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France - Bordeaux and St. Tropez
France and Paris, Paris and France. You'll have a great time exploring Paris, but you'll miss places like Bordeaux and St. Tropez if you don't get out of the city.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is both a city and the center of the wine region in France. As...
The Galician coastal town of Noia.
The holiday town of Noia is located at the foot of the Muros bay in the region of Galicia, just above Portugal, in Northern Spain. It is some 35 km from the historic city of Santiago de Compostela and lies adjacent to the coastal region of Porto do...
The historic town of León
León is a town highly rich in traditions and historical past, and is widely known throughout the entire country due to it, although it is a quiet and tranquil spot most of the year. This town is located towards the central area of Spain, within the...
Top Holiday Travel Destinations
Despite the high cost of fuel and other travel expenses, an
estimated 63.5 million Americans are planning to travel at least
50 miles or more from home this Christmas and New Year. Hotel
rates are up nearly 15% at some popular destinations,...
Visit Buena Park California
Buena Park , California, just under seven (7) miles down the freeway from Disneyland in Anaheim , is a city of 80,000 plus people and is a tourist attraction city that is overlooked by many tourists. This city is home to Knotts Berry Farm ,...
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The Dominican Republic - Almost a Tropical Paradise
(Permission is freely granted to use this article so long as our about the author/resource box remains at the end of this article with all links live.)
The Dominican Republic is not quite a tropical paradise - but we’d say that in a lot of ways it comes pretty close. Predictions are that the DR (as it is often referred to) will go from strength to strength over the next few years as visitors find out just what a wonderful wealth of exciting activities and landscapes it has to offer. Often called the Caribbean’s ‘best kept secret’, this soubriquet will become less appropriate as visitors increasingly recognize that nowhere else amongst neighbouring holiday island hot-spots can beat the DR for value!
From - whale watching to bird watching; exhilarating sea fishing (for ‘big game’ like marlin) to gentler pastimes such as world-class snorkelling; terrific terrain for hiking and cycling; adrenalin pumping sea-sports like windsurfing and kiteboarding to just as much excitement inland, from whitewater rafting, canyoning, caving, jungle trekking, mountain climbing...and so on!!!! The DR offers all this and so much more.
But let’s not forget what many people visit the DR for - the sun, sea and sand! With well over 300 soft, white, typically tropical beaches (many virtually deserted much of the time) the DR is probably the best place in the Caribbean for these too. Amongst them you will also find Cayo Levantado, the original setting for the ‘taste of paradise’ beach, familiar to many as the home of a certain well known ‘coconut’ filled chocolate bar!
Along with wonderful tropical forests, waterfalls, mountains (Pico Duarte is the highest in the Caribbean, and that’s the pinnacle of the largest of five mountain ranges in the DR) and even desert areas, the DR has something for every taste. It also has superb Parques Nacionales and many unspoilt, and untouched areas. In fact the DR is a pretty big place so is by no means as over developed and as touristy as the majority of its Caribbean competitors (except maybe in one or two 'well known’ resort areas).
The Island of Quisqueya
(on which both the Dominican Republic and Haiti now reside) was home to the remarkable Tainos before it was ‘discovered’ in 1492, by Christopher Columbus, and renamed Hispaniola. It is therefore not short of historically and culturally fascinating attractions. For example, the capital, Santo Domingo, is the oldest City in the New-World, and a visit to the 'old town'- the Zona Colonial - is a must on that day away from soaking up the sun that almost inevitably shines no matter what time of year you take your vacation.
Whilst in the capital, there is also few better places for the sports enthusiast to take in a superb game of baseball, or 'beisbol' as the Dominican call their ‘national game’. A game about which they are fanatical almost to a man (and woman). In fact several of the major Dominican cities host fine quality teams that frequently feature those local star players who have also made it big in the American Major League game.
It is certain that the more that those visiting the Dominican Republic can be encouraged to escape from their 'all-inclusive' compounds and take the independent traveler route in order to discover the real DR, the more that both the tourists… and their wonderfully welcoming and friendly Dominicans hosts will be happy! Like Columbus himself, they might find it ‘the most beautiful land’ they have ever seen...and decide to stay!
Ruth and Esther Ramos, www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com © Copyright 2005, All rights reserved.
Article must be published as is (unedited) and with the author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included.
About the Author
Ruth and her sister Esther are native Dominicans who publish and maintain www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com a wide ranging Dominican Republic travel and tourist information resource . They also provide website consultancy, sales and design services. They may be contacted through the site.
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