times less than in Bávaro.
Health
No vaccination required from Europe. Dengue circulates.
Tap water is not drinkable, hotels included. Private hospitals are good and require advance payment or an insurance guarantee.
Before you go
The hurricane season from June to November is real. Insurance covering an interrupted trip is worth its price in that window.
Pico Duarte takes two to three days and a compulsory guide, from La Ciénaga. It is not a day trip.
The country is far larger than it looks: Punta Cana and Santo Domingo are three hours apart by road, Samaná four. Trying to chain them all in a week means spending the week in a car.