Santo Domingo · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
The oldest European city in the Americas, with a metro, cheap street food and free Sunday music.
Sleep in the Zona Colonial
Hostels sit inside the walled quarter around Calle Isabel la Católica; Gazcue, a fifteen-minute walk west, is residential and cheaper again.
What a day costs
Dorm RD$700–1,400, comedor lunches RD$300–600, metro and conchos RD$150. Reckon RD$1,500–3,000 a day, roughly $25–50.
Getting around cheap
Two air-conditioned metro lines plus a cable car cross the city for around twenty pesos a ride; conchos, shared saloon cars, run fixed routes for less.
Free by day
The Zona's streets and Plaza España, the Malecón seafront, and the Sunday evening son session in the open ruins of the San Francisco monastery.
Plaza España
The terrace bars below the Alcázar fill every evening with a mix of visitors and dominicanos; Calle El Conde handles the daytime version.