The Most Photogenic Places in Santo Domingo
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Colonial stone at sunset, lagoons inside a cave and an immense garden: five stops to fill your camera roll in Santo Domingo, with the best time for each.
Santo Domingo has been posing for more than five hundred years. The first European city in the Americas keeps a colonial quarter of coral stone that changes color with the light, and a few minutes away it has caves with lagoons and one of the largest botanical gardens in the Caribbean. There is no shortage of material for the camera.
This five-stop route mixes all three. Three stops are in the Colonial City and can be done on foot; the other two need transport. The photographer's rule applies more than ever: early morning or late afternoon. At midday the Caribbean sun flattens everything and the heat is unforgiving.
Parque Colón and the Cathedral
The heart of the Colonial City and the most reviewed place in the area. The Columbus statue in the middle, the pigeons, the cafés around it and, on one side, the Catedral Primada de América. A photographer's tip: the cathedral's facade faces west, so in the late afternoon it catches a golden light that makes it glow. Take a seat at one of the terraces and wait for the moment.
Plaza de España
A huge open esplanade facing the Ozama River, with the Alcázar on one side and a row of restaurants on the other. This is the wide shot of the Colonial City. It works at any hour, but sunset, when the palace lights come on and the terraces fill up, is when it looks its best. Great for group photos too: there is room to spare.
Alcázar de Colón
The palace where Diego Columbus, the Admiral's son, lived, now a museum. Its galleries of stone arches are the perfect frame for portraits, both from outside and from the second-floor corridors with the square in the background. It is worth going in: the period-furnished interiors give very different photos from the facade.
Los Tres Ojos National Park
A few minutes from downtown, in Santo Domingo Este, a cave system with blue-green lagoons. You walk down stairs carved into the rock and the light coming through the openings does all the work. Wear shoes with good grip, because the floor is damp, and bump up your camera's sensitivity: it is dim down there.
National Botanical Garden
A gigantic green lung in the north of the city. Its Japanese garden, with bridges, ponds and bamboo, is the favorite corner for photo shoots, but there is much more: palms, orchids, aquatic plants. Go early, when the light is soft and crowds are thin, and take the little train to get your bearings before you walk.
Tips for the route
- Do the Colonial City on foot, in the afternoon, and end at Plaza de España at sunset.
- Set aside a morning for Los Tres Ojos or the Botanical Garden; they are at opposite ends of the city.
- In museums and historic sites, ask before using a flash or a tripod.
Discover more places in the Santo Domingo attractions section.
