- Important points
- Choosing wings
- Hotel overlooking the Caribbean Sea
- Transport subtleties
- Nightingales are not fed with fables
- Useful details
- The perfect trip to the Dominican Republic
On the world map, the Dominican Republic occupies the eastern part of the island of Haiti and is washed by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic. More than four million tourists visit it annually, of which only one hundredth of Russian tourists. The low popularity of travel to the Dominican Republic among compatriots is explained by the flight distance and considerable prices for air tickets, although if you approach the issue of organizing a trip in advance, you can wait for special offers from air carriers and fly away is not too expensive.
Important points
- To relax on the white beaches of the Dominican Republic, a Russian tourist will not need a visa for the first 30 days. When crossing the border, you only have to pay a fee of $ 10. If you wish to extend your stay, you will have to apply for a permit at any police station.
- Credit cards are accepted for payment only in the capital and tourist areas. In the provinces, you should have cash, since you cannot find ATMs there during the day with fire.
Choosing wings
Direct charters fly from Moscow to the Dominican Republic. With a transfer to Punta Cana, you can get on the wings of several European airlines:
- The cheapest flights with connections in Geneva, Paris or Amsterdam are offered by the airlines Swiss, Air France and KLM. In the "high" season, the price of a round-trip ticket is from $ 770. You will have to spend at least 14 hours on the way.
- Charters of Russian airlines connect the capitals in 11-13 hours of direct flight and $ 800 -850 in the fall. In the "low" season, ticket prices can be significantly lower.
A good way to reduce the cost of flights to the Dominican Republic is to subscribe to special offers from the most popular airlines. The French, Germans, Swiss and Italians often have promotions, within the framework of which it is quite possible to buy inexpensive tickets.
Hotel overlooking the Caribbean Sea
The hotel fund of the Dominican Republic is very diverse, and it is not a problem to rent a hotel for your vacation that suits your taste and, most importantly, within your means. Hotels in general adhere to the international classification system and the number of stars in a hotel in the Dominican Republic is quite consistent with the requirements of standardization.
The all-inclusive system, loved by Russian tourists, is very popular in Dominican Republic hotels, and you can choose the usual format of relaxation here both in an expensive "five" and in a budget hotel without stars at all.
The price of a night in an all-inclusive 4 * hotel room in Punta Cana is approximately $ 120. To services of visitors - a gym and a night club, several swimming pools, a sauna and a children's corner. The rooms are equipped with air conditioning and minibars, and there are at least three restaurants on the territory.
Inexpensive bed and breakfast hotels in the resorts of the Dominican Republic also exist. A day in a room in such a hotel will cost about $ 30. For this money, guests get the opportunity to use a private bathroom, free Wi-Fi and an outdoor swimming pool. The proximity of the beach and diving centers is also a definite plus in favor of choosing an inexpensive hotel when traveling to the Dominican Republic.
Another popular way to stay cheap is to rent an apartment. They can be a room in a villa or a small bungalow by the pool. The price per night in such a room starts from $ 30- $ 35, and pleasant accompanying ones in the form of Wi-Fi, parking, private bathroom and sea views are included by default.
Transport subtleties
To travel around the Dominican Republic, you should choose comfortable air-conditioned buses. Especially if you are planning a trip of half an hour or more. Metro Bus and Carib Tours are the most popular providers of this kind of service.
In cities, travel by buses and local analogs of "minibuses" will cost only $ 0, 1.
Taxis in the Dominican Republic have clear prices, but, as a rule, they are not equipped with taximeters. It is worth finding out the fare before the trip begins.
You can rent a car in the Dominican Republic, but the rental prices of even the simplest little car can be an unpleasant surprise. In addition, the traffic on the roads of the country is very busy, the signs are in Spanish, and the manner in which local drivers drive vehicles does not have a pleasant driving experience. It is much safer and more cost effective to rent a taxi for the whole day. The hotel reception will always help guests to accomplish this task.
Nightingales are not fed with fables
Caribbean cuisine is an amazing fusion of many culinary cultures from around the world. It contains the components of the local Indian cuisine, the peculiarities of the cooking traditions of the Spaniards and the Portuguese, and the burning and motley African flavor.
As elsewhere, the most budget-friendly lunch option in any Dominican city is street stalls. They sell cornmeal tortillas stuffed with all kinds of vegetables and meats, ubiquitous hamburgers, pizza and even Chinese cuisine. You can get a hearty snack at street vendors for $ 3 -5.
For lunch for two in a stationary cafe with waiters, you will have to pay about $ 20. On your table there will be salads, hot dishes and a couple of local beer, which, by the way, quite well quenches your thirst on a hot Dominican afternoon.
In a restaurant with a higher rank, a dinner with wine for two will cost $ 40 -50 $. At the same time, you can pamper yourself with seafood and dessert.
The famous Caribbean lobster will be offered for $ 10 in the restaurant and for $ 5 -6 in small street cafes where locals prefer to have lunch and dinner.
Fruit is most profitable to buy in city markets, where a kilogram of papaya, mango or pineapple will be sold to you for $ 1 per kilogram.
Useful details
- When choosing a hotel in the Dominican Republic, pay attention to the date of the last renovation in it. The climate in the region contributes to the rapid deterioration of buildings and structures, and therefore even a solid number of stars does not always save the situation.
- The structure of many five-star hotels in the republic is available not only to their guests, but also to guests. To do this, you will need to purchase a day pass from the porter. This option is very convenient if the neighboring "five" has, for example, its own water park.
- The most favorable exchange rate among other currencies in the Dominican Republic has dollars.
- Do not exchange currency at street money changers! The percentage of crimes related to fraud and deceiving tourists in the country is very significant.
The perfect trip to the Dominican Republic
The Caribbean is located in the subtropical zone, and even in the dry season, the air humidity here is higher than those to which the European is accustomed. In the period from May to September in the Dominican Republic, it is the time of rains, when heavy and powerful tropical showers pour out suddenly, briefly and at any time of the day.
The air temperature in August can reach + 38 ° С and higher, which, combined with high humidity, does not look very comfortable. The best time to relax in the Dominican Republic is October-November and early spring, when the thermometers show + 27 ° C and + 25 ° C in the air and water, respectively, the precipitation is minimal, and the sea winds bring additional freshness to the Caribbean beaches.
Fans of national holidays and festivals in the Dominican Republic have their own calendar. The largest number of foreign tourists from this category arrive in the country during the traditional carnival on the eve of Lent. It does not reach the Brazilian scale, but the streets of Santo Domingo in February are no less noisy and fun.
Festivals in the Dominican Republic are a celebration of merengue dance in the last week of July and early August, Days of Caribbean Culture in June with noisy festivities and concerts of jazz and blues ensembles and the August Carnival in honor of the Day of the Restoration.
