You may be forgiven for thinking that a family vacations in Dominican Republic will offer no more than a chance to spend a week or two lounging on a perfect white sandy beach looking up at beautiful skies and listening to waves gently caressing the shore. This is what the brochures promote, and unless the entire family feels that this is how it wants to spend its vacation together, then you could easily overlook it and choose one of the other islands instead. Before you move on however, take another look at the Dominican Republic, there’s a lot more for a family beach vacation than at first meets the eye!The temperature throughout the year averages between 28 and 31 degrees – although it can be cooler up in the mountain areas. There is humidity but breezes from the sea help to keep this from being too unbearable. The island’s rainy season usually lasts from May to October, with August and September also being the months that hurricanes are possible.
There are two “peak” tourist seasons to watch out for on the Dominican Republic, the first is between December and February, and the second between July and August. This means that if you can manage to book your family vacations in Dominican Republic sometime in March/April, you are likely to miss the both the main tourist groups, and the bad weather, and maybe even get yourself a “between season” bargain at the same time! Watch out for late Easter however as the week prior to Easter is known as Semana Santa and an extremely busy time for the island.
With a population of over 2.2 million, the capital city of Santo Domingo is a large vibrant urban area. The country hosts a number of “firsts” for the so called new world, including the first hospital (the ruins of which you can find at Ruinas del Hospital San Nicolas de Bari located near Las Mercedes) and the first monastery (Monasterio de San Francisco).
