Hints for my first trip up north

Metro ST Autobuses or Caribe Tours | Bienvenidos
take a jacket or sweater on the bus, they crank the AC on those things.
Hotel Colonial downtown Santiago, it looks a little shady on the outside but its clean and safe. I think it was 1500RD for a double with AC. Single rooms are cheaper.
I haven't stayed in Sosua or Cabarate for a couple years now so can't help you there. I used to stay at Vista del Sol in Cabarete but couldnt tell you what the rates are now. I think Peter is still running it, but not sure.
Enjoy the trip!

Derfish said:

Go as farNorth as you can get on the island and you'll still be a long way south of wherever you've been before.

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LOL.....NO REALLY LOL I guess you didn't read his first sentence, where the OP has been to La Romana, Barahona, Santo Domingo......
Cabarete there is Hotel Kaoba, across the street from the beach, or a little closer, Hotel Alegria, around the 1500 peso per night, there is also a place across from Bon Ice Cream that rents rooms with air for around 1000 pesos on the beach side....In Santiago someone said Hotel Colonial which is basic and inexpensive, or you can just stop at a cabana if its for one night....

Take the Metro bus from Santiago as its more convenient to land in Sosua central . walk across the street . Ther are Publicos taxi economical taxis that can take you to Cabarete and kaoba hotel as you enter cabarete central . Its just a few steps to all the bars , restaurants, and beach.

A few friends of mine who happened to stay at hotel Colonial in Santiago claimed it is an overpriced dump, - each and everyone of them. I personally never stayed there but drove on that street many times and it's definitely not somewhere I would want to stay for more than 10 seconds, during the day and especially at night. If you want to have late night discussions with crack whores and other shady characters, that may be the right place to be. Its basically a back alley from Grand Theft Auto. There are other 2 small hotels within 50 meters on the same street, - Monterey and another one, can't remember the name but they are all about the same. One friend, while staying there (in "one of the other hotels", not Colonial itself) got robbed for $10K pesos that disappeared from his suitcase while he was away from the room. Forget about wifi anywhere but the lobby.

Santiago doesn't have a ton of hotel options like SD but there are still way better and safer ones. I'd recommend Los Jardines (~2.5K per night, small rooms, lots of things to walk to), Monumental (800 pesos for a single room, 1,300 for a couple - right on autopista Duarte, close to monument but probably best to get a cab as walking from there is a little iffy due to the highway), and Platino on Estrella Sadhalla (not sure of the price right now, 2-3K). Matum Hotel and Casino is a great location right by the monument but the service and staff are subpar, and it's a bit dumpy (~2.6K). Aloha del Sol on calle del Sol is another great option (2-2.3K). Hodelpa chain (there are 3 - Almirante (from ~$130 for a weekend night to $200 pn during the week to $300+ for upstairs suites), Plaza Central (starting at $90) and the one on the way to the airport, not sure of the price) are the best but they are relatively expensive and overall not worth the money.

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in any of these venues.

i cannot advice about a hotel to santiago but...
from santiago you can take a bus to sosua. metro or caribe, they are located maybe 200 meters from each other so you can always check both places. i suggest you use caribetours since they leave from santiago to sosua every hour, 45 minutes past the hour. 160 pesos.
there is also direct bus from sosua to SD, also every hour at 20 minutes past the hour. 330 pesos.

admittedly it will leave you further from sosua center that metro bus but the frequency is better. metro buses will be roughly the same price. the advantage of taking a metro is stopping right in the middle of sosua.

In santiago as said before go to los jardines. Descent price for the rooms. Nice enviroment instead of hodelpha or aloha sol in the center and those are also soo pricy i have stayed in these 3.

Special tip in caba?a pegasus on weekdays you can pay the night from 8pm til 8am for only 400 peso if its only to sleep in santiago saves you a lot of money. Its pretty nice hot water and everything. They have pretty big ones if you take the ones on the way out in the dead end roads inside of the complex