Having a car in the Dominican Republic is very convenient however driving in the Dominican Republic can be a challenge.

First get used to the horn; drivers in the DR have one hand permanently on the horn. Don’t get irritated when they use it. The horn is considered a notification devise, not just a sign that the person irritated at you. They will use it when they pass you, at intersections, when passing people or just when they feel they haven’t heard the horn enough that day.

People drive extremely close here regardless of the speed you are going. Cars drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid pot holes and for almost any other reason you can imagine. It’s common to see 3-4 cars side by side on a 2 lane road, when preparing to cross intersections etc. They pretty much consider the lines in the road to be optional, and which side of the road you are expected to drive on to only be a suggestion not a law. Motorcycles use either side of the road about the same, with only a slight preference of being on the right side of the road. (more…)

If you plan on doing any traveling outside to the city that you flew into during you stay in the Dominican Republic, you are likely to need to know about the various tour buses. First thing to know is “Tour Buses” is a little misleading. Even though some of the bus companies like Caribe Tours have the word tour in them, that does not mean they are guided tours. This is just transportation from one location to the next.

That doesn’t mean there are no tour companies in the DR, you just need to make sure of what they are offering before you book. There are some great companies offering excursions and we plan on hitting a bunch of then as time goes on. We’ll be posting reviews of the companies as we try them.

Especially if you fly into Santo Domingo or Santiago, you are likely to take one of these buses to get to your vacation destination. These are the Bus companies to choose from: (more…)

Many people coming to the Dominican Republic choose to stay at one Hotel on one beach. Which is nice but you don’t get a very good feel of the island. If you have time (at least a couple weeks) it’s nice to explore the island some. You have two choices in doing this, one is to rent a car. This is pretty expensive and your nerves will be shot after a couple hours of trying to navigate through one of the cities. The second way is to use the public transportation.

This takes a little getting used to and a bit of knowledge beforehand really helps. There are several forms of transportation here Tour buses, Guaguas (public cars or vans), Motor conchos (guys on motor cycles) and Taxi’s.  (more…)