While the countryside offers villages influenced by a Spanish heritage, only a handful of visitors see them. Most go to the beach resorts in Punta Cana or to Santo Domingo.
This is a city of firsts: The first cathedral in the New World (Santa Marma la Menor), the first hospital in the New World (Hospital San Nicolas de Bari), the first European castle in the New World (Alcazar de Colsn) and the oldest surviving European stone house (Casa del Cordsn). The oldest hotel building in the New World, the Palacio Nicolas de Ovando, also happens to occupy the oldest surviving street in the New World (Calle las Damas).
Until the rest of America catches on, the Dominican Republic could be your personal hideaway.
HISTORY
The Columbus family – Christopher, his brother Bartolomeo and his son Diego – controlled Hispaniola in the years after European contact. As the capital of Spain's New World possessions, it was here the Admiral reigned briefly over his domains. Diego followed his father as viceroy, and his palace became the seat of the Audencia, or high council of the Indies. It's now a museum.
The Spanish and French vied for control of the island until 1821, when Dominicans declared themselves independent. Soon afterward, the Haitians, having gained emancipation from the French on their third of the island, seized the other two-thirds. In 1844, the Dominicans again declared independence. This time, it sort of stuck. Today, the Dominican Republic has free elections every four years.
ECO-ADVENTURE AND WATER SPORTS
World-famous resort complexes at Casa de Campo, Puerto Plata and Punta Cana attract droves of European visitors, but Americans are now slowly catching on to the delights of the DR. Visitors with limited vacation time are often hard-pressed to choose their activities: Golf, tennis, fabulous beaches and horseback riding compete with world-class windsurfing (at Cabarete) scuba diving and outstanding sport fishing for marlin, sailfish and dorado.
SHOPPING
Some of the world's finest cigars are made here from Cuban-seed tobacco brought by Cuban expatriates after the Revolution. In addition to hand-rolled cigars, the Dominican Republic cultivates heavenly coffee beans. Larimar, the Dominican version of turquoise mined near the Haitian border, is another bargain.
DON'T MISS
– Whale-watching by boat off the Silver Bank
– Golfing at Casa de Campo's famous Teeth of the Dog course in La Romana
– Gallery hopping at Altos de Chavon, a recreated 16th-century Spanish village
– Windsurfing at Cabrete
