THE first thing I have to admit is that I am a fan of the Dominican Republic, even if my initial experiences were not favourable.
I first visited the country in the late 1980s just as it was opening up for British tourism. I arrived exhausted on an American Airlines’ flight from Florida, having experienced a 24hr delay.
Within seconds of landing in Puerto Plata there was a power cut, not an unusual experience in the Dominican Republic. On the journey to my hotel in Sosua I was surprised when my driver said he had heard that the local petrol station had some fuel and he wanted to fill up while stocks lasted.
Since then I have been lucky enough to visit the country on many occasions and there is no doubt that in the last 10 years or so the standards in the tourist areas have risen dramatically.
There may still be power cuts, but now all hotels have generators that immediately cut in. Also, you only have to look at the standards of the cars to get an idea of the wealth tourism has generated.
As everyone involved in tourism is fully aware, the Dominican Republic came in for some terrible publicity during 1997.
Many of my friends said they never wanted to visit the country because of this, and I spent a lot of time and energy trying to persuade them not to believe everything you read.
Over the last decade the number and standard of hotels in the Dominican Republic has risen immeasurably. It would be hard to find many better value-for-money all-inclusive hotels than the likes of the Riu Merengue and the Flamenco Beach.
Almost all hotels featured by UK tour operators are all-inclusive. The packages include full-board, drinks and watersports, but it is the little extras that impress.
At the Flamenco Beach, for example, there is a choice of at least six restaurants.
At the Riu properties you do not even have to leave your room to get a drink; bottles of rum, whisky and gin are laid on.
But it’s a waste of time spending the whole holiday in the hotel grounds. It’s well worth getting out into the ‘hidden’ Dominican Republic we never hear about.
For sports lovers there is a whole host of activities in and around Puerto Plata. Playa Dorada’s Robert Trent Jones- designed golf course offers an enjoyable, but not too taxing challenge. In the last few years new golf courses have been built within easy reach of most of the north coast’s hotels.
Riders are also well taken care of with a number of stables offering full or half-day treks along the beach, across fields of sugar cane and up mountain streams.
A lot of the sporting activity revolves around the sea and most hotels offer water skiing, windsurfing and banana boat rides. With reefs on three sides there are plenty of opportunities for divers, and many hotels are affiliated to recognised scuba diving schools.
The Dominican Republic is part of the second largest island (which includes Haiti) in the Caribbean after Cuba. Columbus discovered it on his first voyage to the Americas and as a result it boasts many ‘firsts’.
From the north coast it is about a 3hr road journey to the capital Santo Domingo, the oldest city in the New World.
In this recently restored colonial city you will find the oldest-surviving building in the Americas, the Caso del Cordon, and the Catedrale Santa Maria la Menor which, along with many other places, claims to be the final resting place of Christopher Columbus.
It has to be said that the tourist mecca of Puerto Plata is less interesting, but it too has one claim to fame – the ascent to Mount Isabel de Torres can be made by the only cable car in the Caribbean – if it’s working!
Cosmos senior productmanager Tropical Paradise, David Binns, thinks the Dominican Republic is an undiscovered gem. Hetold us there’s moreto the Caribbean’sbeleaguered market leader than beaches andmass-market all-inclusive hotels