Travel Planner Getting there: Direct flights to major hubs such as Punta Cana, Puerto Plata and Santa Domingo depart from the major Canadian cities of Toronto and Montreal with carriers such as Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Sunwing. Flights from Vancouver and Calgary generally involve one-stop connections. Required documents: A Canadian passport valid for the intended stay period is needed. Canadians do not need a tourist visa for stays up to 30 days. Extended stays of 120 days are available. Language: The official and most widely spoken language in the DR is Spanish, with many in the tourist industry and larger centres comfortably speaking English. Currency: The official currency of the DR is the Dominican Peso. Credit cards are widely accepted in major cities and tourist areas. Carrying cash is recommended for small communities and remote areas. Prime snowbird season: December through April is the Dominican Republic’s dry season, offering the most comfortable sunny days and low humidity. Deepsea Fishing Famous author and avid fisherman, Ernest Hemingway set the tone for Caribbean deepsea fishing with his famous book The Old Man and the Sea. His absolute favourite Caribbean fishing spots were the waters off of Bimini in the Bahamas and Havana, Cuba. Today, it could be argued that the waters off of the DR are equal to those that Hemingway consistently praised. What Dominican waters provide is worldclass sport fishing for such catches as blue marlin, sailfish, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and swordfish. The island has charter fishing companies galore, with most of them providing captain, crew, rods, reels and bait. While fishing is good almost anywhere in DR waters, angling off of the easternmost tip of the island is widely considered the country’s best and most productive area. Here, the Caribbean and Atlantic merge, forming a strait known as the Mona Passage ‒ a vicinity that is home to some of the biggest, most notorious game fish in the world. An alternative to deepsea fishing is coastal, light-tackle angling. Cigar Country For cigar aficionados, the DR is stogie heaven. The country is the largest premium cigar manufacturer in the world, for which it can partly thank Cuba. Following the Cuban Revolution, many tobacco growers and expert rollers left that country and relocated to the Dominican Republic. Under their stewardship, sprawling tobacco plantations flourished, thus producing the cigar powerhouse which the country is today. In fact, a thriving “cigar tourism” industry developed that draws devotees from around the globe. Overall, the DR is home to more than a dozen large-scale cigar factories, together with dozens of smaller boutique operations. With the island producing millions of premium, hand-rolled cigars a year, visitors never have to go far to buy and light up. There are high-end cigar lounges across the country, with many of them offering indoor/outdoor smoking sections together with premium spirits. Most hotels in the DR now offer a cigar bar or lounge. Island visitors can also choose from a selection of cigar factory tours at which they can observe hand-rolling experts at work. Isla Saona This 40-square-mile island lying off of the island’s southeast coast is a protected nature reserve renowned for its pristine beaches, coconut palm forests, sea turtle sanctuaries and pre-Columbian petroglyphs. It’s an immensely popular day trip destination with long stretches of white-sand beaches, striking turquoise waters and marine diversity. The island is also a birdwatcher’s paradise with more than a hundred different species including the famous red-footed booby, flamingos, parrots and pelicans. Various Dominican outfitters offer tours and watercraft transportation to and from the island. CSANews | FALL 2026 | 23 Travel
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx