Hidden Gems Travel Tips

General: The Dominican Republic with ~11 million inhabitants is located on the eastern 2/3 of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It is the first place in the Americas that was reached by Europeans (Columbus) and therefore is home of many ‘the first xy of the Americas’. They gained independence from Spain in 1844.

The town of Cabarete is located on the north shore of the island close to Puerto Plata. It is less crowded and less touristic compared to other beach resort towns in the Dominican Republic but you can still find a bit of everything and the beach offers perfectly relaxing atmosphere. Cabarete is considered ‘the’ place for wind and kitesurfing in the Dominican Republic. Below you can find some travel ideas if you feel like doing some explorations instead of lying on the beach or on some wind-less days.

In Cabarete:

Cabarete caves (El Choco national park)

There are three caves in the park that can be explored with a guide: the stalactite cave, which is a comparatively small cave to see stalactites and stalagmites; a cave which goes pretty deep down and then offers you to swim in a small water hole in the cave. And finally my favourite one, the frog cave. The frog cave is what would be called cenote in Mexico. A cave hole in the limestone ground filled with water. Here you can jump from the edge into the incredibly blue water and it is just amazing. The cave is named after the local frog species, which lives around there. You can hear them but it is difficult to spot any.

The small town of Cabarete

Nice to take a stroll and get an insight into Dominican lifestyle, as most of the life happens on the streets anyways. You will see people eating in the small comedores (food shacks) which have their barbecues right next to the streets or stumble across a full ‘street disco’ when they unpack the big boxes installed in the backs of their cars. But be careful on the roads, the Dominican Republic has the most dangerous traffic in the Americas.

Watersports

You can go kayaking or (wind-/kite-) surfing/standuppaddling or snorkeling around the reefs. The reefs enclose the main Cabarete beach and you can either enjoy the waves that break here to surf. Or go check out the reefs on a calm day or in the morning with a snorkel and enjoy watching the fishes.

Nearby destinations:

Puerto Plata

Puerto Plata is the next biggest city (also the one with an airport): Check out the only cable car in the Caribbean which brings you to the top of the Isabel de Torres peak at 781m where you can enjoy the view over Puerto Plata and the national park located on the peak. Over 594 plant species grow here and you can spot a variety of bird species. The city center of Puerto Plata is known for its beautiful Victorian style buildings that come in every color.

Local products

Visit a rum, cigar or jewellery fabric, which are local produce. In the rum factories you can of course try all the products.

Visit an orchard. So many native and introduced tropical fruits are grown in the Dominican Republic. These are for example: guanabana, papaya, coconuts, passion fruit, mangos (over 128 kinds), bananas and so on. Also they grow coffee beans and cocoa of course and when visiting you can try all of them.

Playa Caleton

 A beautiful beach near Cabarete to enjoy the full Caribbean vibe with a white sandy beach and a reef with plenty of colourful fishes right next to it. The tropical rainforest grows right up to the edge of the beach, giving it an incredibly wild feel.

Laguna Dudu

An area which offers several lagoons and caves as well. The most famous one is the blue lagoon, which is again a ‘Cenote’ but about 100m wide. You can jump of the edge from a zip line 13m above the water or just enjoy the amazing blue color and underwater world (fresh water fishes live here). In the area there is another cave and another lagoon which is halfway submerged in a cave in which you can swim too.