Samaná
For sheer awe-inspiring impact, a whale-watching trip is hard to beat. Around 45,000 people travel to Samaná every year from January 15 to March 15 to see the majestic acrobatics of these massive creatures. Try to avoid coming during Carnaval, the busiest day of the year.
Whale Samaná (www.whalesamana.com), the most recommended outfit, is owned and operated by pioneering Canadian marine mammal specialist Kim Beddall. The daily tour leaves at 9am and lasts three to four hours.

Las Galeras
The road to this small fishing community 28km northeast of Samaná ends at a fish shack on the beach. So does everything else, metaphorically speaking. Las Galeras, as much as anywhere else on the peninsula, offers terrestrial and subaquatic adventures for those with wills strong enough to ignore the simple pleasure of doing nothing but lying around your bungalow.

Playa Rincón
Stretching uninterrupted for almost 3km of nearly white, soft sand and multihued water good for swimming, the beach even has a small stream at its far western end, great for a quick freshwater dip at the end of a long, sunny day. A thick palm forest provides the backdrop. Several small restaurants serve mostly seafood dishes and rent beach chairs, making this a great place to spend the entire day. Most people arrive by boat. If you join up with other beachgoers, it costs RD$500 to RD$1000 per person round-trip. A round-trip taxi to Rincón, including waiting time, should cost RD$1800.
maphub-meta:{"marker-color": "#3cc954"}

Cayo Levantado
Occupying the western third of Cayo Levantado, a lush island 7km from Samaná, is a gorgeous beach open to the public. Boatmen at the pier make the trip for RD$250 per person round-trip. The rest of the island is the property of the romantic and luxurious five-star Gran Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado (www.bahia-principe.com/).
maphub-meta:{"marker-color": "#3cc954"}

Playa Fronton
Preferred by some locals over Playa Rincón, Playa Frontón boasts some of the area’s best snorkelling.
maphub-meta:{"marker-color": "#3cc954"}

Playa Madama
Playa Madama is a small beach framed by high bluffs; keep in mind there’s not much sunlight here in the afternoon.

Las Terrenas
No longer a rustic fishing village, Las Terrenas is a cosmopolitan town, seemingly as much French and Italian as Dominican with a lively mix of styles and a vibrant social scene. A walk along the beach road in either direction leads to beachfront scattered with hotels, high palm trees and calm aquamarine waters.
You can walk to and from most places in Las Terrenas. Taxis charge US$15 each way to Playa Bonita and US$40 for the round trip to El Limón. Motoconchos are RD$100 to Playa Bonita.

Cascada El Limón
Tucked away in surprisingly rough landscape, surrounded by peaks covered in lush greenery, is the 52m-high El Limón waterfall. A beautiful swimming hole at the bottom can be a perfect spot to wash off the sweat and mud from the trip here, though it’s often too deep and cold for a dip. The departure point is the small town of El Limón, only a half-hour from Las Terrenas.

Playa Bonita

Bayahíbe
he fishing village of Bayahibe is the departure point for trips to the nearby islands in the Parque Nacional del Este.

Playa Limón
An isolated stretch of beach backed by palm trees and, more unusually, a lagoon and several mountain peaks.

Bávaro & Punta Cana
In terms of their soft, white texture and their warm aquamarine waters the beaches from Punta Cana to El Macao rival those anywhere else in the Caribbean. Punta Cana, where the airport is located and used as shorthand for the region as a whole, is actually somewhat of a misnomer since the majority of resorts are scattered around the beaches of Bávaro and El Cortecito. Playa del Macao, around 9km north of Playa Arena Gorda, is a gorgeous stretch of beach; however, it’s also the stop-off for a slew of all-terrain vehicle tours.
maphub-meta:{"marker-color": "#e32c31"}

Cabarete
This one-time farming hamlet is now a sophisticated, grown-up and growing beach town and the adventure-sports capital of the country with a beach-dining experience on Playa Cabarete second to none (not to mention the best wind and waves on the island). Scores of kiters of all skill levels negotiate amid the waves and traffic at Kite Beach, 2km west of town. Another 2km further on is Playa Encuentro, a long narrow stretch of sand with the best surf in the area.

Twenty-Seven Waterfalls of Damajagua (27 Charcos)
Travelers routinely describe the tour of the waterfalls at Damajagua as the coolest thing they did in the DR. We agree. Guides lead you up, swimming and climbing through the waterfalls. To get down you jump – as much as 8m – into the sparkling pools below.
It’s mandatory to go with a guide and wear a helmet and life jacket, but there’s no minimum group size. You’ll need around four hours to make it to the 27th waterfall and back. The falls are open 8:30am to 4pm, but go early, before the crowds arrive.
You can go up to the seventh, 12th or 27th waterfall. If you visit on your own, the entrance fee varies depending on your nationality and how far you go. Foreigners pay RD$700 to the highest waterfall, less to reach the lower ones (check website).

Jarabacoa
When you’ve overdosed on sun and sand, the cool mountainous playground of the central highlands is the place to go.
Nestled in the low foothills of the Cordillera Central, Jarabacoa maintains an under-the-radar allure as the antithesis to the clichéd Caribbean vacation. Nighttime temperatures call for light sweaters, a roiling river winds past forested slopes that climb into the clouds, and outdoor adventurers can raft, hike, bike, horseback ride, go canyoning or simply explore rural life.
Three nearby waterfalls, Salto de Jimenoa Uno, Salto de Jimenoa Dos and Salto de Baiguate, are easy to visit if you’ve got your own transportation. If not, a motoconcho tour to all three will set you back around RD$1000, a taxi US$80 to US$100. Uno is the most picturesque and has a sandy beach and icy cold (and potentially dangerous) swimming hole.
maphub-meta:{"marker-color": "#e32c31"}

Santo Domingo
‘La Capital’ as it’s typically called, is a collage of cultures and neighbourhoods. At the heart of the city is the Zona Colonial, where you’ll find one of the oldest churches and the oldest surviving European fortress, among other New World firsts. Amid the cobblestone streets, it would be easy to forget Santo Domingo is in the Caribbean. But this is an intensely urban city, home not only to colonial-era architecture but also to hot clubs, vibrant cultural institutions and elegant restaurants. The city’s most interesting sights are all located in the cobblestone blocks of the Zona Colonial only steps from the port. Take a walking tour of Zona Colonial, eat in a restaurant in Plaza España and walk part of the Malecón.
**DON'T MISS**
- Catedral Primada de América
- Museo de las Casas Reales
- Museo Alcázar de Colón
- Convento de la Orden de los Predicadores
- Fortaleza Ozama
Beside the Catedral Primada de América, the historic **Parque Colón** contains several shade trees and a large statue of Admiral Columbus himself. It’s the meeting place for local residents and is alive with tourists, townsfolk, hawkers, guides, taxi drivers, shoeshine boys, tourist police and thousands of pigeons.
**Plaza España** is a large, open area in front of the Alcázar de Colón which has been made over many times. Running along its northwest side is Calle la Atarazana, fronted by a half dozen restaurants in buildings that served as warehouses through most of the 16th and 17th centuries.
maphub-meta:{"marker-color": "#e32c31"}

Bahia de las Aguilas
If you believe in fairy-tale utopian beaches, pristine Bahía de Las Águilas fits the bill. Located in the extremely remote southwestern corner of the DR, it’s not on the way to anything else, but those who do make it are rewarded with 10km of nearly deserted beach forming a slow arc between two prominent capes.
To get there, take the paved (and signed!) road to Cabo Rojo, about 12km east of Pedernales. From here you can get to the beach by (really good) 4WD, but the far more spectacular alternative is to go by boat, where the ride is every bit as jaw-dropping as the destination.
Ecotour Barahona (www.ecotourbarahona.com/) runs a day trip which includes transport, lunch and snorkelling gear. There is an additional national park entrance fee payable.

Parque Nacional Los Haitises
Meaning ‘Land of the Mountains’, Parque Nacional Los Haitises (admission RD$100; 7am-8pm) is a 1375-sq-km park at the southwestern end of the Bahía de Samaná containing scores of lush hills jutting some 30m to 50m from the water and coastal wetlands. The area receives a tremendous amount of rain, creating perfect conditions for subtropical humid forest plants and it’s one of the most biodiverse regions in the Caribbean. Some of the park’s series of limestone caves contain intriguing Taíno pictographs.
Tour outfits in Samaná and Las Terrenas offer trips here for around RD$2600 per person, including guide and transportation to, and inside, the park.
Paraíso Caño Hondo (www.paraisocanohondo.com), one of the Dominican Republic's most special places to stay, is near the park entrance. The Jivales River, which runs through the property, has been channelled into 10 magical waterfall-fed pools, perfect for a soak any time of the day.