Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo has the oldest cathedral in the Americas. Leave the beach once

The Dominican Republic is the most visited country in the Caribbean, and the overwhelming majority of those visitors go to Punta Cana, sit on an excellent beach at an all-inclusive resort and go home. That is a perfectly good holiday and it is also about two percent of the country.

Santo Domingo has the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas. The Zona Colonial holds the first cathedral, the first university and the first hospital built in the New World, all within a walkable grid, and it is a UNESCO site that most beach visitors never see despite it being a couple of hours away.

The interior is mountainous, which surprises people. Pico Duarte is the highest peak in the Caribbean at over 3,000 metres. Jarabacoa and Constanza are cool enough for strawberries and pine forest. The Samana peninsula gets humpback whales between January and March, and the southwest at Bahia de las Aguilas has the best undeveloped beach in the country.

Annual events and festivals

• Carnaval (Feb) — every Sunday in February, with La Vega hosting the most famous version and its horned diablo cojuelo masks.
• Independence Day (27 Feb) — falls at the climax of carnival season, so the two merge.
• Merengue Festival, Santo Domingo (Jul-Aug) — the national dance, celebrated along the Malecon.
• Whale watching season, Samana (Jan-Mar) — thousands of humpbacks come to breed in Samana Bay.
• Semana Santa (Mar-Apr) — Holy Week, when the country largely stops and beaches fill.
• Dia de la Altagracia (21 Jan) — a pilgrimage to Higuey for the patron saint of the country.
• Restoration Day (16 Aug) — marks the 1863 war to restore independence from Spain.
• Puerto Plata Cultural Festival (Oct) — music and food on the north coast.
• Latin Music Festival (Jun) — a large international event in Santo Domingo.
• Festival del Coco, Samana (varies) — celebrating the local coconut industry.