Dominican Republic, advice?

>>1257963
i spent a summer in santo domingo once and have been to punta cana a few times. punta cana will have golf/scuba and shit, it's just a bunch of all inclusive resorts and whatnot like most other carribean spots. santo domingo can be dicey if you dont know anyone and i doubt theres enough shit to do for more than a couple days but make sure you check out the crazy cross-shaped museum trujillo built and the old town which i believe is the oldest in the americas. i always thought port au prince might be interesting if you wanted to get adventurous. im sure there are lest touristy beach spots than punta cana some other anon can recommend. buy the sugar cane and chew on it and try the fruits they sell called lemoncitos

>>1257968
>santo domingo can be dicey if you dont know anyone

Would I be ok walking around local markets/downtown areas by myself in the day? I don't want to spend the whole trip stuck in a gated resort, I like wandering around. (mid 20s, white, basic spanish)

>>1257975
yeah youd definitely be fine in the touristy areas. apparently theyre spelled lemoncillo and called spanish limes here. if that's what you want to do you should see if there's a beach place closer to santo domingo than punta cana

>>1257976

There are some shallow reef dives I really want to do off the north coast, but I've heard those towns are a little sketchy and cater more to sex tourism type shit. Doesn't necessarily bother me, I've been to rough places before, but I don't want to put myself in needless danger. Have you been to that part of the island?

>>1257980
nope, never been

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>>1257980
I live in the north coast anon, i can be your guide if you want.

>>1258071
What's it like? Are you an expat or local?

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>>1258093
I am local, and as you say most of the sexual tourism happens here in Puerto Plata, but specially in Sosua, but aside from that is a pretty nice place, in fact the north coast has a more wide and varied offer than the spots in the south, but at the same time in the south they have the best beaches being really honest but ours still do not fall short.

>>1258102
What is the local perception of gringo tourists? Negative, indifferent?

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>>1258267
The same as any other tourist coming from a white western country, everybody assumes that you are rich even if you only booked a cheap vacation package in a 3 stars resort, so they will either treat you really nice in hopes that you give them some tipping or will be observing you expecting any chance to mug you, inside the resorts this is under control, but outside well you know how things can go, it's a give or take, that's why I would highly recommend you to either make friends with some local dominicans or hang around with a tourist guide.

>>1258337
Gotcha, thanks for the insight. I think if it's dangerous enough for me to need locals/guides with me, I'll probably just vacation somewhere else.

>>1257963
The DR is pretty meh for what you want to do. The diving really is nothing special if you are serious about it and have been to other places before, which it sounds like you are. I'd say it's comparable to some of the popular florida dive locations, but still shit compared to anywhere in the yucatan (trash compared to anywhere in the andaman or red sea).

If you are white, people see you as a walking wallet or target, nothing more. The average dominican is very poor (&uneducated) and doesn't give a shit about how the DR is perceived abroad so they will only ever try to hustle or rob you. Don't expect anyone to invite you to share a coffee and have a chat about who you are or where your from, the culture isn't like that, they don't care.

Roads and infrastructure are terrible and despite it being a tiny island, getting anywhere takes fucking forever.

Don't golf, but I've heard the resort courses are pricey but damn nice

t. stationed on that shit hole of an island for 3 months by the US military

>>1258370
Well if you aren't as gulible as the avg dumb ass tourist coming to visit us, you could get around here pretty easily as long as you avoid poor and desolated áreas, and take normal precautions, but even then the best thing you could do when you are abroad in an unknown place be it a first world country or a third world country like mine, is just meeting some local people than can help you out or hiring a tourist a guide, but seriously come on i won't charge you that much don't be such a penny pincher

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>>1258394
>The DR is pretty meh for what you want to do. The diving really is nothing special if you are serious about it and have been to other places before, which it sounds like you are. I'd say it's comparable to some of the popular florida dive locations, but still shit compared to anywhere in the yucatan (trash compared to anywhere in the andaman or red sea).
Can't really argue here since i don't know that much about diving, but even if you think there are better destinations for the matter, what we have here is not "shit" still, you dickhead.

>IDon't expect anyone to invite you to share a coffee and have a chat about who you are or where your from, the culture isn't like that, they don't care.
You say this as if it is the norm among most other countries, wow what a retard.

>Roads and infrastructure are terrible and despite it being a tiny island, getting anywhere takes fucking forever.
Roads where i live are indeed shit, but in the south they have some of the best and most morden highways, and the fact that it take to long to get across the country, it's because even if you think that we are a tiny island, we really aren't that tiny this country is almost as big as say Denmark or Costa Rica, a tiny island would be any other in the lesser antilles.

>t. stationed on that shit hole of an island for 3 months by the US military
Where did you stay you little shit? and which places did you visited?

>>1258502
>i won't charge you that much don't be such a penny pincher

It's not a question of money, I could add another $500 to my budget and it wouldn't be a big deal to me lol. It's just a matter of comfort, I'd rather just enjoy myself for a week without having to worry about that kind of stuff.
Comfort > everything else. If I wanted to go the all inclusive resort route I can just as easily go to Hawaii or Puerto Rico without having to leave the US.

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DR is paradise. Fly into Santiago and check out Sosua which is a whore filled beach town. Go west along the coast to Samana. Its dirt cheap, hot women and the best beaches I have ever seen. There are a ton of white people there already. There is crime but not organized like Mexico and Colombia. Usually petty shit.

>>1258658

I mean east along the coast. Stay the fuck away from haiti

>>1258658
Whoring is fun, but really isn't my primary interest. What all else is there to do? You scuba or golf while you were there?

>>1257963
1) It's the peak of hurricane season, a time when hotels and airfare does drop all over the caribbean, but also kids are out of school, so expect your hotel pool filled with them
2) DR is a scary shithole with horrible infrastructre, ie protection from authorities/working electricty you count on, airports with working air traffic control etc (why you'll see Miami dade old ambulances at the airport, a concession by the FAA appalling nature at their safety), and it's why there are walled resorts that locals aren't allowed to enter without a resort fee and being family of a guest.
3) Highest HIV outside of Haiti, if not even higher, workers comingle and cross the border all the time, farm the fields, etc.
4) Doesn't make a single Diving top 10, top 15, top anything diving ranking except for whale watching, which is not August but winter. If I was picking the DR for travel, and alone, I wouldn't trust my paid dive buddy or use their equipment. I would however feel safe alone on a boat in Grand Cayman, an island that also has a decompression chamber and very high standards from it's licensed operators. If you can find decent inexpensive lodging, and eat very lightly, you are probably looking at the same airfare and overall dive costs. For a bit of a bargain that isn't so messed up as the DR, consider not an island, but coastal central america, from Honduras to Belize to DR to Panama, there's more competitive airfare with Delta's 2000 flights a day to even Cozumel where there is good drift diving if you're experienced. Cayman at least has good shore diving, as well as snorkeling, saving you some bucks on some boat trips or buddies some of your days.

http://www.scubadiving.com/photos/scuba-diving-top-100-best-diving-caribbean-atlantic#page-13

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>>1258650
>I could add another $500 to my budget and it wouldn't be a big deal to me lol
If your are only staying for 10 days i would do it for $250, just so you know.

>I'd rather just enjoy myself for a week without having to worry about that kind of stuff.
But you don't have to worry about any stuff since i would be your watchman and guide, both at the same time, it's not like you will be the only tourist i see hundreds of tourist walking in the downtown everyday and as long as you take normal precautions and try to blend as local, like not dressing like the steretypical dumb tourist that catch everyone attention, you will be just fine.
>>1258650

>If I wanted to go the all inclusive resort route I can just as easily go to Hawaii or Puerto Rico without having to leave the US.

But PR is overpriced and their murder rate is even higher than here.

>>1258678
Thanks for the advice, appreciate it.

>on a boat in Grand Cayman...If you can find decent inexpensive lodging, and eat very lightly, you are probably looking at the same airfare and overall dive costs.
I'll look into this.

>For a bit of a bargain that isn't so messed up as the DR, consider not an island, but coastal central america, from Honduras to Belize to DR to Panama,
Where in central america in particular would you recommend? Honduras scares the shit out of me, but that might not be fair. What do you think about Panama or Costa Rica?

>>1258665

Jump off waterfalls, fish, snorkel and surf.

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>>1258665
>What all else is there to do?
Riding horses at the beach or in the countryside, zip lining, ocean world water park, damajagua's 27 waterfalls, relaxing and getting in touch with nature at tubagua's eco lodges, buggy/4wheel experience through the sugar cane fields, surf/kitesurf/windsurf in cabarete, nightclubs and casinos, golf(there is an ongoing international competition), diving and watching the coral reefs, fishing, gokarts, exploring "el choco" cave, visiting the botanic garden in the top of the Isabel de Torres' montain(there is a cable car and a copy of the Christ statue they have in Rio), there are music festivals and concerts from time to time at the boulevard's amphitheater amd in the central park of Puerto Plata, top quality international restaurants in Sosua and Cabarete are pretty common, you could also visit the first spanish settlement in La Isabela, and a few more things i might be forgetting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5tau1EN6ak

>>1258678
>2) DR is a scary shithole with horrible infrastructre, bla bla bla.
Look man, i know my country isn't perfect and has lots of troubles as a whole, but you are just exageriting here especially since you thing places like Honduras and Belize are any better, you are full of shit you know?

>3) Highest HIV outside of Haiti, if not even higher
Now i know that you just want to make us look bad, that is just far from thruth, and on a side note, only a retard would fuck a prostitute without a condom or at least having her tested negative.

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>>1258726

DR isn't as bad or dangerous as ppl in this thread are making it out to be and you definitely don't need a guide/bodyguard in the resort towns lol. It's for the most part just a crowded, noisy tropical island full of whores and touts. If you take normal precautions and have an ounce of situational awareness you will be fine. And yea the infrastructure is shit but who cares, you aren't moving there.

The better question is if it has what you are looking for, which if you want world class scuba it does not. Some phenomenal golf courses though, I don't remember which resort but they basically remade spyglass Caribbean style, it's dope as fuck.

I live in Santo Domingo - I can't say much about other places in DR, but if you're gonna spend time here you'll want to spend most of it Zona Colonial, and some city places around Winston Churchill ave and Abraham Lincoln ave. Then there's beaches where you want to avoid Boca Chica, go to any beach and not that one. Definitely buy cheap fried fish, but make sure it's fresh. Good as fuck.