Tips & Tricks
For those who want to practice their golf swing, there is a string of golf courses in the north coast, including the Dorada Golf Club on Playa Dorada and the Grande Golf Course on Playa Grande (which offers marvelous ocean views from almost every hole). International golf pros traveling through the island will likely still […]
Meanwhile, for extreme sports enthusiasts, the Cabarete area east of Puerto Plata has been known over the years for water sports (kiteboarding, windsurfing, etc.) to the point where young tourists from South America (Chile & Argentina) trek there just for that. This is a mecca for college-age travelers passing through the Dominican Republic. A huge […]
The tourist presence in the Puerto Plata area has kept in business a string of decent restaurants, such as La Parrillada Steak House (Av. Manolo Taveres Justo, Puerto Plata) – well reviewed by International carnivores; Le Papillon (Villas Cofresí, Puerto Plata) – a charming restaurant set on a hillside in a residential neighborhood about […]
Like other provincial towns, there are limited transportation options (mainly local bus and taxi services). For a negotiated fee, local “conch car” taxi drivers will take budget tourists whenever they need to go within the Puerto Plata and nearby beach resort areas of Sosúa, Playa Dorada and Cabarete (which is further to the east). Well-heeled […]
Within the Playa Dorada resort complex is a nightclub (for both resort guests and outside visitors) called Mangú, as well as a competitor called “Crazy Moon” (adjacent to the lobby of Paradise Hotel). Both locations play a mix of Merengue, Bachata and “Top 40” American pop music. Aficionados of the House and Trance music scene […]
The other thing that Puerto Plata is known for is rum. The city is home to the major Dominican rum label “Brugal” (started there by Catalonian Spanish immigrant Andrés Brugal in 1888). Even though the Brugal label was bought by the Scottish distilling firm, The Edrington Group, in 2008, the rum is still produced in […]