Home of the first European city in the New World, the Dominican Republic is now one of the last budget destinations in the Caribbean. While its all-inclusive industry (the biggest anywhere) may have cost it the snob appeal of tonier destinations such as St. Barts and Martinique, what it lacks in cachet it makes up for with equally white sand and turquoise waters, and the most diverse ecosystem in the Caribbean -- with deserts and jungles, forested mountains and mangrove swamps, not to mention miles and miles of sugar-like beaches.
Cheap Caribbean (www.cheapcaribbean.com) is running many genuinely "last-minute" air/hotel specials to various parts of DR, but you must book them by December 27 -- and be able to stomach the time-space warp of an all-inclusive vacation. The deal with the most staying power is also the best bargain: Seven nights in a suite at the Santana Beach Resort in La Romana for $839 from New York, Newark, Philadelphia and Miami. The sale ends on January 2, for travel from now through March 31. The package includes round-trip airfare, all meals, and all tips and gratuities (but not taxes or service charges).
The Santana Beach Resort is a four-star complex built in the likeness of Santo Domingo's Spanish-Colonial architecture. Santana's amenities include a disco and casino along with four restaurants and beachside bars. Active guests can engage in a full array of water sports, tennis facilities, billiards, horseback riding, fitness equipment, saunas, outdoor jacuzzis, and a 7,156-yard golf course. The suites are fairly nondescript but very large, with queen-size beds, private terraces or balconies, and lounge areas.
On the southeast coast, La Romana itself is a resort town, with championship, 18-hole golf courses and international polo facilities and competitions. What's best is that it's a 45-minute drive from Santo Domingo, whose colonial core is still intact and well worth a day of exploration.
Cheap Caribbean is offering about ten packages to other resorts in town, as well as in Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, but you must book these by December 27, so don't tarry. For example, four all-inclusive nights in Puerto Plata, at the Casa Marina Beach and Reef, is $599 from Newark, New York, and Miami. And five all-inclusive nights at Punta Cana's LTI Beach Resort are $799 a person from more than ten cities. See the Website, under Specials, for details. (Note that DR properties are listed by their town names, unlike most Caribbean destinations, which are listed by the name of the island.)
If you can't bear the prescribed quality of an all-inclusive, try an adventure tour from Iguana Mama (tel. 800/849-4720; www.iguanamama.com). Based in Cabarete, on the north coast, Iguana Mama arranges mountain biking and hiking tours, to make the most of DR's lush, mountainous interior -- including the highest summit in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte. Tours aren't cheap and don't include airfare or accommodations, but Iguana Mama is considered the best ecotour operator on the island. The price of their twelve-day coast-to-coast mountain biking tour is steep, at $1,950 without airfare, but Outside magazine voted it the top adventure tour of 2004 in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America. The price includes all meals and accommodations, guides, van support, park permits, and entry fees. Bike rental is an additional $150 for the trip.
You can rent bikes from Iguana Mama for independent cycling as well, for $25 a day or $150 a week. And some of their other tours are less expensive than the lengthy mountain biking adventure. The three-day hiking trek to Pico Duarte is $450 and includes pack mules, birdwatching tours, dinner with a Dominican family, and an itinerary that takes travelers through rainforest and mountain streams. Iguana Mama runs cascading, canyoning, and horseback riding, kiteboarding, diving, and other adventure tours as well. If you can afford them, they seem to make the most of what the Dominican Republic has to offer travelers.