Dominican Republic Local Customs

 
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Most Viewed Local Customs in Dominican Republic

26.

Dominican food   Santo Domingo

Dominican food, Santo Domingo

 6 Reviews  Dominicans love stew Goat meat and Michelangelo Restaurant is consider the best places to eat this exotic dish. Goats in some providance are fed oregano plants so the Goat would absorb the oregano... 

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27.

Jugo de caña - Sugar cane juice   Santo Domingo

Jugo de caña - Sugar cane juice, Santo Domingo

 2 Reviews  Jugo de caña means sugar cane juice and it's delicious! The way to get the juice is to grind the sugar cane, and they usually do it in front of you when you order your juice. The juice is sweet and... 

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Flag/Red days

by marielexoteria

DR has the following red days:* Jan 1: new year's day* Jan 6: Catholic Epiphany day, the Three Wise Men day (movable to the next (or previous if closer) Monday)* Jan 21: Vírgen de la Altagracia day* Jan 26: Juan Pablo Duarte (one of our Founding Fathers) day (movable to the next (or previous if closer) Monday) * Feb 27: Independence day* Catholic Good Friday: sometime in March or April* May 1: labor day (movable to the next Monday)* Catholic Corpus Christi: sometime in June* Aug 16: Restoration day (movable to the next (or previous if closer) Monday unless there's a change of government and president)* Sep 24: Vírgen de las Mercedes day* Nov 6: Constitution day (movable to the next (or previous if closer) Monday)* Dec 25: Christmas dayOf those, the ones that are flag days are Duarte day, Independence day, Restoration day and Constitution day, where we're encouraged to put the flag on a...

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Día de los Reyes Magos (the Three Wise Men day)

by marielexoteria

When I was a kid, we kids used to get our Christmas presents on Jan 6 or the Three Wise Men day. No matter what day of the week it fell, we always had the whole week off school so that we could enjoy our toys because we wouldn't see much of them until the Summer holidays or the next Three Wise Men day.The Three Wise Men are Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar and are the same men who followed the Star of Bethlehem to were Baby Jesus was born and brought him gifts (gold, incense and myrrh) when he was born. In DR they come with their camels carrying gifts to distribute among the kids of the country. The tradition says that on the night of Jan 5, we're to leave these Men some candy ("mentas" as we call the candy we left for them), water and some grass for the camels. They would come in the wee of night, eat the candy, drink the water, feed the camels and leave toys to the kids who have behaved...

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Traditional Christmas food and drinks

by marielexoteria

The traditional Christmas dinner is one of the (if not the) biggest events of the year. We cook a lot of food that we eat not only on Christmas Eve, but on the following days hehe. Some of the dishes we eat are telera (like a baguette), roasted pork, moro de guandules (pigeon peas mixed with rice), pastelitos (savoury pasties), pasteles en hoja (ground-root pockets), and "Russian" potato salad. On the fruit department we make sure to have apples, grapes, mixed nuts and raisins on the table. The 3 most traditional Christmas drinks in my country are (in no order):(1) Vino Moscatel Caballo Blanco: this is a very sweet red wine that to me tastes somewhat similar to the Swedish glögg, so when I had glögg for the first time I couldn't help but be taken back to my hometown and mi gente.(2) Anís Confite or Anís del Mono: this is an star anise liquor. It doesn't taste like alcohol right away, but...

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Una cerveza, por favor

by marielexoteria

Dominicans love a good cold beer. We have 2 sort of icon national brands that we brew: Presidente (read my tip about it on my Santo Domingo page) and Bohemia. The newest additions are a dark lager beer called Ámbar and the most recent one called The One. Two non-alcoholic beers with a sweet flavor that's been around for years are Malta India and Malta Morena.You can also find a lot of international beer brands there but those cost more than the local ones. The ones I remember seeing are Corona, San Miguel, Beck's, Heineken (brewed in the country under license) Guinness and Miller.The picture of the Bohemia beer is taken from their website (found on the link below) and the Maltas are googled.

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Tipping

by marielexoteria

Tips are always included in the bills. It's called 10% legal, so you don't have to feel obligated to (double) tip if you don't want to. However, if you do want to tip, you can always round up the bill or tip 10%-15% of the bill if the service was good. Don't leave coins unless they're Dominican currency because they can't be exchanged for Dominican money.You can give maids, bell boys, etc. up to 5US$ if you want to tip them.

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Dominican food

by fairy_dust

If you get a chance to live with the locals instead of some tourist resort, you'll probably eat a lot of rice and beans. Also, meat and potatoes, crackers and cheese, coffee, and fresh fruit (plantains, pineapples, papaya, cantelope, etc. Meals are simple but good and filling. And they have all sorts of ways to cook plantains - boiled, fried, etc.

Ask for "la cuenta"

by ashley05p

No, the waiter is not being rude, you have to ask for the bill! I think this is true in most Latin American countries, but after you finish eating, you have to ask for your bill (la cuenta, if they speak Spanish).

Colmados

by ChristinaNest

Colmados – small general stores- provide people from the street or neighbourhood with the essential shopping. Supermarket culture is not that wide spread yet as there are a lot of poor people who can never afford to fill up their carts with all they need. So every day that they have a little money, they go to the colmado to buy the essentials: some rice and beans (not always a full pound), a few plantains, some cheese, a few cigarettes (if there’s no money for a full pack). That’s what is keeping these independent shops alive. The colmados are also the place to get the neighbourhood news, to chat, or get a cheap ‘meal’. Every day you can see people getting their lunch at the colmado: some cheese and cheap salami cut into pieces and served on a plastic plate or a piece of paper, some crackers, and a few toothpicks to serve as forks. We’ve had many lunches like that, standing at the...

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Tipping

by razorbladekiss

Tip your maids and waiters..... we left the maid a some money and some hard candies each day and she in return gave us more bottled water and made those cute towele art things.... very cute. and the waiters would wait on u hand and foot after u have tipped them for the rst of your stay... a few bucks can go along way

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Houses

by ChristinaNest

When you go out of the sheltered resorts you can notice some big differences between Dominican houses. Near the big towns or beach resorts you can see some mansions, complete with swimming pools, large gardens and many servants. And then in the villages, by the road,and in the less developed south, you can see many shacks, where often there's no water, and electricity is often stolen by illegal connections to the main power lines (sometimes at the price of a life). The houses have no window-panes, just shutters. Driving past such houses, I often saw a big family gathered in the living room, the grandparents sitting in rocking chairs, the kids playing around in ragged clothes, sometimes they waved and smiled at us. Makes you wonder whether such a simple life, without too many possessions isn't kind of happier...

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Local traditions and culture in Dominican Republic

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Local Customs: Cities in Dominican Republic
  1. Punta Cana Local Customs
  2. Santo Domingo Local Customs
  3. Puerto Plata Local Customs
  4. La Romana Local Customs
  5. Cabarete Local Customs
  6. Sosúa Local Customs
  7. Santiago de los Caballeros Local Customs
  8. Bayahibe Local Customs
  9. Bávaro Local Customs
  10. Isla Saona Local Customs
  11. Santa Bárbara de Samaná Local Customs
  12. Baní Local Customs
  13. Esperanza Local Customs

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Questions and Answers

fitzy7 profile photo

Q:  Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice of trip ideas from Punta Cana. I have had a tough time finding appropriate information... 

grandmaR profile photo

A: I don't know what time of year you are talking about - I have been to the DR two or three times in January, but not to Punta Cana. I've been twice by cruise ship to... 

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