Moca road or route turistic

P

pas

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Jun 7, 2004
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Goodday all

What way to go?
Going to santiago airport.
Take the route touristic or going the moca road

Witch is best at the moment?
 
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cavok

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I think it depends a lot on your starting point. Last I heard, the Moca road(Hwy 21) is in very good shape from Sabaneta to La Cumbre with much of it having been recently repaved. There is work being done on the La Cumbre to Moca side.
 
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Cabarete Sanctuarium

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the moca road for 6 miles from sabaneta to jamao is rough from jamao to past el cumbre is paved, there is construction on the last 4 miles on the way to San Victor (when you get to the 'T' at the bottom of the hill). be very careful driving on either of the 2 highways, stay tight to the right on turns as inevitably the oncoming traffic is crowding your lane. There are several unmarked sharp hairpin turns on both highways, it pays to remember them as otherwise you find yourself in the oncoming lane deep into the turn. There is no rush, either way both are lovely drives with excellent scenery.
 
CristoRey

CristoRey

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pas said:
Goodday all

What way to go?
Going to santiago airport.
Take the route touristic or going the moca road

Witch is best at the moment?
Click to expand...
Avoid the Moca road.
It's full of potholes, the traffic moves slow and heaven forbid it starts to rain while your on it.
Last time I drove it was a few days after Christmas and was stopped not once but twice by some criminals wearing PN uniforms driving PN issued vehicles attempting to get money from me..
Sorry but "me no speaka da Espanol"
and I kept it moving.
 
L

LindseyKaufman

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I drive the Moca road on a regular basis. Until you get to Jamao the road is so-so. Patched over potholes. Just at Jamao they are working on the road. There is a big ditch on one side for a short distance. From Jamao to the top and down, almost to San Victor, the road is newly paved and like a race track. Just prior to San Victor, they are still doing work. Depending on what time of day you travel, you may have a brief stop for the machinery to move out of the way. Overall, the new work has saved about 20 minutes from our trip to Santiago. If you are going to the airport, be sure to turn right in San Victor instead of left. Then turn left after the propane station, at the large chicken farm with the grainery. That will end up at the main road just before Licey where you turn to the airport.

I cannot comment on the Touristica road. Living in Jamao, that is not an option for me.
 
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T

tee

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I took the Moca road last week and it was fine. There are still many areas that have not been paved yet but if you drive carefully then you should get across in almost the same time as it takes to cross via the turistica route. The one thing about taking the Moca route is that it is closer to Santiago airport.
In all honesty, there is not much time difference whichever route you take...if you take the the turistica and then the ring road to Duarte and then take the turn off to the airport I would agree that the trip is smoother, but not necessarily faster.
 
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drstock

drstock

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It depends where you are starting from. If you are going from Puerto Plata, the Ruta Turistica makes more sense. From Sosua it's about 50/50 bearing in mind possible delays at Montellano due to the Cangrejo bridge being out. From Cabarete to the airport I would take the Moca road despite it still being unfinished.
 
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JD Jones

JD Jones

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LindseyKaufman said:
I drive the Moca road on a regular basis. Until you get to Jamao the road is so-so. Patched over potholes. Just at Jamao they are working on the road. There is a big ditch on one side for a short distance. From Jamao to the top and down, almost to San Victor, the road is newly paved and like a race track. Just prior to San Victor, they are still doing work. Depending on what time of day you travel, you may have a brief stop for the machinery to move out of the way. Overall, the new work has saved about 20 minutes from our trip to Santiago. If you are going to the airport, be sure to turn right in San Victor instead of left. Then turn left after the propane station, at the large chicken farm with the grainery. That will end up at the main road just before Licey where you turn to the airport.

I cannot comment on the Touristica road. Living in Jamao, that is not an option for me.
Click to expand...

I love stopping for a cup of java at the restaurant (El Cumbre) towards the top of the hill. Back in the 80's when I was working in Santiago we used to drive up there to eat steaks at the Windmill restaurant down below.
 
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LindseyKaufman

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JD Jones said:
I love stopping for a cup of java at the restaurant (El Cumbre) towards the top of the hill. Back in the 80's when I was working in Santiago we used to drive up there to eat steaks at the Windmill restaurant down below.
Click to expand...
The windmill restaurant (El Molino) is now the best of the three there. I am not clear if the other two are even open. A huge hotel was built next to the two restaurants above. Just after it was opened, it was abandoned and has sat empty for years. Would love to know the story behind that.
 
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cavok

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I had to go to SD on Wednesday and took Hwy 21 from Sabaneta over the mountains to Moca. The route is now completely repaved from Los Brazos(about 3 miles north of Jamao) all the way over the mountains and down to San Victor. The stretch of road from Sabaneta to Los Brazos is really not that bad. It's mostly old, repatched asphalt. They are in the process of repaving it, but there were only a couple very short stretches that were only one-lane and some short stretches where the old top layer of asphalt had been removed prior to putting down new asphalt. Virtually no delay due to any of this the day I went.

I suppose if you live in Sosua the Ruta Touristica(Hwy 25) would be the fastest way to head south (unless you're going to STI or the east side of Santiago) but, travel times being equal, I think Hwy 21 even now with the short stretch from Sabaneta to Los Brazos unfinished is a much better choice. Hwy 21 has it's twists and bends but nowhere nears as many curves, nor curves that are as sharp, as on Hwy 25.
 
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