Santiago

[Questner]

I am looking to visit early 2013 and was wondering if anyone had any tips or experience on the easiest or cheapest way to fly? I have already read the Santiago portion of the forum and found a lot of good info once I have landed.

Flying there seems to be a pain with all the airport switching in NYC or long layovers! I have lots of flexibility, so I want to avoid hassle as much as possible.

Thanks!

Try first leg YYZ-BOS. A round trip is around $250 Then direct BOS-STI

[Guerinto]

I am looking to visit early 2013 and was wondering if anyone had any tips or experience on the easiest or cheapest way to fly? I have already read the Santiago portion of the forum and found a lot of good info once I have landed.

Flying there seems to be a pain with all the airport switching in NYC or long layovers! I have lots of flexibility, so I want to avoid hassle as much as possible.

Thanks!

[Negro562]

Looking for folks interested in visiting the Santaigo area.

[Tempoecorto]

I was in the DR for a week last week and only ventured out to three other places beyond Santiago. I was supposed to go to Puerto Plata for a day but could not make it and so missed out meeting one fellow traveler there. My loss.

Punta Rucia

All of you should attempt to visit this small fishing village. Not for women but to enjoy a quaint and tiny place and then to visit this place called Paradise Island.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8PGV...eature=related

Getting to Punta Rucia is fairly uncomplicated, autopista towards Montecristi but the last leg is a challenge. With no regular road to speak of. So it is better to have an SUV but I had a regular vehicle and managed with some luck and good lower gears. It rained like mad the night and the road was full of puddles and worse, mud and I was worried to stay stuck with my low clearance vehicle.

I went there with a woman from Villa Gonzales / outside of Santiago. The island as you see in the picture is real and the day we went there, there was no other boat other than ours. There is a restaurant run by a very nice French gentleman – Arnault by name and food is excellent. His place is called something like Villa Rosa. It overlooks the beach with the only road in town sauntering in between. He has place to rent (1700 pesos per night? – food probably not included?) but I really did not check this. Our two person dinner was around 1400 or so pesos, beer, wine, coffee and a shot of rum included. But we did not stay there. One can definitely spend a few days in this village, especially if you like the peace and quiet and have the right person / s to accompany you.

San Francisco de Macoris

I went to this place for the first time, hoping to get lucky with a woman. Taking the scenic road. Santiago, Moca, Salcedo and then S. Francisco. The view is scenic as you can see the mountains in the distance and it looked very pretty to me. The final stretch of the road ending in the city is excellent but the road all the way, in general was rather decent. One thing about driving in the DR is often you will find women looking for a ride. Some are pros (on the autopistas) but others are regular getting to hitch a ride, lacking regular transportation. It is up to you to translate your luck into something concrete and I have experienced that. Several times and it is not complicated if one can handle some language.

There is something to be said when you have women travel to you from other cities, as has been discussed here, BUT, that I made the trip to meet someone also made the other party committed to keeping her part of the deal as a compensation if you will so we ended up in a cabana, for 4 hours, after a leisurely meal on another day of massive rain.

Bonao

I drove to Bonao, again to meet a woman who lives there. Came to spend the night with me. We went for a movie as well as dinner.

Santiago

The rest of the time, I stayed at Santiago. Mostly had 2/3 appointments per day. Before lunch, after lunch and the evening. All were local women (a couple from La Vega) some worked out reasonably well, some very well and some – not at all but as we know, fun is in the anticipation – will it happen or will it not?

Facebook: The facebook contacts worked rather well this time in that, even though I had whittled down the numbers to a low 4/5, three worked out very well and given that facebook is 'free', one may give that a shot. Once you have a hook up, you can try the friend of the friend route, to cast the net wider.

I also tried several cabanas this time because I had to. They typically are pricey 3-4 hours for almost always around 500 pesos and barring one, I stayed not more than a couple of hours.

Overall, another good experience, with people ranging from skinny 32B to 38Bs. I like them all! LOL.

[Jaosousa]

Thanks, Joasousa,

Out of curiosity: do you take any insurance with the car, or only rely on your credit card coverage?

Alamo-National offers 4 types of insurance on their online reservation page with their prices (Hertz online for Dom Rep tells you to get the price of additional insurance at the counter. ISG Member Helpmann had a negative experience with Hertz in the Dom Rep). My Mastercard credit card provides coverage for Collision Damage Waiver / Theft Protection (CDW-TP) , so I Decline the insurance that Alamo offers for $19. 50 (Collision Damage Waiver / Theft Protection). When you decline Alamo's Collision Damage Waiver / Theft Protection, it is mandatory to purchase Third Party Liability insurance for $9US per day. I also purchase Tires And Windshield Protection for $3. 75 per day.

I have asked the guys at Alamo numerous times, what happens if there is an accident with personal injuries to another person and they have told me no jail time. A guy at Alamo who I have known for over 5 years told me a story about a guy who rented from Alamo in santo domingo airport about a year and half ago, drove the rental to boca chica, had an accident with a guy on a motorcycle and the motorcycle guy died, the alamo worker said the renter did not go to jail.

I have rented over 20 times with alamo and never had a problem (the reserved price online is the price that gets charged to my credit card). I was told several of the large rental companies, maybe hertz, nelly and a few others are owned by the same group of people.

Chevy Spark is a tiny, but good car. The Chevrolet Aveo I would not rent again (several times I had problems with that car). The Nissan Tilda is sometimes only about $25US more than the Spark, the Nissan Tilda (similar to a Nissan Versa in the US) is a better car than the Spark.

[Knowledge]

You should check with your credit card company and if you are really worried you should check with your consulate. Dominican insurance companies are known to sell policies that don't give the coverage as promised. You can buy insurance for tires, windshield, even lost / stolen personal items. The insurance companies don't always tell you the coverage begins where your home country's insurnce policy coverage ends. Look into it, you might be surprised. Have fun.

When I rented a car, I used Hertz in Santo Domingo. I only took the Casa del Conductor coverage, and Hertz gave me the address and telephone number to call if necessary. I will not rent a car without it. I cannot speak for others, but the other companies that I canvassed could not give me that coverage. In fact, two referred me to Hertz.

[Jaosousa]

How long does it take to get from STI to Sousa? And how much would a cab ride be?

It will depend on various factors, time of day, weather (no rain) , type of vehicle and luck. Santiago has rush hour traffic Monday-Friday, driving through Santiago during rush hour traffic will be slower. During heavy rains, the ride will take longer. If you get stuck behind several large trucks going through the mountains, unless you have a fast car and are able to pass, the ride will take longer. If there is an accident, the traffic might stop. If there is a concert at a certain venue in Puerto Plata, the traffic might stop.

The small mountain road you can pick up by making a right from Avenida Estrella Sadhala, where the Plaza Hache building is, take that road straight to the small mountain road. Years ago a taxi driver picked me up at STI (Santiago airport) around midnight and took the small mountain road, we got to Sosua in under an hour. The small mountain road is not recommended for newbies driving at night.

For the main mountain road to get to puerto plata, take Avenida Estrella Sadhala (will become Highway 1) , (north west) to Navarrete, where there will be a turn off for the main mountain road to Puerto Plata.

[Sammy Sosa]

I've flown into STI many times but I always rent a car and drive up to the north coast. If you take the route that goes the back roads and over the mountains you'll get dumped out on the north coast just a little east of Cabarete. All in all it takes about 1 hour to get to Sosua.

UrbanGuest, how do you get to that road from the airport?

Is it relatively straight or should we be ready to ask for the way a dozen time?

Is that road in good condition?

[Professor 1]

Out of curiosity: do you take any insurance with the car, or only rely on your credit card coverage?

When I rented a car, I used Hertz in Santo Domingo. I only took the Casa del Conductor coverage, and Hertz gave me the address and telephone number to call if necessary. I will not rent a car without it. I cannot speak for others, but the other companies that I canvassed could not give me that coverage. In fact, two referred me to Hertz.

[Llttf]

How long does it take to get from STI to Sousa? And how much would a cab ride be?

This question must be asked at least once a month on this board. As people cannot figure out the search function on here maybe Jackson could create a FAQ section similar to Reports of Distinction where posts answering these repetitiive questions can be linked.

[UrbanGuest]

How long does it take to get from STI to Sousa? And how much would a cab ride be?

I've flown into STI many times but I always rent a car and drive up to the north coast. If you take the route that goes the back roads and over the mountains you'll get dumped out on the north coast just a little east of Cabarete. All in all it takes about 1 hour to get to Sosua.

[Sammy Sosa]

How long does it take to get from STI to Sousa? And how much would a cab ride be?

2h most of the time, via the main road through Pto Pta. 2.5h if traffic in Santiago and / or rain before Pto Pta when the road gets bad. I feel 1. 5h is doable if you drive really fast.

(there is a shorter road through the hills, but never tried it sofar)

[HeadRack]

How long does it take to get from STI to Sousa? And how much would a cab ride be?

[Mr Enternational]

Arriving at STI in the middle of the night next week.

Alamo Car Rental claims they are open all night. Does anybody knows if we can reliably expect them to be staffed at 4am?

Yes. They are the only ones open 24 hours.

[Sammy Sosa]

I have received an alamo / national rental car at the SDQ (santo domingo airport) at around 4am several times, I can confirm they are open 24/7 at the SDQ airport. I have not been to STI airport in years. When you make the reservation online with alamo or national, the phone number for the santiago rental office will be on the reservation. You can call that office during normal business hours, before your trip, to confirm that they will be open and someone will be there at 4am. You may want to confirm where you will do the paperwork and receive the car at 4am. At the SDQ airport usually at 4am, the inside rental counters (just after you get your checked luggage) , those inside counters are usually not staffed at 4am. The paperwork at 4am at the SDQ airport is usually done in the outside building that fronts the parking lot, where the rental cars are parked.

For a one week or more rental, I usually use a coupon code from BJs warehouse store travel site, to save about $50US.

https://www.nationalcar.com/index.do...-mop-_-5027379

(choose $30 off weekly rental. National and Alamo are partners in the DR and use the same cars). For National and Alamo, for online reservations, they have to be made at least 24 hours before you pick up the car (I always print out the reservation with the price on it and show it to an alamo-national worker to confirm that they know what the reserved price is).

Thanks, Joasousa,

Out of curiosity: do you take any insurance with the car, or only rely on your credit card coverage?