Things to do in Santo Domingo

Neighborhood · East of the centre, on the Ozama river

The first European city in the Americas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the Catedral Primada, the Alcázar de Colón, cobbled streets and the pedestrian Calle El Conde running through the middle of it.

Local tip: Come at 5pm rather than midday: the stone gives its heat back, the Plaza de España fills with families, and the restaurants on Calle Las Damas and Arzobispo Meriño are half the price of the cruise-ship strip on El Conde.

Landmark · The whole southern seafront

Fourteen kilometres of Caribbean-facing boulevard that is simultaneously the city's promenade, running track, carnival route and open-air sound system.

Local tip: Sunday morning belongs to runners and cyclists; Sunday evening belongs to the car sound systems. Both are worth seeing once. The stretch by the Obelisco is the safest and best-lit for an evening walk.

Culture · Avenida Mella, north of the Ciudad Colonial

The old covered market for amber, larimar, botánica herbs and every kind of souvenir, with the Chinese quarter and its arch a few blocks along the same avenue.

Local tip: Everything in the Mercado Modelo is negotiable and the first price for a foreigner is roughly double. For larimar and amber, ask to see the piece under a UV lamp — real amber fluoresces, plastic does not.

Nature · Arroyo Hondo, north-west

Two square kilometres of palm collections, a Japanese garden, an orchid house and a river ravine — the largest botanical garden in the Caribbean and the city's lung.

Local tip: The little train tour is aimed at children but it is genuinely the best orientation. Go early on a weekday for the birdlife; by 10am on a Sunday it is school groups end to end.

Culture · Ensanche La Fe

The home of both Licey and Escogido, the two Santo Domingo clubs whose rivalry organises the Dominican winter, from mid-October to the January final.

Local tip: Buy for a Licey–Escogido game and sit in the middle tiers, not behind home plate — the noise, the brass band and the improvised choreography are the point. Season runs winter only; in summer the stadium is quiet.

Nature · Santo Domingo Este, across the Ozama

A collapsed limestone cave system holding three open freshwater lagoons, plus a fourth reached by a hand-hauled raft, inside a large park on the eastern bank.

Local tip: Go at opening time — the light shafts into the caves in the morning and the tour groups arrive from about eleven. Combine it with the Faro a Colón next door if you want the full concrete-monument experience.