I've found this article "Dominican Republic: The New Gold Coast" on MSN Travel. Here are a few quotes from the article and you can access the entire article by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.
"Forget the days of package tours and all-inclusives. With the recent opening of some sophisticated hotels, the Dominican Republic is trying to compete with the Caribbean's most luxurious destinations."
"After seeing Santo Domingo, an affordable, bohemian paradise for history-lovers, I'll drive about 150 miles northwest to Puerto Plata, one of the first areas to develop the all-inclusive tourism that has become synonymous with the Dominican Republic. It has just welcomed a five-star boutique hotel that has the country's burgeoning hotel industry is buzzing. From there, I'll head southeast to the Caribbean coast's Punta Cana, now the fifth most popular warm-weather destination in the world, according to a recent study by the American Society of Travel Agents."
"A half-hour from Playa Dorada lies Cabarete, which is rapidly gaining attention from wind- and kite-surfers for its high gusts and dynamic water. By night, its tiny strip of independently run restaurants, with beachside seating under lantern-lit coconut palms, teems with Dominican and foreign visitors. Kicking off my shoes to walk the sandy stretch from one establishment to the next (it's often difficult to tell where one ends and the next begins), I pick my way through bachata troubadours strumming acoustic guitars; vendors of Mama Juana (a dehydrated mixture of spices and bark meant to be infused in rum and said to be an aphrodisiac); stray dogs; and chatty ma?tre d's complaining that the travel agents are sending too many tourists down south to Punta Cana."
Dominican Republic: The New Gold Coast
-NALs
"Forget the days of package tours and all-inclusives. With the recent opening of some sophisticated hotels, the Dominican Republic is trying to compete with the Caribbean's most luxurious destinations."
"After seeing Santo Domingo, an affordable, bohemian paradise for history-lovers, I'll drive about 150 miles northwest to Puerto Plata, one of the first areas to develop the all-inclusive tourism that has become synonymous with the Dominican Republic. It has just welcomed a five-star boutique hotel that has the country's burgeoning hotel industry is buzzing. From there, I'll head southeast to the Caribbean coast's Punta Cana, now the fifth most popular warm-weather destination in the world, according to a recent study by the American Society of Travel Agents."
"A half-hour from Playa Dorada lies Cabarete, which is rapidly gaining attention from wind- and kite-surfers for its high gusts and dynamic water. By night, its tiny strip of independently run restaurants, with beachside seating under lantern-lit coconut palms, teems with Dominican and foreign visitors. Kicking off my shoes to walk the sandy stretch from one establishment to the next (it's often difficult to tell where one ends and the next begins), I pick my way through bachata troubadours strumming acoustic guitars; vendors of Mama Juana (a dehydrated mixture of spices and bark meant to be infused in rum and said to be an aphrodisiac); stray dogs; and chatty ma?tre d's complaining that the travel agents are sending too many tourists down south to Punta Cana."
Dominican Republic: The New Gold Coast
-NALs
