The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean paradise vacation destination surrounded by warm blue seas, the Caribbean on the south and the Atlantic to the north. The Best Kept Secret is that it also has very many surprising vacation possibilities. Towering mountains, rain forests, turbulent rivers, even a lake of crocodiles below sea level. It has good museums, universities and many cultural activities as well as the expected tropical vacation facilities. In this way it offers something for every one.

It was here in the Dominican Republic that Christopher Columbus founded the first European settlement in the New World and the Colonial Zone in the capital city of Santo Domingo is the oldest city in the continent of America. There are many beautiful buildings and monuments dating from Columbus’ time and these are now interspersed with every kind of restaurant of gourmet quality and lovely parks. Every effort is made to cater to the tourist and the local people are helpful and friendly.

Tourism is a principle industry but there is also a major industrial base, much of it in the Free Zones.  These offer excellent opportunities to manufacture with low labor costs in a pleasant location located only an hour away from Florida and with good maritime connections to N. & S. America, Europe and the Panama Canal. There are three major international airports plus several more. Many scheduled flights are available daily to hubs in the United States and Europe.

For the tourist many restaurants offer different types of cuisine, there are casinos, nightclubs, and many cultural activities. For the adventurous there is Rafting, Biking, Horse riding and just plain Hiking in the Alps and other parts of the interior.

If viewers of this site from the UK have any questions they can e-mail the writer of this Introduction at santodom@visualconcepts.com with the single word UK as the message title and we will respond.


The Dominican Republic is set about 500 miles to the South East of Florida centrally in the northern part of the Caribbean Basin. It is between Cuba and Puerto Rico and is about 250 miles long, east to west. It has 250 miles of sandy beaches and the highest point is 10,450 feet.  The capital is Santo Domingo (de Guzmán) on the south coast, which is a main port. Santiago de los Caballeros is the largest inland city.

Climate

A typical north Caribbean tropical climate, never cold and rarely too hot. Days are almost always sunny. As the latitude is tropical the sun is hot during the middle part of each day and normal precautions against sunburn are appropriate. (Sunscreen or a big hat according to choice!)