An Expat's (Very Subjective) Ranking of Cities to Visit in the Dominican Republic

Okay, so this is something that I have wanted to do for a while and have decided to finally rank all the cities that I have visited here and great things to do there. Please note this is not a comprehensive list and is solely based on my own personal experiences and so someone else's list would look very different from mine.

La Vega-Dominican Republic
From "Road Trip Dominican Republic"
Retrieved from mikesjournal.com

#15 La Vega- Rounding out the bottom of the list is La Vega. La Vega reminds me of Gary, Indiana. La Vega is a depot for many buses and guaguas, but few people stay in it for long. La Vega has a lot of air pollution and many of the buildings are abandoned and crumbling. The streets are also very small, so it sometimes feel more dangerous driving through La Vega than the capital itself. La Vega is most known for the Carnaval held annually in February where people dress in demonic costumes and parade up and down the streets smacking people with empty animal bladders. So suffice it to say, La Vega is not my favorite city in the Dominican Republic.

Plaza Lama en La Romana
From Listin Diario by I. Vasquez, 2010,
https://listindiario.com/la-republica/

#14 La Romana-  Many people would be shocked to find La Romana so low on my list, but I blame its ranking on my own bad experiences within the city. La Romana has a beautiful resort area called Casa de los Campos where many international golf matches are played and many celebrities perform and/or have houses. This area is super safe and well maintained. Now, I never went to Casa de los Campos, so my experiences are based on the city itself. The city itself is a juxtaposition to Casa de los Campos and the people living outside of the resort are desperately poor. This is the only city that we were warned repeatedly that walking in certain areas was very dangerous and were escorted by the police on several occasions. We were told that La Romana has the most car accidents due to the lethal combination of poverty and population. There are a lot of people and cars on the road, but due to the poverty of the city, they are unable to provide basic traffic necessities such as streetlights or traffic lights. I will say though, we met some amazing people in La Romana who were super helpful and willing to go out of their way to make sure we were safe and secure.

#13 Barahona-

Barahona
From el Caribe by J. Matos, 2018
www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/11/27/

 I have been to Barahona twice. The first time I went I stayed at Casa Bonita Lodge which was amazing. After that first trip, Barahona would have ranked in the top five easily. The lodge was a wonderful combination of forest and ocean and I would highly recommend it. There was an infinity pool, complimentary breakfast and excursions such as ziplining beach trips and bike rides to local waterfalls.

The second time I went to Barahona, I stayed in the city itself and realized similar to La Romana how poor the city is. The south side of the island is the poorest in the country and there were few tourists, so I felt very visible in the city. There were few tourist attractions and like La Romana we were warned to stay close to the hotel and not to to travel after dark.

#12 Bahia de Las Aguilas- I know! I know! People will be shocked to find Bahia  de Las Aguilas so low on my list as many claim it is the most beautiful beach on the island. Maybe, my expectations were too high, but I felt it was kind of a letdown after all the hype. It is known as untouched paradise as the only way to get there is by boat or an all-terrain vehicle. The closest city to Bahia is Barahona which is over 2 hours away.  In order to get to the beach, you basically drive on bumpy rocky roads through a desert and then come out to a beach. It is an unusual beach, but not necessarily beautiful nor worth the five hour drive from the capital. There are prettier beaches in the north and east sides of the island. Also, for being an "untouched paradise" it was pretty crowded with people and there even was a person driving on a moto through the sand.

Santiago
From Destination 360
www.destination360.com
/caribbean/dominican-republic/santiago

#11 Santiago- Now we are beginning to get into the cities that aren't bad per say, they just are not the greatest. Santiago is the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. It isn't a bad city, but there really aren't a lot of tourist attractions in the city besides the monument. There is a lot of traffic and it often seems as busy as the capital, but without many of the attractions that exist in the capital. When I lived in Jarabacoa, Santiago was a great place to go to do your big grocery shopping or watch a movie as it was only 45 minutes away so that definitely was its greatest plus.

Samana
From West Jet
https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/book-trip/
destination-guide/discover/samana

#10- Samana- Samana is not at all a bad beach, it just does not rank as high as other beach cities. Now, to be fair Samana was the first beach I ever went to and it was a looonng bus ride from Jarabacoa, so similar to Bahia de las Aguilas I had high hopes. Also, during the day it rained and so we had to wait out the storm on the bus. Finally, it felt like we were at the beach for an eternity and there were not a lot of restaurants or things to do besides sit by the ocean. Granted, this ranking is based on this one experience, so if I ever went back, it could possibly compete with some of the higher ranked beaches.

Valle de Constanza
From Go Dominican Republic
www.godominicanrepublic.com

#9-Constanza- Now, I actually like Constanza quite a lot. It is a beautiful little mountain town. It is known for its strawberries and flowers and the majority, if not all, of the strawberries on the island are grown in this city. The climate is moderate and it is one of the few places on the island that has ever gotten snow. (I think the only other place is Pico Duarte.) The best way to get to Constanza is by moto from Jarabacoa as the views are spectacular. It is a winding road up in the mountains that overlooks the valley below. I had the opportunity to  paraglide over Constanza and it was so fun to see it laid out like a map. The city of Constanza is very small, so there aren't many restaurants or attractions, but it makes for a great day trip.

Sosua Shops
From Trip Advisor, 2018
Tripadvisor.com

#8-Sosua- Sosua is a beautiful sandy beach, but I love that it also has little beach shops along the way. It is a great place to relax along the shore, but also offers shops and restaurants right along the beach. It is a great beach to visit for a day trip.

Pico Duarte
From yaladominicana by A. Garcia, 2012
yalodominicana.blogspot.com/2012/05/

#7-Manabao- Manabao itself is a little city that if you blink you miss it, but it is the beginning of the route to Pico Duarte which gives it its high ranking. Pico Duarte is the tallest mountain the caribbean and a must see for the adventurous souls. In order to hike Pico Duarte, you take at least 2 guides as well as mules to help carry the food, utensils as well as bags. It is often a 3 day hike though some people do it in 2. At the beginning of the hike, the vegetation is tropical while at the top, the environment resembles  Northern Michigan more than a tropical island. There is a base camp where people often stay the first night as well as the second night. The first night, it is where you end, the second day you summit and come back to camp and the third day often you go back down the mountain. The guides build a fire, and make food. There is an enclosed cabin for the hikers to protect from the elements as well as running water and plumbing which is a great thing.  I do recommend sweaters and blankets as it gets very frigid up there.

#6- Puerto Plata- Puerto Plata as a beach city is not as wonderful as Sosua, but the attractions in the city boost its rating. Puerto Plata is home to the infamous 27 charcos (27 waterfalls) which is one of my all time favorite things to do on the island. 27 waterfalls is where you hike up a path and jump or slide down many different waterfalls. In the picture on the right, you see me sliding down one of the many falls. It was a unique, one of a kind experience. Also, Puerto Plata is home to the teleferico, I don't know the English word, cable car? Anyways, the teleferico which you can see on the right transports passengers up a hill to a national park. In the park are several paths that lead to a lagoon or cave or even various kinds of flowers. Also, Puerto Plata is a beach city, so beach goers cna take a day trip to 27 waterfalls and then the next day visit the beach.

Santo Domingo: cathedral of Santa María la Menor.© hessbeck/iStock.com

#5- Santo Domingo- Santo Domingo has risen  very high in the ranks since I moved here a year and a half ago.Santo Domingo is the capital and the traffic or tapon as they call it is horrendous, but there is so much to do that it is "vale la pena" (worth it) Santo Domingo's main attraction to tourists is the colonial zone. The colonial zone hosts the houses and buildings that were built in Christopher Columbus's era. You can visit the house of Diego Columbus and go into churches that were erected hundreds of years ago.There are also many monuments and forts you can visit. The colonial zone provides live music most nights, ethnic restaurants as well as many tourist shops for authentic Dominican goods.

Besides the colonial zone, there is Tres Ojos which is a famous cave that is a great tourist site. Santo Domingo also has many many authentic Dominican restaurants, cafes as well as attractions for kids such as roller rinks, trampoline parks and a zoo. There are many american restaurants in Santo Domingo as well as malls, shops and movie theaters. It is very easy to travel throughout the city as there are many forms of transportations such as a subway, public cars, public buses, taxis and my personal favorite UBER.

#4- Punta Cana- Punta Cana comes in at number 4. It is a beautiful white sandy beach that is perfect for relaxing. There are many restaurant options as well as hotels where you can walk right out to the beach. Punta Cana has many all inclusive resorts as well as boasts the most excursions in the whole country. You can go parasailing, diving, tubing, sailing, and even cruising from this city. As you walk along the beach you will see many beach weddings. Punta Cana also is a city where you can speak English every where and is almost preferred to Spanish as many of the staff are Haitians who speak better English than Spanish. Punta Cana is very expensive in comparative to the rest of the country and is very touristy and so loses some value in that way. But I definitely recommend it especially in the off season where there are deals on hotels and the beaches are not quite as popular.

Cabarete
© Turismo RD

#3- Cabarete- Cabarete is about a 10 minute drive from Sosua. It is a quaint little resort town which offers a lot of activities similar to Punta Cana, yet isn't as expensive nor as crowded. It is protected by a coral reef so offers calm waters and breezy conditions ideal for surfing as well as kite surfing which it is famous for. There are many restaurants and bars as well as beautiful hotels and resorts that are very economical in price.



#2- Las Terrenas- Las Terrenas is my absolute favorite beach city. I don't know how it works, but the water in Las Terrenas feels like bath water and you can float for hours. The water is completely calm and the bottom is sandy and so easy to walk. There is a long row of restaurants that form the coastline of the ocean, so you can pick whichever restaurant suits you best and watch the sunset over the water while you eat. Las Terrenas also hosts a large French population and there are several French boutiques and French cafes. Las Terrenas has a friendly small town feel and even if you are only there for a couple of days, you feel like you have lived there your whole life.

#1 Jarabacoa- I wish I had a picture to represent all of what Jarabacoa is, but I don't so I won't even try. Jarabacoa is a beautiful mountain village that is known for its ecotourism. Jarabacoa is home to over 7 waterfalls. It is also the only place in the country you can go white water rafting. Rancho Baiguate within Jarabacoa offers many excursions such as white water rafting, rappelling down waterfalls and paragliding. Jarabacoa is also famous for the restaurant Jamaca de Dios which is a restaurant up in the mountains which overlooks the entire city of Jarabacoa. Jarabacoa is known as the city of eternal spring and its temperatures are almost always moderate. Jarabacoa has a small town feel and is a very safe city where  outside doors are often wide open to catch a breeze or a friend stopping by to say hello.

This is definitely not an all inclusive list of cities in the Dominican Republic, but just the cities that I have had a chance to visit in the 3.5 years. If you have your own favorite places, I would love to hear about them.