DK Travel : Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a country of surprising contrasts and extraordinary variety. From the chilly peak of the Caribbean’s highest mountain to some of the region’s most delightful beaches, the country boasts lush valleys, spectacular waterfalls, and sun-baked deserts. The past and present also blend in a fascinating mix of colonial buildings and modern hotels, sleepy rural villages and lively tourist resorts. The people, too, reflect a kaleidoscope of influences — Spanish, African, indigenous — creating a culture that emphasizes both creativity and fun in the fields of music, sport, and art.

Museo de la Familia Dominicana del Siglo XIX

The house in which this 19th-century collection of domestic items is kept is more interesting than the museum itself. The 1503 mansion contains the only double Gothic window in the Americas. This colonial gem also exhibits the furniture and personal effects of a well-to-do Santo Domingo family.
Museo de Larimar

One of the capital’s newest museums. An attractively presented, multilingual exhibition explains the process of mining and shaping the semi-precious blue stone into exquisite jewelry. It’s situated in a lovely colonial-period house, where on the ground floor you can buy fine examples of larimar jewels.
Museo de las Casas Reales

The colonial period is highlighted in this museum, housed in the 16th-century governor’s Supreme Court. Period paintings and furniture give a powerful taste of the luxurious lifestyle of the Spanish élite, while a collection of weapons shows how the Tanios were subjugated.
Museo de las Hermanas Mirabal

The small town of Salcedo is unexceptional, apart from its museum commemorating the lives and deaths of the three Mirabal sisters, courageous opponents of Trujillo, who were murdered on the orders of the dictator in 1960. The little family house contains a collection of photographs and everyday personal effects.
Museo del Hombre Dominicano

Perhaps the country’s best museum, its collection of pre-Columbian artifacts reveals the intricacy of indigenous sculpture in the shape of jewelry and religious figurines or zemis . Another display charts the impact of African slavery on culture with an eye-opening exhibition of carnival costumes and a model of a voodoo altar.

Exhibits from Museo del Hombre Dominicano
Museo Juan Pablo Duarte

Freedom fighter Pablo Duarte (see Juan Pablo Duarte (1813–1873)) is honored in this modest one-story house where he was born. The mementos mostly comprise documents and paintings, but the three elegant rooms also contain fine furniture and iconography relating to Duarte’s underground independence organization, La Trinitaria.
Museo Mundo de Ambar, Santo Domingo

Although there are many amber outlets in the Zona Colonial, this is one of the most reputable, selling some beautiful examples of jewelry made from the precious resin. Also on sale are earrings and brooches featuring turquoise larimar. An exhibition explains the process, and there is sometimes a craftsman at work as well.
Museo Nacional de Historia y Geografía

Part of the Modernist Plaza de la Cultura complex, the collection covers everything from Taino life to the US occupation, with an emphasis on struggles with Haiti. The most fascinating section deals with the excesses of the Trujillo period, including a bullet-riddled car, removed from the scene of his assassination.
Museo Prehispánico

This museum holds specimens of delicately carved jewelry and decorated pottery. The powerful spiritual dimension of Taino society is vividly brought to life by the clay zemis , depicting various gods, and by a ceremonial stool, apparently used in rituals by a village chieftain or cacique .
Naranjita

The serpentine road linking the beach resort of Las Terrenas (see Las Terrenas) to the town of Sánchez works its way over the spine of the peninsula, reaching 1,312 ft (400 m) near Naranjita village. From the roadside you can take in enormous vistas of coconut trees, offshore islands, and the coastline ahead.