- Thread starter cobraboy
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STI-POP Mountain Road
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i have gone throght both alternative roads to santiago , one through sabaneta and one through carretera turistica. no idea about curves but minovio drove from his house in torre alta to santiago on carretera turistica in 28 minutes - no idea why as views are really great and whenever we drive that road together i make him go slow so i can enjoy the scenery.
sabaneta-moca route is even prettier but more curves and my ears always get blocked....
sabaneta-moca route is even prettier but more curves and my ears always get blocked....
All I know is that there are 35 curves coming down into the POP side. I once tried to count them, but I'd guess between 200-300 would be fair. On a bike it would be awesome.....
HB
Minovio is not too smart to do that road in 28 minutes (in a car? No way!), or else he is not telling the truth.....I think the latter...more macho..
HB
Minovio is not too smart to do that road in 28 minutes (in a car? No way!), or else he is not telling the truth.....I think the latter...more macho..
When that road was in good condition after first being built, I could cross the mountain part (Camu to Gurabo) in 30 minutes in the middle of the night with no traffic, driving as fast as I could safely go.
Torre Alta to Santiago in 28 minutes would involve an airplane.
Sorry if this sounds dumb. Can you all explain this Mountain road part please? When driving from STI, I gather that we will be driving through the mountains to get to POP. Clearly. But how does the landscape go from sti airport to pop. I'm trying to get an idea of what it will look like when we drive through, and isn't the drive 2 hrs ? Which part of the drive takes up most of the time?
28 minutes flat and that was about 8 years ago. i believe him because in the car he had before he easily did 200km/hr and i hated that.... macho thing, i guess. you said rocky "as fast as i could safely go" - minovio drove as fast as he could go 
nonetheless the road it's too pretty to take it fast.
csomethingprincessa, there is more than one road POP-santiago.
nonetheless the road it's too pretty to take it fast.
csomethingprincessa, there is more than one road POP-santiago.
sti/pp
The distance from STI( Santiago airport) to P.P. (Playa Dorada) going thru the carretera turistica is 68 km. it takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. I've never counted the curves & have to travel that road sometimes 3 times in 1 day. I'll think about it when I drive thru it again tomorrow. The scenery is all landscape & mountains w/lots of homes(old ones but that adds to the charm) on both sides of the rode & people walking or just hanging out.
JJ
The distance from STI( Santiago airport) to P.P. (Playa Dorada) going thru the carretera turistica is 68 km. it takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. I've never counted the curves & have to travel that road sometimes 3 times in 1 day. I'll think about it when I drive thru it again tomorrow. The scenery is all landscape & mountains w/lots of homes(old ones but that adds to the charm) on both sides of the rode & people walking or just hanging out.
JJ
28 minutes flat and that was about 8 years ago. i believe him because in the car he had before he easily did 200km/hr and i hated that.... macho thing, i guess. you said rocky "as fast as i could safely go" - minovio drove as fast as he could go
nonetheless the road it's too pretty to take it fast.
csomethingprincessa, there is more than one road POP-santiago.
Are you sure he didn't take the way to Navarette? He would only have to make a left out of his development and take the road towards Navarette. On that road you can go 200km if you are crazy. On the Carterra you can't go more than 80km without getting killed.
i am sure - or he is, rather. we drove both mountain roads few times doing more than 100km/hr. he calmed down his driving a lot since we live together.. (and since he bought jeepeta that would probably roll over on a curve if you drive it with foot on gas...)
I've been a passenger in a Isuzu Rodeo that didn't take much over 30 min. Driven by a recently retired highway patrolman from the UK this past Christmas.
It's getting really "deep" around here. To make that trip in that time would require a "rally car" and a professional driver, and even then they would be risking their own lives and others due to the vehicular, pedestrian and livestock traffic on the road.
Izuzu Rodeo? You've got to be kidding me! You could drive it faster in a Toyota Corolla. It doesn't matter if the driver is an ex-cop or Michael Schumacher, a vehicle with a high center of gravity can only take curves so fast without rolling over.
Izuzu Rodeo? You've got to be kidding me! You could drive it faster in a Toyota Corolla. It doesn't matter if the driver is an ex-cop or Michael Schumacher, a vehicle with a high center of gravity can only take curves so fast without rolling over.
mountain road.
I took this road with my parent 4 years ago and it is very dangerous. took it from sosua down to santiago. there were tons of curves but we nearly took a long drop due to missing chunk of road. Another warning" do not buy the meats sold curbside" We bought som sausage and carne salado for grampa and I had uncontrollable gas for 3 days. It was a quick ride to santiago though.
I took this road with my parent 4 years ago and it is very dangerous. took it from sosua down to santiago. there were tons of curves but we nearly took a long drop due to missing chunk of road. Another warning" do not buy the meats sold curbside" We bought som sausage and carne salado for grampa and I had uncontrollable gas for 3 days. It was a quick ride to santiago though.
My wife and I took this road last Sunday. We always enjoy this ride, we take our time and enjoy the views. From POP to Santigao 90 minutes, 35 miles. Not very many fruit stands opened. They are normally alot more.
the catch here is there really are THRRE routes from STI to the north coast( we can call it puerto plata-sosua-cabarete) two are very mountainous with a lot of curves. the other have a lot more long straight section, but gets all the truck traffic and is longer via road surface I bet. the killer for that later route is the driver has to pass through all of santiago to get out onto the open road. That alone could take 35 minutes. I have takent he route 21 way 20 times i bet...if you are going to sosua it is a good fast ride if you dont get hung up in cabarete traffic. I can make it to cabarete in 1 hour all day long. Problem is my GF gets car sickness when I do that.
The middle route route 25( I think this is called Luperon touristica highway..not sure) is the more mountainous and shortest route to POP and probably sosua as well.....I have only taken it about 3 times..and never kept track of my time.
the most westerly route is through the edge of Navarette and is on route 5....the big buises and big trucks all take that route and then you can really get bogged down in puerto plata these days with the construction..last time it took me 2.5 hours going that way...and I passed every time i got the chance.
the catch will be if there are any recent road wash outs on the mountain passes.
there is a route that cuts off of route 21 in Jamao to take you directly to sosua and bypasses sbanete and cabarete...I have never taken it, for fear it might turn into some soupy mess muddy road.......but it is visible on the map.
on either mountain route you are playing with your life pushing the speed, because cars and trucks all cut the corners...they dont care.... it can be insane....
bob
The middle route route 25( I think this is called Luperon touristica highway..not sure) is the more mountainous and shortest route to POP and probably sosua as well.....I have only taken it about 3 times..and never kept track of my time.
the most westerly route is through the edge of Navarette and is on route 5....the big buises and big trucks all take that route and then you can really get bogged down in puerto plata these days with the construction..last time it took me 2.5 hours going that way...and I passed every time i got the chance.
the catch will be if there are any recent road wash outs on the mountain passes.
there is a route that cuts off of route 21 in Jamao to take you directly to sosua and bypasses sbanete and cabarete...I have never taken it, for fear it might turn into some soupy mess muddy road.......but it is visible on the map.
on either mountain route you are playing with your life pushing the speed, because cars and trucks all cut the corners...they dont care.... it can be insane....
bob
there is a route that cuts off of route 21 in Jamao to take you directly to sosua and bypasses sbanete and cabarete...I have never taken it, for fear it might turn into some soupy mess muddy road.......but it is visible on the map.
NEVER, I repeat NEVER take this route. It will take you 1 1/2 hours, if you can make it at all. It is not even a road.
NEVER, I repeat NEVER take this route. It will take you 1 1/2 hours, if you can make it at all. It is not even a road.
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