Dominican Carnival (Carnaval Dominicano) is one of the best Dominican Republic festivals. Every Sunday during February, Carnival is a vibrant celebration – and one of the most fun places to experience it is in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Take part in colorful parades filled with incredible sights, dine on authentic Dominican cuisine, and party with friendly locals. Year after year, the parties and parades are legendary, with Dominicans donning intricate costumes and masks that symbolize characters from the country’s past.

At the festival, you will have the chance to check out its pure form (as there are several variations of the rhythm) and how the locals dance until their feet hurt. It is very popular in one of SantoDomingo's Barrios called Mata Los Indios.Traditional African dances, merengue, and folklore are just a small sample of what you will see at the Puerto Plata CulturalFestival. March 4: Body Painting and Party at Cabarete Beach; March 5: Kids competition. We made a list of some festivals in the Dominican Republic you really can´t miss out on. Suggested image dimensions: Explore Dominican Republic. The festivities begin in December but end on January 1.Witnessing the almost forgotten dance of the Bambulá is a rare treat that you should take advantage of the patron saint festivity of San Rafael in Samaná. One from Haiti and the other from Spain.

Thanks to the innovative Isle of Light festival, the cutting edge comes to the Dominican Republic every spring. This unique annual event is designed to bring new music, art, and people to the island. Over two action-packed days and nights, Isle of Light attendees enjoys a lineup of international artists in an experience at the level of major world festivals. The Isle of Light is an unforgettable Dominican Republic weekend for music lovers with adventurous tastes and a love of new experiences.

Merengue is one of the most popular forms of Dominican music – even if you’re not familiar with it, give it about 10 seconds, and you’ll be hooked for life, thanks to its infectious rhythms, catchy melodies, and magnetic performers. To immerse yourself in the vibrant world of Merengue, make plans to attend the Merengue Festival, held every summer in the historic city of Santo Domingo. The event has been taking place since the 1960s, and it’s one of the most fun things to do in the Dominican Republic, offering several days of Merengue music, food, and fun.

Every two years, Santo Domingo’s Olympic Stadium transforms into the Dominican Republic’s biggest festival venue. Festival Presidente is a joyous three-night celebration featuring the country’s most fantastic performers, fireworks, dancing, and a whole lot more. You may have been to concerts before, but you’ve never been to one quite like Festival Presidente.

Whichever Dominican Republic festival you choose, one thing’s for sure: an unforgettable experience awaits.

San Juan’s fiesta is patronal honors not only Saint John the Baptist but also Changó, a god or spirit lifted directly from the West African Yoruba religion. The cult of Changó is one of the aspects of African religious practice to have survived the middle passage, and the deity is still revered in Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. San Juan offers a perfect illustration of the religious syncretism that defines the Dominican people, along with all the requisite music and dance to keep you entertained all day and night.

Vodú celebrations (which coincide with Semana Santa) make this an exciting time of year to travel the country. In the town of Cabral, citizens dress as Devils and mock-punish passers-by with whips and insults. This festival has its roots firmly in African traditions and is a fascinating example of Dominican cultural fusion.

Semana Santa or Easter in the Dominican Republic begins with Palm Sunday and continues throughout the Holy Week. The three most important days are Thursday, Friday (Good Friday), and Saturday (Holy Saturday) for the Dominican Republic’s practicing Christian population.

Semana Santa is recognized as the most significant National holiday in the Dominican Republic. It is celebrated more so than Christmas.

Easter is also a spiritual time. Churches are packed with those in the Roman Catholic faith to commemorate the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The sounds of conga drums and other African instruments ring throughout the Dominican Republic during this lively festival held in June, seven weeks after Semana Santa.

The biggest Espiritu Santo celebration occurs in Villa Mella, situated not far from Santo Domingo.

Fuerte San Felipe is the central location of this lively October festival on the Dominican Republic’s north coast.

The most talented folk, blues, jazz, and merengue musicians perform during the day’s costume parades, food fairs, and dance performances. African spirituals are also part of the tradition.

Along the north coast, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean, the resort destination of Puerto Plata and the beautiful stretch of beach known as Playa Dorada is one of the Dominican Republic's biggest tourist draws. This golden-sand beach is lined with luxury resorts, although much less densely packed than what you'll find in Punta Cana.

This area is also much more subdued and has more of a tranquil feel. The beaches are not busy with boats and water sports, although it's a beautiful area for swimming or snorkeling. You can walk beyond the resorts to undeveloped beaches backed by palm trees and forest.

At the farthest tip of the Samaná Peninsula, where the road dead-ends at the ocean, looking out over one of the area's many beautiful beaches, is the small town of Las Galeras. Its remote location will appeal to independent travelers looking for an off-the-beaten-path experience. Palm-lined, white-sand beaches and turquoise water create an idyllic scene.

Beaches like Playa Rincon, La Playita, Playa Fronton, and other unnamed stretches of undeveloped beaches in the area are some of the best beaches in the Dominican Republic and offer the polar opposite experience of the major resort destinations on the island. Here, you can hire a boat to take you to a remote beach for a morning or afternoon or walk from town to several beautiful sandy coves in the surrounding area.

Cabarete is known around the world as a kiteboarding destination. The action center is on Kite Beach, just around a headland from Cabarete's main beach. It's about a 20-minute walk along the beach from the center of town to Kite Beach.

This small area of Cabarete has its unique vibe. In the mornings, the beach is quiet, except for walkers and runners or people swimming and stand-up paddleboarding. When the winds pick up in the afternoon, kiteboarders descend on the beach, and the sky fills with kites.

The sand is a riot of colors, with kites waiting for the best winds to materialize. A few restaurants here offer casual food, many focusing on vegetarian food and other healthy offerings. On Friday afternoons, a free circus provides entertainment at the end of the beach. Even if you are not a kiter, it's worth coming to see the spectacle.

From December through March, thousands of humpback whales enter Samaná Bay to mate and give birth, making this one of the best places to see these beautiful giants in the wild. The city of Samaná, on the Samaná Peninsula, is the main departure point for Whale Watching trips.

The city itself holds little else for travelers, but the whales are such a popular tourist attraction, many companies offer day trips here from various destinations around the island.

Las Terrenas is a busy Dominican city on the north coast with a peaceful and laid-back beachfront area, where winding, single-lane dirt roads meander past small French cafés and lookout over palms, beaches, and the aquamarine ocean. Just a short stroll inland takes you to the motorbike-filled streets, where Dominicans go about work and everyday life.

It is one of the best places to visit if you want a taste of Dominican culture and all the conveniences of a city, combined with a great beach destination. Like Las Galeras, many French people have made Las Terrenas their home and have set up restaurants and inns.

If you are looking for adventure, one of the most exciting things to do in the Dominican Republic is climbing up a narrow gorge of waterfalls and then jump off the top of each one into the pools below. This attraction is not for the faint of heart; it's a serious undertaking but incredibly fun.

You'll be outfitted with a lifejacket and a helmet and led by a qualified guide who will take you up a series of ladders. As you ascend, you'll be able to watch other visitors fly past you on their descent. It's nonstop action and mayhem. Some drops are quite high, but you can always change your mind in any given section and take the ladder back down.

Well off the major tourist route, the remote Bahia de Las Aguillas in Jaragua National Park is a glorious eight-kilometer stretch of beach, which you may have all to yourself on any given day. The shallow, clear, calm water and white-sand bottom, combined with a distinct lack of tourism and development, make this one of the most pristine beaches in the Dominican Republic.

Located on the southwestern coast of the country, close to the border with Haiti, this area is isolated. From Santo Domingo, the drive time is at least six hours. The nearest town to the beach is Pedernales, almost an hour away by car. The tourism infrastructure in this part of the Dominican is some of the least developed in the country.

You won't find luxury resorts, but you will find tranquility, solitude, and unique experiences if you come out this way. The climate here is semi-arid, and the landscape, which consists mainly of cactus and scrub, is much different than other areas of the country.

While Parque Nacional del Este, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a serene place of natural beauty and habitat for countless plants, animals, and birds, most people know the park for the beaches of Isla Saona. This island is a tourist magnet, with all kinds of day-trippers from the nearby resort destinations of Punta Cana and La Romana.

The soft-sand beach and turquoise water are what most people would imagine if they were to picture a tropical island paradise. But, although there are no resorts on the island, it is a lively destination during the day as catamarans and speedboats drop tourists on the beaches to relax in lounge chairs and soak up the sun.

While many Dominican vacationers consider Jarabacoa a summer retreat destination, foreign travelers tend to see it as an outdoor adventure playground in the mountains of the Dominican Republic's interior. In the vicinity are opportunities for rafting, hiking, biking, and other types of exploration.

At an elevation of over 500 meters, the climate here is much milder than the coast, and nights are often cool. If you spend more than just a week or two in the country, it's worth venturing up to Jarabacoa. This town also makes a convenient stop for a couple of nights if you are traveling between Santo Domingo and either Puerto Plata or Cabarete.