Santo Domingo Day Trip from La Romana

Your day trip starts with an early morning pickup from your La Romana or Bayahibe hotel. Travel for roughly 1.5 hours along the Caribbean coast to Santo Domingo to your first stop, Parque Mirador del Este (Eastern Lookout Park), a sprawling city park riddled with limestone caves.

Visit the most famous of these caves, Los Tres Ojos (the Three Eyes), one of the Dominican Republic’s most-visited attractions. Take the long staircase down into the cavernous sinkhole, where three lagoons gleam amidst vegetation and walls studded with stalactites and stalagmites.

Back above ground, travel to Santo Domingo’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed colonial area, marked by the history of Christopher Columbus, who arrived here during his voyage from Spain in 1492. Santo Domingo soon became the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas, and its grid-like layout became a model for town planners of the New World.

Visit sensational sights related to Christopher Columbus including the Columbus Lighthouse (Faro a Colón) and Alcázar de Colón (Columbus' House), the Columbus family mansion built by Christopher’s son in 1515. Today, it's a museum furnished with original and period furniture.

Continue to the Basilica Cathedral of Santa María la Menor, the oldest cathedral in the Americas, which was completed in 1540. Then soak up the atmosphere of the city’s oldest street, Calle Las Damas, to experience a typical Dominican market and practice your bargaining skills.

Around midday, make your way to a local restaurant and take a seat for your lavish buffet lunch. Dishes often change, but some of the typical delights can be seen in the sample menu, listed in the Itinerary. After enjoying the food, make the most of some free time to walk down Calle El Conde, a pedestrian street lined with shops, restaurants and more historical sights. Relax on the journey back to La Romana or Bayahibe in the evening, and finish your tour with a hotel drop-off.