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Dominican Republic
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La Altagracia Province
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Punta Cana
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Tours & Activities
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Historical Santo Domingo Day Trip from Punta Cana
1 day
Full Day
Instant confirmation
About this activity
Travel from Punta Cana to Santo Domingo is approximately 2.5 hours, depending on how long the group stops midway at the gift shop and to use the restrooms. Visit the oldest city of the New World and Christopher Columbus' first permanent settlement after his "discovery" of the Americas. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage in 1992, Santo Domingo is a city of many firsts in the New World with the first cathedral, paved road, university, hospital, stone home, tavern, etc.
Our first stop in the capital will be at the Three Eyes National Park with underground caves and lagoons used by the Taino Indians (the Dominican Republic's original inhabitants). From there there will be a quick photo stop at the Columbus Lighthouse, built in 1992 on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing in the New World. Next visit is to one of the oldest streets of the Western Hemisphere located in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone, a 16 square block neighborhood oozing with Dominican history and culture.
The first peek at the Colonial Zone comes at the Columbus Palace. Completed in 1514, it was the home of Christopher Columbus's son, Diego. From the Palace the group will walk through the historic Plaza de Espana and onto Calle Las Damas (the fist paved street of the New World). Our final destination is one of the most important sites in the Dominican Republic: the First Cathedral of the New World.
Lunch will then be served at one of the top Dominican restaurants in Santo Domingo, known for it's excellent home style cooking and typical dance performances by the waiters and waitresses. After lunch, you will get to pass by some of the modern areas of the capital and the National Palace where the Dominican President and the highest level government officials have their offices.
To end the day, you will be able to take some time to visit a spacious gift shop selling nearly every Dominican keepsake imaginable.
With this day trip to Santo Domingo, you'll experience the city's rich history and the daily life of everyday Dominicans in their capital of 3 million inhabitants.
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Our first stop in the capital will be at the Three Eyes National Park with underground caves and lagoons used by the Taino Indians (the Dominican Republic's original inhabitants). From there there will be a quick photo stop at the Columbus Lighthouse, built in 1992 on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing in the New World. Next visit is to one of the oldest streets of the Western Hemisphere located in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone, a 16 square block neighborhood oozing with Dominican history and culture.
The first peek at the Colonial Zone comes at the Columbus Palace. Completed in 1514, it was the home of Christopher Columbus's son, Diego. From the Palace the group will walk through the historic Plaza de Espana and onto Calle Las Damas (the fist paved street of the New World). Our final destination is one of the most important sites in the Dominican Republic: the First Cathedral of the New World.
Lunch will then be served at one of the top Dominican restaurants in Santo Domingo, known for it's excellent home style cooking and typical dance performances by the waiters and waitresses. After lunch, you will get to pass by some of the modern areas of the capital and the National Palace where the Dominican President and the highest level government officials have their offices.
To end the day, you will be able to take some time to visit a spacious gift shop selling nearly every Dominican keepsake imaginable.
With this day trip to Santo Domingo, you'll experience the city's rich history and the daily life of everyday Dominicans in their capital of 3 million inhabitants.
Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Professional art historian guide
- Headsets in some of the monuments with language selection
- Enter to the monuments all inclusive, audio guide
- Buffet lunch at Atarazana Restaurat, typical dominican food, vegetarian option available
Not included
- Gratuities
Additional
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- To enter the Cathedral, women and men must be covered to the elbows and knees
- It is recommended that you wear comfortable walking shoes
- It is recommended that you bring cash, a camera, sunscreen, and a hat
Features
Tourism
95%
Cultural
70%
Reviews
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I love to visit towns as I travel and was sadly disappointed with this tour. The guide was informative but he spoke in English and Spanish and it made it very hard to follow long I figured picking an English speaking tour I would have an English only guide. The city was very disappointing as well very dirty people unfriendly and lots of street vendors attacking you while on tour to buy items. Went to other town on another town and loved it. The guide makes the difference .
We really enjoyed this tour. Enjoy the side trips especially to the cave. Would love to have more English spoken to understand a bit more. Overall it was a very good trip.
Love every part of it. Try it out for so much information about the island.The dinner was great! The caves! The shops! The museums.
This was a very informative tour. Our guide, Sandro was awesome! It’s fast pace, so I do not recommend it for people with problems walking.
It was a good tour. I am glad that I took it but its not just a must do. It really was something that you could have walked around or driven around with a rental car and done yourself. But we were not in santo domingo we were in punta cana so we needed a tour guide or so we though.
The tour was great, in the sense that it took us to a lot of places, but it was fairly rushed at some spots. For example, we had a tour of the Amber museum that was approximately 10 minutes long. It was so rushed to see everything that was in there. I really liked going to places that had an audio tour guide so that I could take my time going through the museum. Such a great city to visit though - I definitely recommend it!
The visit to the national park Los Tres Ojos was a very nice experience, but I wish we had more time to see the lakes. Overall, I recommend this trip.
It was interesting, but the guide was hard to understand as he switches between Spanish and English every sentence. Before I realized he was speaking English, he had gone back to speaking Spanish. It would be better if he tells the whole story in Spanish, and then the whole story in English, without switching back and forth constantly. Even better if they have an English only tour I would pay extra for that.
the tour was most interesting, the guide was very informative however the bus that was provided was very small and the seats where more for the size of children than adults which was very uncomfortable since it took 2 hrs to get to santo domingo and a bit longer on the way back since there was more traffic
The tour was great once it started! However I was unable to reach the company the day before to find out my pickup time, so I wound up waiting 1.5 hours for them to arrive. I don't know if the local phone number I was provided was incorrect, or if something was wrong, but it was constantly busy. Otherwise, it was a great tour!