Travelling around Dominican Republic

Transport and infrastructures

Virtually all transport inside Dominican Republic is made by road: There are no operating train networks in the country. The state of the roads is on average better than in surrounding countries, although maintenance is often quite neglected. This, added to the facts that roads traverse every village and cars have to share them with all kind and vehicles, some of them very peculiar, makes time spent in travel quite longer that what you'd probably expect.

That makes it worth considering interior flights within the country: there are several domestic companies that fly from and to Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana and Samaná, such as Sapair, Caribair, Air Century or Aerodomca.



Busses are also a good choice for shorter distances: they are comfortable, air conditioned and reasonabily priced. There are two main companies: Metro and Caribe Tours. The first one only services the country's main corridor Santo Domingo - Santiago - Puerto Plata, while the second one has a bigger route map.

Shorter trips are serviced by an extensive network of guaguas or little vans, pretty much battered that, due to the crazy speeds that drivers reach, carry the well deserved nickname of
voladoras (flyers). Inside them, the conductor or pitcher will manage to pack as many people as one can possibly imagine (or maybe more) and won't depart until the guagua is full.

This is poor Dominicans' transport, so getting on a guagua is a good opportunity to get to know the real Dominican people. It is also a good way to travel for very little money... although comfort is a different issue.

Inside cities, taxis are a good choice, as there are many companies whose services can be requested over the phone and will very quickly send a taxi. Service is good, and price is reasonable. Here again, there is a popular option: the conchos or collective taxis, really shattered cars that run on fixed routes with up to 6 passengers plus the driver (on a normal 5-seat car). You wave at them to make the driver stop, get in and whey you are arriving to your destination, tell the driver to stop.

Little cities especially coastal resorts, have plenty of motoconchos, young men with a little motorbike that for a modest fare will transport you on short distances.



Of course, fully independent travel can only be attained when driving one's own vehicle. There are several rental car companies; some of them are branches of the best known multinationals, such as Avis or Hertz, while other are small independent companies that often offer better prices but the average age of their car fleet is bigger and maintenance can be somewhat dubious.

However, before jumping into the adventure that driving in Dominican Republic is, we reccommend you to observe during a few days the behavior of the average Dominican driver.

When you finally decide to have a go at diving, just forget about every rule and traffic signal you learnt: you will have to learn everything again and not really in a book. Meanwhile, drive deffensively and don't assume anything about other driver's behaviour, as this author has witnessed countless maneuvers that were not only dangerous and sudden, but whose purpose also defied any attempt of explanation.