Puerto Plata beaches Travel Guide

About Puerto Plata beaches

Puerto Plata was the first beach custom-built for tourism in the Dominican Republic and remains as a popular destination, with a long string of affordable beachfront resorts and a reputation as one of the best spots for windsurfing in the world. The resort is easy to navigate to the rest of the North Coast resorts, including laid-back Cabarete (famous for kiteboarding) and Sosua, a budget-friendly beach village known for its nightlife.

Beach:

Beaches here are festive, with crowds of locals and tourists enjoying music piped in by loudspeakers, and vendors offering waverunners, parasailing and other water sports.

Beyond the beach:

Puerto Plata is packed with significant artefacts, overlooking the harbour is San Felipe Fort, the only surviving remnant of the 16th-century's colonial architecture. Nearby is an old restored lighthouse, the Museum of Taino (Arawak Plaza), illustrating the history of the indigenous people (pre-Columbus), and the Amber Museum – it's said that director Steven Spielberg was inspired by this museum when directing Jurassic Park.

Family fun:

Puerto Plata is home to breath-taking water activities for all, although some activities such as windsurfiing, are not be suitable for young children. Enjoy Puerto Plata's Ocean World Adventure Park (www.oceanworld.net), just 5km (3 miles) from Puerto Plata, visitors can swim with dolphins and sharks and interact with sea lions. All sea creatures have been trained to be handled and fed.

Exploring further:

Just an hour south of Puerto Plata is Santiago, a city known for it's great nightlife and their soul-lifting meringue, with clubs full of local fashionistas, and the country's best Carnival celebration. A city tour should include the central park, featuring a mountain bike track, baseball and soccer, Duarte Park and the St James the Apostle Cathedral. For a more culture visit you can visit the Tobacco Musuem, which reflects the importance it has to their economy and history, you can transit through the Tomas Morel Museum of Folkloric Arts, and witness the colourful carnival masks, and built on a hill above the city is the Monument a los Heroes de la Restauracion, to honour courageous war heroes and observe sweeping city views.