The main gateways in the Dominican Republic are Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Punta Cana, and recently Santiago de los Caballeros and Samana.  There are are other smaller airports here but are more geared toward in-land air travel and the immediate islands within the area.

These main gateways receive flights from the United States, Canada, & Europe. Folk traveling from Australia or New Zealand usually will have to travel first to the United States and continue to the DR from there.

There are plenty of scheduled flights from the United States and Canada, with most British tourists arriving on charter holiday flights from the UK and Ireland.

It is possible to arrive here via the water. A ferry from Mayaguez in Puerto Rico will bring you across the Mona Passage into Santo Domingo, cheap as it may be the journey is long and uncomfortable into the night. Approx costs for the ferry are US$150.00  one way plus US$10.00 entrance tax.

There are two main seasons in the Dominican Republic, the cool season which runs from November to April and the rainy season from May to October.  A lot of people and visitors to the island prefer the cool season as the heat is less intense, the humidity is lower and the rainfall is less frequent.  Temperatures are generally around 29°C during the day and will go down to about 19°C at night.

During the rainy season the rainfall can get very heavy, on the good side though the showers are heavy but short lived. Rainfall can wash out roads and make traveling difficult throughout the island. Rain is most frequent from May to Mid June (although for the last two years the rainy season has in fact been very dry).

In rainy season the average temperature is 31°C during the day and 22°C at night.

As you can see there isn’t that much seasonal variation between temperatures, although the summer months seem to get hotter each year and August can be sometimes unbearably hot, however if you are within arms reach of a swimming pool my advise is to do like the hippos do and just wallow around in some cool water!

Hurricane season runs from June to November and the Dominican Republic lies within the hurricane belt.  It is not possible to predict when a storm/hurricane will occur but with today's hurricane warning stations and systems they can certainly be tracked a lot quicker and warnings be given earlier than in years gone by.