The Rough Guide to The Dominican Republic

Occupying the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic (or the DR, as it's often known) is the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean, somewhat of a surprise given its relative poverty and former instability, not to mention the allure of nearby islands that perhaps are more wholly given over to holiday-makers. What traditionally attracts most visitors are the parts of the country that resemble the image of a Caribbean playland, the crystal-clear waters and sandy beaches lined with palm trees, of which the DR has plenty. This vision of leisurely days spent by the sea and romantic nights filled with merengue and dark rum is supported by the largest all-inclusive resort industry in the world; if you're looking to pay a set rate for airfare, hotel, food and drinks - and have a carefree Caribbean vacation behind the protection of a fenced-off compound - you can't do much better than here.

Unfortunately, such a "perfect" vacation would mean missing out on much of what makes the country so special. Set on the most geographically diverse Caribbean island, the Dominican Republic boasts virgin alpine wilderness, tropical rainforests and mangrove swamps, cultivated savannas, vast desert expanses and everything in between within its relatively small confines - slightly smaller than the US states of New Hampshire and Vermont combined. The opportunities for ecotourism and adventure travelling are staggering: if you were so inclined, in a single week you could scale a 150-metre waterfall on a rope, mountain bike across remote dirt tracks, ride the best windsurfing waves in the hemisphere, trek to the top of a 3000-metre mountain, and head out in a fishing boat to see dozens of humpback whales crashing about in a scenic bay.

The Dominican Republic also lays claim to some of the more intriguing culture and history in the area, dating back to its early cave-dwelling groups, the Tainos, who recorded much of their activities in the form of rock art - it's quite likely you'll find yourself clambering down a dark cave to view some of these preserved paintings during your stay. In addition, as Dominicans are often quick to point out, their land was the setting for Christopher Columbus's first colony, La Isabela, and Spain's first New World city, Santo Domingo, at the end of the fifteenth century. Though the island quickly lost this foothold, the events that took place during its brief heyday did much to define the Americas as we know them, and examples of period architecture - both preserved and in ruins - remain scattered across the country, most notably in the colonial heart of Santo Domingo, today the nation's capital and centre of industry.

During the intervening centuries the Dominican people have endured much hardship - interminable civil strife in the nineteenth century, an oppressive dictatorship in the twentieth, intermittent occupation by Haiti, Spain and the United States, and a boom-and-bust economy centred first on tobacco, later on sugar, that never allowed the country to stand on firm economic footing. Even today, the DR remains a nation in transition. Despite owning the highest growth rate of any country in the hemisphere during the past decade, in part due to the all-inclusive tourist industry, eighty percent of its people live in poverty. Santo Domingo has grown into a heaving metropolis, five times larger than the next biggest city, and much of the rest of the country is made up of rural tobacco towns or tiny fishing villages often held at the mercy of tropical rainstorms, hurricanes and frequent power outages.