Today, January 6th, marks the celebration in the Dominican Republic of Three Kings Day. The celebration itself celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.

This is the final fiesta after Christmas and New Year where Dominicans will party with their friends and families - this weekend beaches throughout the country, (particularly in Sosua) will be jam-packed with many families from Santiago and Santo Domingo making the annual pilgrimage to the North Coast.

 The cleaning of Sosúa has begun! The environmental organization Somonca has made materials and  personnel available to clean Sosúa thoroughly. You can already see in many places of the beach town that workers are busy loading large garbage heaps on to trucks. The clean-up operation is under the direction of Ciriano, the man of the Mayor Ilana  Neumann. The help of Somonca is very welcome because it appeared that before the inauguration of the new mayor much working gear was lent out or given to unknown persons for the repair. It includes chain saws, mowers, shovels, wheelbarrows, garbage collection vehicles and a passenger car. Of course, one tries to get these things back, but it works very slowly, because no one can remember where things have gone. Therefore, the community is forced to buy everything new.

While you were here on vacation, did you manage to notice the Haitian children who beg on Dominican streets, or the Haitian children who run up to your car while at the traffic lights to sell you a phonecard, mango, avocado, phone charger or bottle of water?

Well, unfortunately, this is part of life in the Dominican Republic for thousands of Haitian kids, some as young as 5 or 6 years of age are out and about on our streets daily trying to earn whatever little cash they can. These kids are more noticeable in tourist towns, such as Sosua, Cabarete, Punta Cana and Bavaro where they beg from tourists and offer their "Limpia-bota" (shoe-shine) service for as little as RD$10 (US$0.27)

Amhsa Marina was the favorite among hotel chains in the Dominican Republuc in 2009 in a ranking conducted by Read & Associates, whose aim was to find the most admired company by Dominicans in the past year.

The chain won first place among national and second position between 10 international hotel chains.

Luis Lopez, president of Amhsa Marina Hotels & Resorts, expressed his satisfaction with the staff that makes up the chain that provides daily delivery of excellence to their work and stressed that this is a recognition that motivates the company to continue the commitment to excellence and quality of services it offers.

At long last, the residents of Sosua and Cabarete can breathe a sigh of relief...Prompted the recent visit by President Leonel Fernandez and the Minister of Tourism to Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete are to get their roads re-asphalted.

Vladimir Céspedes, Sosua´s Town Mayor, is supervising the re-paving of the sidewalks, flattening of the roads and re-asphalting of said roads. The state of many of Sosua and Cabarete´s thoroghfares have been in a bad state for a few years now with in places some very deep pot-holes.

Leonel Fernandez has allocated RD$55million for Sosua and RD$50million for Cabarete to which Céspedes has immediately put his good intentions into action.

Work is already underway in Los Charamicos, El Batey and also on the main thoroghfare in Cabarete.

 

The Seawinds at Punta Goleta has completed the main part of its first stage which includes 82 apartments, built on the beach with sea views from every angle.

Company executives said the apartments will be handed over to owners on March 15.

This tourism project, "Condominiun Punta Goleta Resort" has been defined by its investors as an innovative concept that is projected onto the beach with a dramatic view over the bay of Cabarete and the North Coast of the Dominican Republic.

The Ministry of Tourism were pleased to announce that the Dominican Republic was visited by over 4 million tourists in 2010. This shows a 3.3 year on year increase over and above the recorded figures for 2009. Over one million of these passengers arrived from the United States, which includes a year on year increase of over 83,000 passengers from North America. Other notable growth areas are South America which saw an increase of over 67,000 passengers coming from Argentina, Chile, Brazil as well as Central America. The most popular destinations continue to be Punta Cana, Bavaro, Cap Cana, La Romana and Bayahibe with 57% of all arrivals, followed by Santo Dominigo with 22%, with the resorts of Puerto Plata, Playa Dorada, Sosua, Cabarete and Samana at 11%.

The Casa Marina Beach & Reef resort in Sosua on the north coast of the Dominican Republic is planning a major refurbishment to the tune of 6 million dollars. The hotel is operated by Marina Amhsa Hotels & Resorts and shows their commitment to invest in the long term future of tourism on the north coast. Casa Marina Beach & Reef Resort is located just a short 20 minute drive from Puerto Plata International Airport & has an ideal beach location, impressive views of the Dominican coastline with walking access to the seaside town of Sosua.

Just 15 minutes east of the Dominican Capital, Santo Domingo, lies Boca Chica. This is a fishing village that has had its share of problems in the past as a tourist destination. Now, Boca Chica has shrugged off most of the negativity surrounding it and has become a popular destination for local and foriegn visitors alike.

Being so close to Santo Domingo, Boca Chica´s beach is considered as "the" beach of Santo Domingo. Due to its proximity to Santo Domingo´s Las Americas International Airport, it is very easy to get to and is an ideal destination to escape the daily hustle bustle of the Capital.

Boca Chica Map

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Boca Chica, was developed with money made from the sugar industry while the Trujillo government was in power in the 1950´s. At his behest, the first modern hotel (today named the Oasis Hamaca) was constructed by Don Juan Vicini and since then many a local and ex-pat alike have purchased land and built their own homes along the coast of Boca Chica.

Boca Chica was the fashionable place to go in the 70´s and 80´s, but during the late 1970´s and 1980´s Boca Chica took a downturn due to the huge development and boom in business of the North Coast areas of Playa Dorada and Sosua. Today, the Oasis Hamaca and a handful of other small hotels are what keeps the area ticking over and if you are on vacation near the area like Juan Dolio or Santo Domingo, Boca Chica is well worth a visit.

The beach at Boca Chica is is one of the best beaches in the Dominican Republic, with its soft white sand and calm water. The cove is surrounded by a giant semi-circle shaped reef that extends from end to end and protrudes out beyond the water's surface, which forms a giant natural salt-water swimming pool. There are a wide range of watersports on offer, including paddle boats; kayaks; water skiing; and banana boat rides. If you feel a little less energetic, you can relax on the beach while soaking up some sun.
There is a small but busy community here - along with shops, many restaurants and bars overlooking the sea, and  beautiful beach located in the Bay of San Andres - For the seafood lovers amoung you, one "must do" is visit "Neptunos" restaurant. Located right on the water - Neptunos is the perfect place for a romantic evening with someone special. Serving the freshest catches of the day to the amazing desserts...this restaurant is was makes a visit to Boca Chica worthwhile!

Sosua can only be described as a true Caribbean seaside town. A small village jam packed, vibrant and colourful with restaurants, bars, beach shacks and a market, hotels and villas, gift and souvenir shops, bakeries and butchers and the best snorkelling reef on the north coast. Located east from Gregorio Luperon International Airport about a 7 to 10 minute taxi ride. Walk down to the beach, access from the centre of Sosua village and you will stumble across an awesome horse shoe shaped bay with every tone of blue you can imagine in the Atlantic waters.

Sosua Map

Sosua really got itself on the map in the early 1940's as many Jewish settlers arrived here to escape the persecution of Nazi Germany. (See The Real DR history pages for full details). The refugees settled in the east part of Sosua known as El Batey and formed the successful Sosua Dairy co-operative (Productos Sosua), which exists to this day.  The dairy now produces most of the countries dairy products. There is a small Jewish museum detailing the history of the refugees next to Casa Marina Hotel.

Running parallel to the beach front is a market, stall and shack after shack of souvenirs and gift shops. Remember to haggle and shop around as the vendors are not adverse to taking advantage of a tourists lack of experience with the Dominican peso.  You will also be able to hire snorkel masks and fins from the beach to take advantage of the reefs in the bay.  The reefs are approx 60 metres swim out, if you are not so super energetic then there is also a glass bottom boat if you don’t fancy getting wet and banana boat rides if you do!  The reefs have been stood upon by many tourists and local fishermen over the years, however there is still an abundance of brightly coloured fish and if you want to experience a fish feeding frenzy take some bread or a banana with you and literally feed the fish while you are in the water - amazing!

There are several all inclusive hotels in Sosua offering a high quality of accommodation and facilities  - visit our Sosua Hotel Reviews section for further details of Sosua accommodation.   If you have just arrived on a flight only and have no reservations at all then Sosua has an abundance of villas, apartments, private condo’s and room only accommodations to rent by the day, week or even hour!

Things to do in Sosua

Jungle Safari Adventure $79.00

Monkey Jungle and Zip Lining $80.00

Catamaran and Snorkelling Cruise $83.00

Dominican City and Fiesta Tour $59.00

Similar to the town of Puerto Plata the streets are somewhat over run with motor conchos (motor bike taxis) so do not be alarmed by whistles and hooting the drivers are just trying to drum up business.

Try Tanya’s Swiss bakery (it has a big blue cow outside) for her delicious hand made chocolates, cheese cakes, pastries and coffee. Mosers bakery is a well established German bakery and is a must for all bread lovers (black forest gateaux is a speciality here) and also the German Butcher called Dani. His sausages are famous all over the north coast and sells the best pork chops for miles around!

Sosua town also has a couple of pharmacies, supermarkets, cigar and liqueur shops.  The town is divided into two halves from El Batey to Los Charamicos. The main road running through the town is called Pedro Clisante and commences in El Batey. Here  are tons of restaurants,  bars and coffee shops, try The Jolly Roger and Brittania Bar for a cold one when passing.  Pleasant and safe enough to stroll around and dine out in the evening.  Heading in a westerly direction Los Charamicos is a maze of roads and streets predominately a residential area for local Sosua townsfolk and is the old part of Sosua or the old town.

Worth a mention for eating out in Sosua town are the Morua Mai restaurant (pianist on a Friday night) for great seafood and steaks, Las Rocas for all round good family value meals. The Waterfront for a special evening and also La Puntilla de Pier Giorgio afford the best dining in the evening as both have fantastic ocean views and are the perfect setting to watch the sun go down (however one will pay for the setting so don’t forget your credit card just in case!). If you fancy tripping the light fantastic and dancing till dawn there are a few discos in and around the main high street Pedro Clisante. Be warned however that Sosua has more than it’s fair share of prostitutes so keep one hand on your beer and the other firmly on your wallet!