Barahona, located a three hour's drive west of Santo Domingo, was founded by French-Haitian General, Toussaint L'Overture. He believed Barahona's location was the perfect spot to build an alternate port to Santo Domingo's. The town itself is not really why people visit this area. There are a few small hotels and resorts in this region, but it's the surrounding landscape that is the real draw. The incredible natural environment includes mountains, lakes, interesting vegetation, and gorgeous coastline. The remote and hidden beaches are the prettiest you'll see in the Dominican Republic.

A bigger attraction are the three national parks. The largest protected area in the country, Parque National Jaraqua, contains Laguna Oviedo, which is home to home to over 60 bird species, including the countries largest population of flamingos. Parque National Isla Cabritos, contains Lago Enriquillo, the largest salt water lake in the Antilles, located 45 meters below sea level, home of the American Crocodile. Parque Nacional Sierra de Baoruco is a mountainous park with rainforest vegetation. It is within this park that you can also visit the Larimar mines, which are located 40 km south of Barahona.

Boca Chica is located just a 15 minute's drive east of Santo Domingo's major airport,. The city is best known for its beautiful white sand beach located in a small cove protected by a protruding reef surrounding the cove, often described as a great big swimming pool. In addition to swimming, watersports like snorkeling, waterskiing, paddle boating, kayaking, windsurfing and jet skiing, take place. Popular excursions include diving at La Caleta Submarine National Park, Saona or Catalina Island; horseback riding; deep-sea fishing; or watching one of the daily baseball games taking place at Calle del Sur .

La Romana, located an hour and a half's drive east of Santo Domingo, is a city that was pretty much built by the sugar industry. In fact it was the large sugar company, Gulf & Western , who developed Casa de Campo , which receives most of this area's visitors. This 7,000 acre property of rolling hills includes two 18 hole championship golf courses, tennis centers, swimming pools, equestrian stables, polo grounds, shooting stations and exclusive private villas. Pete Dye designed the famous, Dientes de Perro (Teeth of the Dog), where eight of the course's holes skirt the edge of the beautiful Caribbean coast. Just east of the resort is another of Gulf & Western's creations, the shopping/art/culture area, Altos de Chavón , which was built on a cliff overlooking the Río Chavón and designed to look like a 16 th century Mediterranean village. This area includes a Taino artifacts museum, a 5,000 seat amphitheater, as well as many shops and restaurants. A popular excursion from this region is to take a shuttle boat to Isla Catalina ; a small island located 2 km offshore. The island has an incredible coral reef, making it very popular for snorkeling and diving.