Is driving from Santo Domingo to North coast safe??

Welcome to the forums.   Yes it is quite safe to drive around the country during the day.  In some areas you will want to avoid some neighborhoods but  for the most part you are good.

I do not recommend this to anyone who does NOT speak spanish though.  That can get  a little dicey!

Keep  valuables out of sight etc. Normal precautions!

My husband and I drove around from Punta Cana, to Dominicus, to Santo Domingo, Samana, Caberata, Las Terrenas and back to Punta Cana.  We are flying back in on the 22nd of April and will be driving around again for two weeks but staying about ten days just in Las Terrenas.  We felt very safe the whole time.

Thanks a lot ladies. That makes me feel so much better now and even more excited about that adventure 

Good to hear!!!!!!!!

Have a great time and enjoy yourselves.

My wife and I make thia drive often and feel perfectly safe. The biggest concern is the driving habits here. You also have options. For example, if you are traveling between SD and the Puerto Plata/Sosua/Cabarete area you can either take the mostly highway route or you can take numerous mountain roads that start in either Moca or Santiago and will bring you through some very scenic areas. There are some nasty potholes on some of these mountain roads however. If you are traveling to Las Terrenas, Nagua or Samana then the road from SD to the north coast is all highway.

I live in peurto plata and have to drive to santo domingo fairly often. Its all multi lane highways ,very safe. Lots of places to stop for fuel and food along the way. Once you get to the north coast about 3-4 hours from Santo domingo there are many nice towns like Puerto plata, caberate, cabrera, samana las terenas. To visit and stay at any of these is nice they are all beach front.
General rules include not wearing allot of jewelry and just be aware of your surroundings.  I dont mean to scare you .i would tell you the same thing if you were visiting New York, or anywhere unfamiliar to you.

Ooooh I had the same question!  I was thinking of car camping in a rental because I want to move about and see lots of different areas.  I am a native spanish speaker so I feel okay in this regard, but was wondering if car camping is at all normal or common in DR .....

The shortest and most relaxing drive to the North Coast if you arrive at SDQ Las Americas is by using the Juan Pablo 2 Autopista toll road to Samana and exit for Nagua and along the coast road first passing Cabrera - which is under two hours from the airport and a further 1 hour 15 minutes to Cabarete/Sosua.

Most flights arrive later in the day so factor that into your planning with allowance for delays, car pick up and not driving at night.

The routes you are thinking about are well traveled and safe....
Naturally, caution regarding the local driving habits..... be aware

I wouldn't think twice about it...
In fact o n my 1st trip here - I did the trip....

Sto Dom to Samana BEFORE the toll road... a looong drive
But perfectly safe....

WAZE or Google Maps works well here

Have a nice visit !!

For everyone to understand - the new bypass of Santo Domingo is amazing.

From Santo Domingo airport the bypass takes a huge amount of time off the trip.  Then from Santo domingo to Santiago it's all good highway.

Second bypass of Santiago does the same. 

Santiago to Puerto Plata is better than it was.  But I would not do that stretch at night if I didn't absolutely have to!

I also would not do Nagua to Cabarete Sosua or Puerto Plata at night either! 

So depending on your arrival time, plan accordingly.

If you run into the traffic the drive can be verrrrry long....

Does anyone have updated info on the road construction between Puerto Plata and Santiago. Last time through was a while ago but it seemed they were close to paving a large stretch. However beyond the tunnel/pass towards Santiago still had lots of untouched road yet to be worked on. Once it is all finished, it will be a decent drive. I prefer the mountain drive across from Moca - but then I now know where to go and I am used to it so drive the trip, happy enough to reach 60 or 70 km/hour sometime!! Otherwise, always enjoy the scenery....

2VP, that stretch has been paved for a while, and is a drastic improvement.  It is much quicker and smoother than the "mountain road" west of Sosua, but to each his own.  My suspension does not like the unpaved parts, but the scenery is gorgeous.   I still prefer to go through POP though.  Did the Sabaneta/Moca route south once, and stunning views everywhere.

Thanks - I thought it should be paved by now - but I thought they were widening the road all the way to the highway by Santiago. IN any case, with it paved, that'll be a decent and easy route to drive going to or from the Puerto Plata/north coast regions.

I'm female, with limited Spanish, and have driven alone (from Punta Cana to Santo Domingo, to Sabaneta, and Las Terrenas) with no safety concerns (other than other erratic drivers/people on motos texting and not paying attention). I even survived a roadside traffic stop to check my documents with the National Police with no issues.

Where possible my recommendation would be to stick to the highways and more main roads because road conditions of some of the smaller roads can be tricky to navigate.

What about driving at night? Flight from SDQ lands around 9pm and our stay is in Punta Cana? If we speak Spanish and dont bring any valuables, is it still generally safe?

Arrive at 9, delays, luggage and customs and you leave the airport at 10 or later. 

The drive to Punta Cana is pretty straightforward and easy.  Your issue will be high beams in your face!   It should be pretty easy to do.

Once you hop on the freeway you will be fine. It's the congested traffic in Santo Domingo and the daredevil motorcycle riders that is the stressful part and the people that will throw soap & water on your windshield while your vehicle is in motion and start wiping & cleaning without your permission.

The highway from SDQ to the north is quite nice. It is a toll road with several tolls. I recommend you bring cash to pay the tolls and close to the exact amount for each.

The amounts are something like $60-$100 RD each. If I recall, going from SDQ to Las Terrenas costs around $20 USD or so in tolls.

For safety, there is one thing I'd point out and that is some people want to drive quite fast and do not use their brains when attempting to pass. I once saw a person 5-6 cars back from the lead car, trying to pass everyone on a bridge with a blind curve. When you see such foolishness, just give them space so you will not also get caught up in their mess if it happens.

3 tolls total about 500 pesos each way.... takes about an hour

The stretch to LT is about 550 pesos... for a 20 minute ride
You can avoid this road by going towards Samana and taking a free ride over the hill -
very pretty

Yep - 500 pesos for the first three tolls, then 585 for the last one before LT.

We're picking up our son at El Catey Airport next week and trying to decide if it's worth an extra 15 minutes to save $10 each way!

The view is much better leaving LT
It's at your back going inbound

I take the old road going in and the toll outbound

ddmcghee wrote:

... We're picking up our son at El Catey Airport next week and trying to decide if it's worth an extra 15 minutes to save $10 each way!

Spend the money, save the time, use the time to grumble about the cost 

Thanks a lot for the info on the tolls, I was thinking about exchanging the dollars at arrival on the airport anyways but wasn't aware of the tolls.

Google map says to go towards Cabrera to take Autopista 7 and then Autopista 5. Does that sound  right?

From the airport -
head towards Sto Dom (west)

#7 is the toll road... very close to the airport
Exit is just past the toll booth to the right
Poorly marked 'Samana"

End of toll road ( T intersection), turn left to Nagua
At Nagua, follow signs to Cabrera...#5

I just got an e-mail from Expedia that the airline had cancelled our flight for July 
and now the prices are like 50% higher 

from where?

Miami

SayMen25 wrote:

I just got an e-mail from Expedia that the airline had cancelled our flight for July 
and now the prices are like 50% higher 

If you need to book again, I have never used that airport, but the AZS airport has a connection from CLT (Charlotte) on Wed and Saturday for return flights and multiple inbound flights. If it fits for you, the airport is just outside Las Terrenas. I do not know where on the north coast you planned to go.

My wife and I plan to use this airport for the first time in mid June as it would cut out a long drive from Santo Domingo.

Also, not sure what you use to browse flights, but I use Google Flight Explorer: https://google.com/flights/explore
It has many features to let you walk your schedule one day at a time for different durations with a table of flight prices, options to restrict number of connections, or other criteria.

Thanks. I am using google flights to search too. I checked that airport AZS but it has two stops and like 38 hrs travel.
I guess I'll have to keep looking everyday, waiting for a miracle LOL. I don't think they will go down now that the summer is getting closer but one can only hope.

If anyone knows any trick (days to search, time of the day, website, etc) please let me know.

thanks.

Yeah...the flights between AZS and CLT will be one round trip on Wednesdays and Saturdays - at least for now! My son is on the first flight from Charlotte on June 5.

To avoid the costly toll section to LT, do not turn left to the toll booth but carry straight on to Sanchez. Follow the Samana road around Sanchez and about a half a mile beyond there is a sign posted left turn to Las Terrenas over the hills on a trickey windy road.

To avoid the Samana toll road altogether the route we took before it opened was north on the Duarte highway to Piedra Blanca where you took the turn to Maimon then turn to Cotui then head to Fatino. After crossing the river fork right to Pimental. At Pimental you turn right to Castillo and head to Nagua. You can turn of at Villa Riva and head to Arenoso and get on the road to Samana there or carry through to Nagua first and then head to Samana. It took me a few attempts to perfect the route with all the lack of sign posted turns getting lost at first. Even now it is harder with a one way system in Cotui.

Another route is Villa Mella to Monte Plata to Sabana Grande de Boya and then a dirt road with a few turns to Arenoso. Really scenic but not easy to follow once off the tarmac and rough when wet. You could take the road from Sabana onto the Samana highway just before the section passing through Parque Haitises and only pay the last toll.

All part of the fun and enjoyment of driving in DR!

The road from Las Terrenas to Sanchez is quite dangerous because of many cars in a rush and passing on blind corners of which there are many.

WOW !!
Those posts were amazing...👍
I felt like I was making the trip myself.

Drove the toll road into LT and the road to Sanchez - not as dangerous as it is made out to be if you have driven here for a while and drive with knowing how crazy other drivers can be. A nice drive actually.

yes the toll is a great drive from SD

I drive the Sanchez-LT road all the time
Never had a scare