Booked flights... Feeling down... Pls help!

Hi All,

I could really use your collective advice here. I'd been wanting to go to the DR for a few years, and last week I was able to convince a couple of my friends here in San Fran to go down there for a week. Excited, and not having had too much time to do a lot of research (after all, I'd been researching this for long enough anyway, and the DR1 forums were actually down on the day I booked!), I went ahead and purchased our flights (into STI on a Thursday afternoon, and out of SDQ the following Friday).

Anyway, yesterday I began looking into accommodation/nightlife options, only to find out about the curfew:surprised ! I immediately went from feeling excitement to feeling dread. After all, I'd sold my friends (and myself, to some extent) on this trip based primarily on DR nightlife (we're all die-hard salsa/meringue/bachata dancers), and now I have to call them up today and tell them about this little glitch .

So... I'm looking to this board for collective advice as to how to make the most of this trip. We're three single professionals (2 women, one man, aged 28-35), and again, we're flying into Santiago and out of Santo Domingo. I suppose our first priority would be to capitalize on whatever nightlife there is (we'd prefer local clubs to resort clubs, but will take what we can get right now!). Any advice will be much appreciated, and in particular:

- Is it true that Playa Dorada is exempt from the curfew?
- Is it true that in Cabarete the curfew is enforced later than in other places?
- Is it true that the locals are simply going out earlier now?
- Will it be possible to find salsa/merengue/bachata in Santiago on a Thursday night?
- Same question about Santo Domingo on Wednesday/Thursday nights. Also, will Guacara Taina be open on one of those evenings?
- Are there any decent local clubs in the city of Puerto Plata?

Anyway, I hope I'm just overreacting to this news, and that we'll still be able to make the most of this vacation (and that I'll be excited about it again shortly). I trust that your help and wisdom will determine our ability to do this to some extent...

Thank you in advance!
Z.

I just read these responses and my immediate response is a huge feeling of relief! It sounds like the curfew isn't really a huge deal, so I'm not going to worry too much about it!

With the aid of the above, I think we'll do Thursday in Santiago, the next five nights on the coast, and then Wed and Thurs nights in SD before flying out Fri morning.

As for the days on the coast, in terms of checking out the local clubs for salsa/bachata/merengue does it matter so much where we stay in terms of either Cabarete, Sosua, or PP? It sounds like each town has a fair share of local spots, and that it's fairly easy to get from one place to another. Is this roughly true?

Thx again,
Zain

Planner - This is exactly the information I needed. It's definitely going to be Playa Dorado for us, and we'll be going into the city each night looking for live music wherever and whenever possible. Then, after curfew we always have the option of checking out whatever's going on in Playa Dorada. If it's okay by you, I'll be hitting you up for more info on the PP club scene...

Bob - I take it that Dizzy Ranch is in Santiago? If so, we'll be there on Thursday night, and will just have to take the dancing out into the street after curfew ;-).

Thx again for all the help! This forum is fantastic.

Also, what time are people going out now? Would 8pm be too early to find people at the Dizzy Ranch?

Planner - That sounds fantastic. We get into Santiago on the 22nd, and it would be great to meet up for a night of dancing! I'll send you a PM and we'll take it from there... Z.

Thx for the hotel warning! You're right that we hadn't booked our accommodation with the flights, and I'm taking care of that this evening. We get into PP on the 23rd, and currently it's looking like there's still a reasonable amount of vacancy at some of resorts we're looking at...