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The first French Canadian windsurfers arrived in 1984, creating a surfing paradise around the long strip known as Playa Cabarete and a couple of nearby beaches. As a result, a modern tourist town has grown up between beach and lagoon, catering not only to the surfing fraternity but also to a growing range of independent travelers. Surfing, both windsurfing and increasingly kitesurfing, are Cabarete’s main raison d’être , but there are many other activities on offer.

A stunningly pretty desert island, Cayo Levantado lies a couple of miles offshore from Samaná and is easily reached by regular boat services from the Malecón. Such is the tropical charm of this Robinson Crusoe-style cay that it’s said that the world-famous Bacardi commercial, featuring white sands and a particularly pretty palm tree, was filmed here. Nowadays, it’s advisable to arrive early or visit later in the day, as the island can be very crowded with excursion-ists around lunchtime. The beaches to the island’s south are slightly less busy, but you are unlikely to escape fellow sight-seers altogether.

The “Seven Brothers” are a cluster of tiny islets or cays, flat and dry, lying within the Parque Nacional Monte Cristi. Almost entirely devoid of vegetation, these arid sand spits are surrounded by some of the most pristine reefs in the Caribbean, rarely visited by divers. The islands are a haven for seabirds and turtles, which have always used them as egg-laying territory, but it is reported that poaching is now a major problem. Excursions by boat to the cays can be organized, either from a hotel or from the beach of Playa Juan de Bolaños.

The advent of the Ocean World theme park in the vicinity of this formerly quiet fishing village, allegedly named after an infamous local pirate, has done much to change its ambience. But the delightfully curved horseshoe cove still draws many visitors to its generous expanse of sand and shade-giving trees. Expensive-looking villas gaze down from the hillsides, while behind the beach stands the up-market Hacienda Resort. The beach becomes much busier at weekends, when the surfing crowd comes in search of its hefty tides, but during the week you’re likely to be much more on your own.

Reputed to be the site of an ancient Taino city, a large open space contains a ring of boulders with what seems to be a ceremonial slab in the middle. It was here that Anacaona, the legendary widow of Caonabo — who was tricked into captivity by the Spanish — attempted to galvanize anti-Spanish feeling among the differing Taino chieftains into a revolt. She was captured and executed, and the settlement destroyed. From what remains it is not clear how much is reconstructed, but the carved stone face on the slab looks authentic enough.

The southeast tip of the country is everyone’s idea of a desert island idyll – a sweeping panorama of soft sand and gently swaying palm trees facing a turquoise sea. Mass tourism may have brought many thousands of visitors each year to the complexes of Punta Cana and Bávaro, but even the arrival of all-inclusive hotels has done little to affect the majesty of this coastline.

Only a short taxi ride away from the busy center of Puerto Plata, the beach is just west of town, offering a complete change of atmosphere from the city itself and from the highly developed tourist strip to the east at Playa Dorada. There are no big hotels here, but rather a cluster of tasteful waterfront villas and condominiums, mostly owned by well-heeled locals or foreigners. The beach itself is an extensive strip of soft white sand with calm water and very safe swimming, even if shade is in short supply. The settlement also has a good range of refreshment options.

One of three official crossing points with neighboring Haiti, the town’s famous for its Monday and Friday markets. Crowds of Haitian vendors cross the bridge over the dividing river and set up stalls near the crossing. The resulting hubbub of commercial transactions is loud and colorful, as Haitians and Dominicans haggle furiously over basics. The market’s over by mid-afternoon, so it’s worth arriving early to see the action and maybe snap up a bargain or two.