Location

Dominican Republic is located in the Caribbean, just south of Cuba. Approximately two-thirds of the island, Hispaniola, is the Dominican Republic and the rest is Haiti.

In addition to over 300 miles of beaches, the island has major mountain peaks. The tallest peak in the Dominican Republic is over 10,000 feet and it is the tallest point in the Carribean.

Capital

The capital, Santo Domingo, has nearly 4 million people. The second largest city, Santiago, is nestled among the mountains. It has about 1 million people and is slightly more affluent in nature than Santo Domingo.

People

One of the amazing things about the Dominican Republic is how friendly the people are to foreigners. They recognize the huge potential that Americans, Canadians, Europeans and others have to offer.

With its close proximity to the United States, you would think that Americans would have settled here long ago. In truth, Europeans (French, German, Dutch, and Spanish) have been coming to the Dominican Republic for many years. In some locations, such as the east side of the island, French have been active in buying hotels, condos and other property. On the north side of the island, the tourist areas like Sosua were originally jewish settlements, then later Germans, and in the last two years, North Americans have made their presence felt.

According to the tourism minister, in the past year or so most tourists have been from Canada, United States, England and Italy.

Although Spanish is the native language, most hotels have individuals who speak english.