The Cultural Festival offers people a close look to Dominican Culture, where they can enjoy folkloric music, jazz, merengue, Tribal African music and other genres. There is also crafts sales and exhibition made by local artists.

The Festival is an excellent option to have a good time; the bars and discotheques of this place are open after the festival so you won’t get bored at all. The zone where such activity is accomplished is very close from hotels and there is always taxi service with drivers who know the best places in Puerto Plata.

This museum emerges from the interest of exposing, protecting, preserving and spreading the cultural heritage of Dominican Republic, as well as enhancing the knowledge level about our origins and culture.

The Taino Art Museum is a necessary destination for who is interested in developing cultural tourist activities.  At visiting the museum you will be able to immerse yourself into the world of the first inhabitants of The Antilles, Tainos: indigenous people of beautiful appearance who lived in full harmony with their ecosystem and were isolated from the world known till then.

Taino Art Museum is located in Plaza Arawack, 2nd. Floor, in San Felipe,Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
Telephone: +001 809 586 7601

In the heart of the Colonial Zone you will find the most famous and more historical street of Santo Domingo, this street is called El Conde Peatonal, such street is only for pedestrian walk, cars are not allowed to transit here.

El Conde Pedestrian Street had its beginning in the 1st part of XVI Century.  As years passed the street was expanding to the west and ended in the old city gate, which has the same name of this street (Puerta del Conde).

According to the books of Dominican history the street was named after Conde de Peñalba who faced the English invasion in 1655.

Nowadays, El Conde Street has wide range of stores.  It has apartments with stores on the 1st floor and the rest of the floors are houses.  It is one of the few zones in the world in which you can “rent clothes” in order to have access to some historical monuments; this is a requirement to get in.

Stores offer a great variety of items but since it is mainly visited by tourists from other countries, most of the items represent Dominican culture and custom. To get to El Conde Street you have Parque Independencia in Km. 0 of Independencia Avenue as a reference, right in front of Puerta Del Conde at Colonial Zone.

UASD is an institution subject to governmental decisions of Dominican State; it is actually subsidized by the State in most of young Dominican people expenses, it has also worldwide prestige which motivates many foreign people to study here.

The Faculties that compose the UASD are:

• Engineering and Architecture Faculty
• Health Sciences Faculty.
• Legal Sciences Faculty.
• Humanities Faculty
• Economical and Social Sciences Faculty
• Science, Arts Faculties
• Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine Faculty.

It is worthy mentioning that UASD has a well elaborate infrastructure where several services are integrated with the purpose of making student’s environment easier.  Within its main services we have:

• The University supplies store, offering several services such as bookstore, teaching material and a drugstore, etc.
• University canteen just with a affordable price of $ 5.00 pesos per food; you can have a balanced lunch.
• The Clinic Dr. Tejada Florentino, is the clinic of health assistance at the university.

Autonomous University of Santo Domingo has a great historical value since different events took place right here.  It has been constantly growing and creating more rooms in the different provinces of the country such as Higüey and Bonao Provinces

Nowadays UASD has the Library Pedro Mir the most modern and maybe best equipped in Dominican Republlic,.  The truth is that the dark unseen side of such a great university is that its students are poor and in many cases they have to go on strikes to make sure their needs will be taken into consideration; despite this fact, the professionals from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo enjoy of international prestige for having studied in one of the few universities in the world that prepares you for work and living.

Jazz in Dominican Republic had its beginning in 1940, after the Second World War. This is due to the musicians from Europe made little shows and they were internally known.

By the 50’s, jazz was widely accepted at a national level, up to the point that the first broadcasting of this music was made through Dominican radio stations like “Radio Guarachita”.

The first Dominican jazz player’s generation was born in 1955 and it was formed by artists like Tutín Beras Goico, Homero León Díaz, Rafael Solano and Guillo Carías. These ones made their shows on the Club Naco stage.

The next generation achieved the internationalization of Dominican Republic through the jazz the played.  Maestro Michael Camilo was the main and responsible person in making Dominican Republic known worldwide through his jazz.

At a national level great jazz festivals are made in which great national and international artists are invited.  One of the most famous is the Dominican Jazz Festival in Puerto Plata, which was created in 1999 and since then many great artists have played this musical genre here.

In Santo Domingo you can also find some sort of awards to this music in the International Jazz Festival in Casa de Teatro, which has become very more and more popular.

Its construction started in 1976 and it was an idea of Charles Bludhorn, president of Golf & Western Corporation. Its construction was accomplished by the italian Roberto Copa. According to some rumors, Charles made the village as a gift for his daughters on her birthday but she refused this version.

The village is constructed in Altos del Río Chavón and the construction itself is inspired on the XVI Century construction style.

In Altos de Chavón you can find:

• Churches
• Restaurants
• Arts Galleries
• Taino Museum
• Stores
• Discotheques

The church is in the center of the village and it has the name of Saint Estanislao; such name was given on behalf of His Holiness Juan Pablo II, because he was from Poland and Saint Estanislao is this country’s patron.

Altos de Chavón Design School is the most prestigious school in the country related to fashion design, graphic and digital design classes, fine arts and illustration classes as well.  It is associated to Parsons School of Design of New York and other design schools located in France y Japan.

Its amphitheater is the best in its genre; it has 5,000 seats and it was inaugurated in 1982 with the presentation of Frank Sinatra and Carlos Santana.  This scenario is visited every year by national and international artists to present their concerts. Altos de Chavón is a tourist attraction visited by thousands of tourists and Dominican people who like the concerts made in Las Piedras (name given to the amphitheater).

To complete your visit and feel completely satisfied you can have a ride on boat by Chavón River or visit Casa de Campo Complex located few kilometers from there.  Other good alternative include visiting Bayahibe Beach or Basílica de Higüey.

Location: La Romana, around 15 minutes from Casa de Campo Complex.
Phone Numbers: (809) 523-8011 and (809) 523-8172

Columbus’ Palace Museum was constructed between 1510 and 1510. It was constructed on a place next to Ozama River shore; this place was a given to Diego Colon by the King Fernando the Catholic. At the beginning it had 22 rooms from which only 15 are preserved due to the years of the construction and that it was totally abandoned and in ruins.  In 1957 it was officially declared as a museum by the Dominican Government.

This residence is a lively representation of colonial times of Dominican Republic. Once inside the museum we can appreciate the works of art which let us see the past in a future time; it is like if XVI century had stopped and let us value its charms.

The museum was the first house of this type constructed in Dominican Republic. It has a visitor’s monthly average of 18,500.  We can count more than 800 pieces from the XIII to the XX Century, decorating the place for the pleasure of all the people who visit this beautiful place.  The chambers are furnished with beds from that century as well as some paints and musical instruments. The Columbus’ Palace Museum was remodeled in this century to stop being Columbus’ Palace and then becoming the museum.

Columbus’ Palace Museum is located in Plaza España, Colonial Zone
Schedule 9:00 A.M to 5:00 P.M. Tuesday to Sundays.
Telephone: (809) 682-4750

In this museum you can appreciate the Dominican fauna and flora characteristics with endemic and foreign species.  The National Natural History Museum has a division of content according to knowledge areas: Universe Room, Earth Room, Ecological Room and Human Room.

In the museum spaces you can appreciate real ecosystems which demonstrate some species life in a natural way, according to environment they come from.

An important aspect is that this valuable museum was recently reorganized and remodeled to open again its doors to the public with better elements of culture and entertainment. Nowadays it has new attractions which include interactive exhibitions and demonstrations.

In the museum entrance enormous marine animal’s skeletons like whales are shown.  There are also turtles, insects, fishes and mammals exhibition as well as information about Enriquillo Lake and many others.

One of the most interesting attraction in the museum is the interactive demonstration in El Planetario, a very modern didactic show which is enjoy by the entire family members.

National Natural History Museum

Máximo Gómez Avenue, Plaza de Cultura, Santo Domingo.
Horario: Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Tel: +1 809 689 0106

Merengue was born in el Cibao, the northern zone of Dominican Republic, specifically in Santiago de los Caballeros, as a transformation of the European counter dance with Caribbean and African instruments.  In its beginning it was rejected since every genre comes up and moves according to fashion.  By that time Merengue was discarding Tumba (other musical genre) by 1850 Merengue was on fashion.

This dance has two instruments which give a unique rhythm which incites the listener to follow the rhythm and move the body.  These two instruments are guira and drums, which are fundamentals to produce this type of music

Perico rípiao, a variation of Merengue is different to this one because it has another fundamental instrument: the accordion and it is played faster than Merengue.  Perico Ripiao is listened in the rural zones and towns.  Some of the artists who have made this genre famous abroad are Fefita la Grande and Fulanito.

We also have Street Merengue, another variation which is a mixture of merengue with beats of hip hop and reggaetón.  Nowadays this rhythm is very on fashion in United States in cities such as Miami and New York.

Dominican Merengue started to be known internationally thanks to artists like Hermanos Rosario, Sergio Vargas, Kinito Mendez, Eddy Herrera, Rubby Pérez, Tatico Henríquez and Juan Luis Guerra, this latter is known worldwide as the face of merengue.

Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal, symbols of fight on behalf of liberty and democracy, struggle models on behalf of Dominican country.  They were exemplary women who marked the way of honor and hope.

The patriot and fighters sisters from Ojo de Agua, a little town of Salcedo Municipality in Dominican Republic , were outstanding for their fight against the dictatorship of  the tyrant Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, one of most cruel in Latin American and world history.

Mirabal Sisters were part of the principal movements to eliminate such regime; they were victims of several abuses to themselves and their families.  They were put in jail and hardly persecuted during the regime.  Their lives finished with a murder order from the dictatorship.

November 25th, date in which these Dominican heroines were killed, was established as the “Non violence against women day”.

Several literary works and movies have made echo this memorable story o f Mirabal Sisters, such as the book “En el Tiempo de la Mariposas” of Julia Álvarez and the documentary movie “In the time of the butterflies” with Salma Hayeck as starring; it was filmed in the one-time Mirabals’ house which is nowadays a museum on their behalf..

Mirabal Sisters Museum is located in the municipality of Salcedo, next to Conuco and Tenares.  The fascinating museum works in the same house that belonged to the Dominican heroines’ family.

This museum has items that belonged to the sisters such as: books, kitchen instruments, clothes, furniture, pictures, as well as the impressive and long hair tail of María Teresa, which was solemnly and respectfully cut and taken from her body by her sister Dedé.

The Foundation Hermanas Mirabal is responsible of the museum creation; it was created with the intention of keeping Dominican history alive.  It was founded on December 8th 1994.  The person in charge is Mrs. Dedé Mirabal herself. The aspect and location of the museum allows us passionate at remembering those moments of history.