Provincia de Puerto Plata Travel Forum

We will be staying at the Riu Merengue. But plan to visit places off the resort. Any recommendations for bars and clubs? We both speak Spanish and my wife, who is originally from Ecuador, loves dancing to merengue music. So hopefully we can find an authentically DR club with more locals than tourists. Any ideas? Also we would appreciate suggestions on tours and other places to visit in order to have the best and wildest time possible. Thanks!

I visit DR twice a year and always stay at the Riu Merengue - for authentic DR entertainment/dancing/etc. Trust the entertainment staff at the hotel to guide you to where best suits your plans. The "Animation" teams in all three Riu's are top of the line, mostly Dominican Nationals who live locally and are very personable - I count some of them amongst my closest friends. For wild organised tours, I have been on all of them and found two to be outstanding - the jeep safari and the white water rafting. Also horse riding at the Lorilar Ranch is fun - racing through the sugar cane fields takes some beating when it comes to excitement. Though take my advice if this is your first trip - don't be tempted by offers of tours from people on the street in Puerta Plata, most would be ok, but some are not Dominican people and are there to just take your money for nothing - you would come to no harm I must stress, tourists are safer in DR than they are often on their own streets at home - but con people exist there just like anywhere else.

Hi Alinda,

Thanks for your suggestions. We are leaving on Friday. Anyone else have any ideas or input?

If you like to go dancing with your wife visit the different car-washes between Puerto Plata and Cabarete. Good car-washes with live music on Saturdays are the Azucar in Montellano and the Car-wash Sosua