Santiago Dominican Republic Pictures

Highway Route Sign ~ Navarete or Puerto Plata

Day trips via Santiago to the nearby waterfalls are easy to arrange from resorts at Puerto Plata area beaches.

As you head inland (south) from Puerto Plata, you are heading into the usually cooler mountain areas. Not the Alps or Rockies, by any means, but some steep grades in spots.

Santiago de Los Caballeros is 71 kms (44 miles) south of Puerto Plata and the beaches, and 155 kilometres (96 miles) north of Santo Domingo, the capital.

The DR's main highways are usually in good shape, but heavy rains  can quickly flood them, making driving a challenge. I prefer to use a tour company  booked at my hotel, and let someone else do the driving.

Outskirts Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

Here's the view through the front window of the bus of one January evening rush hour traffic on the outskirts of Santiago.

In the distance you can see the trees on the mountainside. That morning, torrential rains had turned mountain roads into fast flowing streams that swept debris onto the main highway.

At 6-7 a.m., on a rainy day, it's pretty dark still; The headlights of our bus illuminated roadside commuters knee deep in water as they waited for their bus to work.

Good driving and taking it easy made for a safe trip up to higher ground. By 10 a.m., the sun was shining.

Rush Hour Vendors in Santiago Domincan Republic

Heading back via Santiago to our resort, the tour bus stopped for a red light. And out the window, enterprising Dominicans were setting up streetside shops to sell fruit to workers heading home for the day.

Another trip, on another visit had us heading home via Santo Cerro, down mountain roads on the east side of the  Cibao Valley. Then, vendors were selling round cheese balls laid on blankets by the roadside.

More Fruit Sellers on the streets of Santiago DR

Further along the highway through Santiago, we came across more vendors setting up shop from the back of a pickup truck.

Apparently pineapples and papayas were in season (January). Mangoes, also grown in this fertile area, ripen later in the year; One trip, I bought mangoes at a roadside stand in Haiti, in August.

Highway to Puerto Plata : Great views of the Monument to the Heroes.

This imposing structure was once the Trujillo monument. See the picture below to see how it once looked.

The statue of Trujillo that used to be at the very top of the tower is now gone, and the monument has been renamed to El Monumento a los héroes de la Restauracion.

Santiago's airport -- Cibao International Airport (code STI)-- is not used by most tourists, but mainly for cargo shipments or native Dominicans traveling to and from the US or other Caribbean islands.

Former Monument to Trujillo in Heart of Santiago DR

This statue of Rafael Trujillo (in power from 1930-1961) no longer tops the monument now named Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration of the Republic. Trujillo's legacy includes amassing a personal fortune at the Dominicans' expense.

On an earlier trip, the 67 metres (220 feet) high tower was not open for visitors, so we missed the wonderful views of the valley, and beyond from the observation area.

Time permitting and tour company interest permitting, day trip tours will stop for a short visit of the forecourt and gardens.

Costs: For a full day tour from Sosua and from Playa Dorada, I paid about $65 USD (January, high season) which included lunch. In low season (roughly July, August, September) I paid about $50 USD for the same tour.

Santiago De Los Caballeros City View

From the forecourt at the monument, there are fabulous views of the city and surrounding countryside.

The area around Santiago is a main area for textile factories and growing flowers for export, as well as a cigar factory.

This day trip continued on to the cigar factory tour, and a pottery near Santo Cerro, with the church and the relics of Columbus' Cross and the Waterfalls for lunch.

Once you've taken in the view from the monument, and wandered around the structure, that's about all there is to do here and tours move on.

Santiago is also a main shopping center but I haven't stopped to shop :-) If you do, let me know what you thought.

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