Best Family Vacation Ever - Dominican Republic

When you get to the airport in the DR you will need to buy a tourist card for each person in your group. You will find a line where the majority of the foreigners are heading toward. Save yourself some effort and don't get in line for customs until you have your card, you're only going to get sent back.

The card is pretty cheap, it's $10 per person. Somewhere in line for customs they will take the card back from you.

One of our recent excursions was to the waterfalls in El Limon. When you come to the DR you really should consider some excursions!. This one is close to Las Terrenas and you can get a full package that takes you from your hotel to the location where start the excursion and back as part of the package. You also have the choice of having the excursion include lunch, which is something I recommend.

The price for this excursion varies a lot depending on the number of people you have in your group and the time of year so be prepared to do some negotiating. If they are pretty packed they won't want to negotiate much but if you are there during a slow time of year, once they see you are interested they won't want to have you walk off without a commitment. I find it is usually good to show interest and then start to walk off once or twice, usually the price will drop each time.

This is about a half hour to 45 minute horse ride over a bit of a rugged trail. Usually each horse comes with it's own guide to make sure you remain stable. These guides are all "volunteer". The price you pay does not include paying them anything. They work entirely on tips, so be nice! Some people will pay as much as 1000 pesos (about $25 USD) to their guide, but most choose around 200 - 500 pesos ($6 - $15 USD), this is entirely up to you. They are going to spend about half a day with you and this is a main source of income for many of them.

The horses are gentle and good natured. One the way if you happen to go in mango season the guide will usually go to get you some mangos from the local trees. You bite into the skin and peal it back much like a banana so you can get to the fruit inside. The horses love the skin so I would reach down and feed them the skin when we were in smooth areas, you don't want to distract the horse in the rougher areas.

This is a beautiful walk and you will want to take pictures. It end at a waterfall with a pool where you can swim. There is a changing area near the waterfall so if you wish you can wear regular clothes for the horse-ride and change to your swimsuit at the falls. There is a cave behind the falls that is interesting to swim into and the pool is cool but not really cold, you get used to the temperature quickly.

If your family has ever wanted to take a hose ride I would greatly recommend this excursion!

What is the main language in the DR?
Most people speak Spanish, however in most of the resorts you will be able to speak English

What other Languages do they Speak? You will also find Creole as well as in different areas you will find many other languages. For example in Las Terrenas you will find most Restaurants have menus in many languages for tourists. Most of the restaurant owners seem to speak Spanish and Italian. You will find Russian in the Sosua area. French is also very common here.

It does help to know some Spanish if you are planning on leaving the resort area. This also help you to be able to get out and visit with the locals a little.